Corrida for Two

A parliamentary battle reawakens a young democracy

Every radio, it seemed, was tuned to the same station. In cafes and shops from Bilbao to Barcelona last week, Spanards listened intently to a heated parlamentary discussion broadcast live from the Cortes. The debate concerned the faltering policies of Conservative Premier Adolfo Suarez. More significantly, for the first time since Generalissimo Francisco Franco's "40 years of silence" came to an end, Spain was experiencing a vigorous public debate by its politicians--and the country reveled in it.

The political mano a mano pitted Suarez, 47, against Socialist Party Leader Felipe Gonzalez, 38, who had the temerity to lodge an outright censure motion against a Spanish government for the first time in 44 years. He came far closer to toppling Suarez than even he expected. Although the censure motion was narrowly defeated, by a vote of 166 to 152, the premier was reduced to the support of his own party, the Union of the Democratic Center, by wholesale abstention in the rest of his coalition.

The spirited parliamentary showdown, in vivid contrast to the drab sessions of the recent past, brought to a swift end the political malaise of el desencanto --the disenchantment--that has gripped Spain in the past year. The Suarez government, after shepherding the country through a euphoric and successful post-Franco transition, has seemed increasingly bogged down by the intractable problems of 16% inflation, 10% unemployment and the stubborn wave of separatist terrorism. The partial autonomy recently granted to the provinces of Catalonia and the Basque country has similarly failed to diminish their regional resentment against Madrid. Stung by his setbacks, Suarez withdrew into his Moncloa Palace. Spaniards generally lost heart, wondering if democracy meant stagnation and fearing the alternatives of the political extremes.

Many such anxieties were laid to rest last week in the Cortes A people who regularly watch televised bullfights the way Americans watch baseball finally had its clear-cut political battle. Said an enthusiastic government spokesman as the debate caught fire: "The people have been asking for a little corrida, a little blood. Now they are going to see it where they should see it, not on the streets but in the parliament."

Gonzalez dominated the debate from the outset. He attacked the Suarez government for its "failure to fulfill election promises" and ticked off the country's economic woes, the increase in crime and the deterioration of government services.

Next Gonzalez executed an equally deft pass of the cape. As millions of Spaniards waited at their ra dios, Gonzalez soberly proceeded to lay out his party's program of government. The shocker: it was hardly socialist at all. Using West Germany as his model, Gonzalez explained his main thrusts: a mixed economy with little nationalization, a firm commitment to join the European Economic Community and greater personal freedom for all Spaniards. Groused Communist Leader Santiago Carrillo: "This is not a program of the left." He was correct. In one stroke, Gonzalez had proposed to sweep Spain's leftist ideology into the past and allay conservative fears of a renewed bloody confrontation with the Socialists. Editorialized Spain's leading news paper, El Pais: "This is the speech of a candidate for Premier."

Suddenly Suarez found himself no longer the only credible Spanish leader of national caliber. Shaken by the attack, he fell back on the defensive, urging "change without risk, which is the only way to reconcile authority with liberty." As the debates ended with a diminished mandate for Premier Suarez, a newly self-confident nation took satisfaction in having passed another political test. One result of the corrida was clear: Spanish democracy had demonstrated its vitality and resilience.

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