There are many who, on a regular basis, confuse the concepts of State, Nation and Country, using them interchangeably and “at convenience” to refer to different issues, almost always for political purposes or interests. Today we are going to forget about the legal concept of “country”, referring exclusively to the territory where a sovereign State is located, to focus on what a Nation and a State are, explaining it in a simple way.
Well, the “State” constitutes the set of institutions, powers and governing bodies of a sovereign country that is characterized by three essential elements: territory, population and sovereignty. For its part, the term “Nation” is used to refer to the group of people who, united by a common culture, form part of and live in a sovereign State, under the same Government.
The above concepts are essential to address in this article some issues that, in light of the enormous catastrophe produced by the effects of the recent DANA that has especially affected Valencia, but also areas of Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia, we believe deserves worth bringing up.
DANA has shown two important things. On the one hand, the policy of dismantling the State and using it for political purposes has prevented immediate and effective action in the face of a national emergency catastrophe (not declared by the Government), perfectly defined and contemplated in Law 17/ 2015 of July 9 on the National Civil Protection System (arts.28 et seq.).
On the other hand, it has become clear that we can be more than proud as a Nation of the solidarity and citizen response, exemplary and massive, to help, outside the State, those affected and affected by the catastrophe.
The “dismantling” to which we refer is produced by the sum of several realities, the result of multiple political decisions, which perhaps considered in isolation may seem of minor importance, but which together lead us to a State in retreat, very weakened, and increasingly more difficult to govern. Some examples of this would be: · The loss of specific weight of the legislative branch compared to the executive. From the unconstitutional closure of Parliament due to Covid, to the contempt for its function of controlling the executive and the role of the Senate, for having a different majority than that of the government.
· The blockade for years of the CGPJ to achieve a “progressive majority”, which in turn controls the appointments of judicial bodies (especially the Supreme Court).
· “Political landing” in the Constitutional Court to legally neutralize it and provide it with a “friendly” majority, capable of endorsing and justifying the most legally questioned regulatory decisions of the Government.
· Annihilation of the State Attorney General’s Office and legal and social discredit of the institution, initiated after the famous “on whom the Prosecutor’s Office depends…” and culminated with an Attorney General charged, active, and defended, among others, by the Prosecutor’s Office itself That I should at least investigate him.
· Discredit of the State Attorney’s Office, with a brilliant career since 1849, becoming a lawyer defending the political goals of the Government and its members, with actions such as the “change of criteria” in the accusation of those responsible for the “procés”; the defense of the Government’s pardons and amnesty for those convicted and condemned for attacking the State; the “defense” of the wife of the President of the Government through a complaint without any legitimacy or support; or what appears to be the defense of the State Attorney General, investigated by the Supreme Court for revealing secrets.
· The announced “project” of federalization of the Tax Agency (cutting it up to guarantee the stability of the Government), which means “withdrawal of the State” in the management of fiscal policies.
To all these examples, we would have to add the recent government “reinterpretation” of the National Civil Protection System, for political purposes, in situations of natural disasters. And regardless of what we have all seen, if we read the long preamble of RDL 6/2024, of November 5, it is clear that from the “zero minute” of the DANA the objective conditions of article 28.2 and 28.3 were met. of the Civil Protection Law so that the Minister of the Interior, ex officio, declared the emergency of national interest and mobilized all the resources of the State to avoid, alleviate or reduce, to the extent of possible, the effects of DANA.
All of this, regardless of whether the affected autonomous governments were doing it well, badly or regularly and even if it were true that they had not asked for help.
The request for help, in the event of a national catastrophe, is legally irrelevant, because the Minister of the Interior can and must act ex officio. By the way, also at the request of his Government Delegate, who apparently was aware of everything that was happening.
Delaying the State’s intervention with the alleged intention of “waiting” for the autonomous government in power (of the opposite political nature) to “suffocate” with impotence to manage the catastrophe and “call for help” or commit some “politically exploitable error” is something that I invite the reader to qualify for themselves, without prejudice to the fact that I, here, say that it is simply another example of the use of State resources for political purposes that leads us to ratify its dismantling and the drama before which we find ourselves.
Today, more than ever, we feel great pride as a Nation, which we thank the hundreds of thousands of volunteers dedicated to their fellow citizens and an enormous pain to contemplate the drama in which our State is involved, which we hope we will be able to avoid so that does not end, like all good dramas, in a tragic ending.
#Nation #pride #face #state #drama
