The Government delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana, presided today at the headquarters of the Government Delegation the act commemorating the 46th anniversary of the ratification by referendum of the Spanish Constitution of 1978.
Before civil and military authorities in the Throne Room of the headquarters of the Government Delegation in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Anselmo Pestana has launched an appeal to recover constitutional loyalty, which, in his words, requires maintaining a “behavior consistent with the fundamental values” established by the Constitution, including pluralism.
“Democracy also today has its challenges, here in our country, and also in our global village. Polarization, disinformation and lack of dialogue are realities that threaten our coexistence, and that come from prioritization to the absurdity of the dynamics of confrontation and exclusion with respect to those of agreement and integration,” said the government delegate.
“Hence the absurdity that today we lack a pact that allows a new legal framework that establishes the equitable distribution of unaccompanied foreign minors who arrive in border territories, as is now the Canary Islands, but as is also Andalusia, Ceuta, Melilla, Murcia, Valencia or the Balearic Islands. An absurdity more than anyone understands,” he added.
In his speech, Anselmo Pestana, who has had a few words of remembrance for the people affected by DANA in the Valencian Community and in Castilla-La Mancha, has opted for the existence of political parties capable of “assuming the responsibility of transferring the plural debate to the institutions and also of articulating it in agreements”, just as the constituent conceived them in the Fundamental Law of 1978.
“Loyalty to the Constitution does not mean simply assuming your options. It requires actively defending it, and it demands something that, much less seemingly, is much more because it is projected on our own actions and not on those of others. Being loyal to the Constitution requires, above all, recognizing the legitimacy of the other and his proposals; avoiding turning the political debate into a constant reproach of unconstitutionality, because within our supreme norm there are multiple political options,” said the government delegate.
“Unnecessarily judicializing politics means politicizing justice, but above all it leads to ignorance of the deliberative space that is typical of any democratic political system. To be loyal to the Constitution is to accept and assume one’s own position in the constitutional system and with it that of others. Assume that sometimes one’s own options become the majority and in others they must be limited to being the minority alternative that remains outside the final decision. To be loyal to the Constitution is to accept the legitimacy of the triumph of the other and assume it with the effort of reaching more or less broad agreements through discussion and debate,” he added.
Anselmo Pestana, who believes that the 1978 Constitution is a reflection of “our diversity” that allows for distant political projects within the same norm, has also stated that “constitutional loyalty demands more of oneself than of the other. Loyalty is first and foremost self-demanding, it claims to be aware of one’s own responsibility and to live up to it.”
And he warned about the risks that exist in times of crisis, in which public representatives are required to have a “special responsibility”: “In this context, the risk of offering simple solutions to complex problems, of generating division, exclusions and entrenchments in their own assurances, is high. There is a high risk of promoting a populist and irresponsible view of reality and jeopardising social cohesion, the rights of others and the capacity for political agreement and integration, which are vital in the democratic system.”
“A risk,” he added, “which, historical experience shows us, always ends in the delegitimization of the representative institutions themselves. The delegitimization of the other never exhausts itself; on the contrary, it always leads to the delegitimization of the common.”
Award of recognition for promoting the spirit of the Constitution
As every year, the Delegation of the Government in the Canary Islands has given a series of recognitions to figures and organizations that daily carry out the spirit of the Constitution, highlighting on this occasion their contributions within the framework of articles 34, 44.2 and 49 of the Fundamental Law of 1978.
On this occasion and under Article 44.2 CE, the Palmer Antonio Fernández, Professor of Histology and Veterinary Pathological Anatomy at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and considered one of the best researchers in the world by the University of Stanford, has been recognized for his contribution to making Canarian science the hallmark of the study and conservation of the sea and the welfare of marine animals, for which he has already been recognized with the Canaries Prize for Research and Innovation, with the Oceans Prize and with the Animal Health Prize.
Also, within the framework of Article 34 EC, the Juan Negrín Foundation, a non-profit institution established in 1992 to restore the thought and work of the Canarian scientist, humanist and statesman, the last president of the Government of the Second Spanish Republic, has received recognition for its work in promoting the values of humanism and social progress, such as the Annual Health Research Awards of the University Hospital of Gran Canaria Dr. Negrín, for whose organization this entity collaborates.
The third recognition, under Article 49 EC, has been received by the San Juan de Dios Hospital Order, an international non-profit Catholic institution that, with more than 400 centers around the world, pays attention to the most vulnerable groups, including those of migrants and dependent persons, for their contribution to the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities.