Spain: Civil society takes the elections by storm

The winner of the Spanish elections that are to take place on the 9th March has already been announced: civil society. Gathered together under the Forum for Third Sector Social Agents and Social Economy, associaltions, NGOs, foundations and cooperatives have managed to get political parties to make important commitments to the development of the non profit sector. There is, for example, the Izquierda Unida?s (IU) promise to pass a law in favour of corporale social responsinility (csr). Or the commitment made by Luis Zapatero?s socialist party (Psoe) to make the cancellation of foreign debt and the administration of funds for external aid and development an agenda priority.

Zapatero is fighting to win a second mandate wich the Partido Popular?s (Pp) candidate Mariano Rajoy, who has also set the cancellation of debt at the top of his list hopes to snatch from him. Rajoy is just as determined as Zapatero to reform the debt cancellation system and proposes that Spain give up its credits to developing countries in exchange for a pledge from the governments of developing countries to invest in education.

The secret behind the third sector?s success is a lobbing campaign worthy of the British. Divided into areas of interest the well known civil society ?brand names? presented the candidates to premiership with a list of priorities to include into their election campaigns. All fingers were pointed towards some of the hottest issues on this election?s political agenda.

First comes immigration: Rajoy accuses Zapatero of ?importing organised crime?? The non profit world, represented by Red Acoge, a network of 34 NGOs working in the field, replies by proposing that all candidates sign a State Pact on immigration so that ?the future of fragile human beings not be used as a weapon against political opponents but become the object of serious policy planning?.

Zapatero shows off about the growth in GDP that his first mandate achieved, 3.8% increase each year and well above the European average? The Alliance against Poverty, representing over a thousand non profit organisations, chooses to invite the representatives of IU, Psoe and Pp to a public debate and forces them into taking a public stance on economic development and sustainable development. These were the results: Izquierda Unida and the Socialist Party commit to working towards sustainable development while the Partido Popular admits that it wants to follow the example set by the Asian liberalised free markets.

The Iberian third sector has shown that it will forgive no one. Not even a socialist Premier who, says the Forum of Social Agents, ?has taken into account the demands and ideas that NGOs put to him, has passed a good laws on dependency and gender based violence and who has included citizenship in the academic curriculum?. If Zapatero wants non profit votes he will have to do more. Thirty times more, to be exact: the ?30 social measures to be included into the electoral agenda? that the Forum of Social Agents has sent out to all the candidates. The most pressing? Making tax incentives equal for both corporate and individual donations and increasing these to 35%, keeping the promise made to donate 0.7% of the GDP towards external aid and development by 2012 and passing a new law to regulate state funding of the non profit sector.

More info:
www.canalsolidario.es

Look out for:
Next week Vita Europe will be taking a closer look at Spanish civil society by summing up what four years of Zapatero has brought the third sector. Interviews with: Oxfam-Intermon?s director and the director of Spain?s third sector magazine Entorno Social.