“Institutions are colonised with friends and party companions. Having a friend in Moncloa and nearby or simply having the party membership card takes precedence over any requirement”
How does a rich person become poor?... well, little by little and suddenly. How does an advanced democracy mutate into a malfunctioning one… well, little by little and suddenly. Democracy weakens when the balance of powers deteriorates, when the executive dominates the legislative and controls the judicial, when the Parliament is turned away from and governance is done by circumventing the mechanisms of power and subjugating the supervisory, oversight, and control bodies. All this happens successively, little by little… and suddenly the executive becomes almost omnipotent, doing as it pleases outside the compliance with the letter and spirit of the laws. An evident example of such a process is provided by the omnipotent President Trump, who has achieved control (with slight resistance) over power in a democracy that preached the balance and control of power in a short time. That control, little by little, is achieved through the colonisation of institutions with friends and party companions bound to those who appoint them. We can call it “entryism”. Throughout the long history of Spanish democracy, there has never been a level of “entryism” like in the last seven years. The appointment of high officials, advisors, heads of independent bodies, including judicial ones, and executives of public, semi-public, or dependent companies, has been subjected more to criteria of friendship and ideological loyalty and party identity than to the criteria required by laws and good democratic judgment (“independence, competence, and suitability”). Having a friend in Moncloa and nearby or simply having the party membership card takes precedence over the aforementioned requirements.
Two years ago, the Civic Opinion Circle, a private, independent, and plural entity made up of around fifty academics and professionals, approved a document titled “six key appointments” referring to the coverage of as many presidencies of independent bodies (Bank of Spain, CNMV, CNMC, AIReF, Data Protection Agency, Transparency and Good Governance Council) in which it warned against “clientelist” behaviours in the designation process. The Public Prosecutor's Office, RTVE, the Council of State, Indra, Telefónica… can also be added, where the long arm of Moncloa represents the definitive argument regarding the person, who may be reasonably suitable and competent but reaches the position due to presumed loyalty to the interest of the one who appoints them.
This is how democracy weakens, the effectiveness of institutions is compromised, and the path towards illiberal, populist states and a new authoritarian dictatorship is paved. The spectacle of the renewal of the Judicial Power Council should have embarrassed all those who took part; another case for the renewal of the Constitutional Court (which is currently underway with the presidency extended). Such a practice, repeated to the point of nausea, crystallises among the appointees and the public opinion, who assume that so-and-so is docile to one party or cause and such-and-such to another. People with good track records succumb to a party affiliation assigned in silence and with resigned acceptance of such a stigma. In summary, little by little… and suddenly; this is how democracies die. ♦