The solution is not Draghi

The government options after the highly fragmented electoral result are so complex and unsatisfactory that the business and financial elite have begun to put on the table the option of going down the middle street and looking for a Draghi. A white blackbird, or a white blackbird, neutral and of recognized competence on whom everyone agrees, as they did in Italy. But in Spain the Draghi option cannot and should not happen.

Personally, I admire Draghi. But finding a person like him (who has managed to make a technocratic career at a very high level and with an international projection in a relatively neutral way) is almost an impossible mission in a system as closed as ours.. In Spain, neutrality is a chimera, because bipartisanship has invaded practically everything and in order to have a stellar technocratic career, the robust sponsorship of one of the two great political parties is almost always needed.. All you have to do is take a look at the senior Spanish positions in the Administration, the European Union or in international organizations. Almost everyone falls on the side of one block or the other.

Let's imagine for a moment that we overcome that first hurdle and find the right person. It would be necessary to obtain its acceptance by the political forces. And here comes the second difficulty: we do not have a Mattarella, a figure like the President of the Italian Republic who, with his (crucial) democratic credibility and acceptance by all parties, mediates with intelligence, determination and a lot of left hand so that everyone agree. Regardless of whether one is a monarchist or a republican (both options have pros and cons), the reality is that in Spain we have a monarchy that, due to its own mistakes and those of others, is caught with pins and, therefore, has little or no room for maneuver to forge agreements. As an example, a button: when in 2019 there was the possibility of a reformist government between the PSOE and Ciudadanos, which surely would have changed the future of the country, our Head of State was unable to force that agreement. If that (which ran aground due to personal disagreements, but which was something relatively simple, because there were only two parties and they had made a previous agreement) could not be done then by the Head of State, what hope is there now that they can mediate an agreement? much more sui generis, with more parts and much more difficulty?

But even if it were possible to get everyone to agree, the Draghi formula is something that completely clashes with the most basic principles of democracy.. In Spain, the presidents of the Government are not appointed by the political, financial or business elite through the back door, the people vote for them. Sovereign power rests with the Spanish people (thus, with a small p, article 1.2 of the Constitution). And the Spanish people have voted with the explicit premise that the party leaders were the ones running for president (and not a neutral person they didn't even know who they were when they voted).. A neutral person could be president of the Government with the support of one or several parties, but to be able to be, they must have an explicit electoral mandate.

The question is not trivial, because the collateral damage that the mere suggestion of the Draghi formula can cause is enormous.. If we are willing to accept contortions with the Constitution to explore a Draghi formula (which may be technically compatible with the Constitution, but not with its spirit), then we cannot complain when others contort with the Constitution looking for pro-independence formulas that, even if they violate the spirit of the Constitution are technically compatible with it. The Constitution is not a rubber band that stretches at the convenience of each one (neither at the convenience of the elites, nor at the convenience of the independentistas).

Rather than proposing formulas like Draghi's, the elite would do well to do what we are all doing: an examination of conscience to see where we have failed to have put our country in the difficult position it is in now. For many years, most of the business and financial elite have dedicated themselves not to promoting the reforms they know Spain needs, but to joining in with power. They did it to Sánchez during his early years until he stood up to them. And they were starting to do it to Feijóo even before winning the elections. Hopefully the current complicated situation will at least help everyone, including the elite, stop paying homage to power. And so that we become more seriously involved in the economic and political reforms that the country needs.