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Wednesday, November 03, 2021 at 07:00

Zapatero, Montoro and Almunia will deal with the reform of Article 135 of the Constitution

Zapatero, Montoro and Almunia will deal with the reform of Article 135 of the Constitution Zapatero, Montoro and Almunia will deal with the reform of Article 135 of the Constitution

The URJC organizes the conference 'The modification of Article 135 of the Constitution 10 years later'. In it, former political leaders and various academics will talk about this reform that guaranteed budget stability by establishing limits for the deficit and public spending at a time of major economic crisis.

Raul Garcia Hemonnet

10 years ago, the President of the Government of the time, the socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, proposed the constitutional reform of article 135 of the Magna Carta as a formula to get out of the economic crisis and the threat of intervention of the Spanish by part of the European institutions. The reform, which meant, among other aspects, that all State Public Administrations would adapt "their actions to the principle of budgetary stability", for which it decreed a limit to the deficit and public spending, was approved with the votes of PSOE, PP and Unión del Pueblo Navarro (UPN), in August 2011, in the midst of important citizen protests against said modification.

To discuss the legal, economic and political consequences of this constitutional reform, the Rey Juan Carlos University has organized the conference 'The modification of Article 135 of the Constitution 10 years later', which will be held this Wednesday, November 3, on the Madrid campus.

Some of the main political protagonists of that crucial moment for the recent history of Spain will participate in it, the former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the former Minister of Finance of the Government of Mariano Rajoy, Cristóbal Montoro and the former Secretary General of the PSOE and former Minister, Joaquín Almunia , who will be accompanied by different academics from the URJC and other universities.

Multidisciplinary approach for a complete analysis

We have chosen a multidisciplinary approach inviting political leaders of the moment together with academics, both from the URJC and from other universities in fields such as Constitutional Law, Economics or Finance”, says the Professor of Constitutional Law and director of the conference, José Manuel Vera Santos.

The session, which will last all day, is aimed “predominantly at students of Law, International Relations, Political Science, Economics, although it is open to everyone, says Vera Santos. 0 ECTS credits will be awarded to students who attend.

From the personal point of view of José Manuel Vera, the reform of the article of the Constitution, “was very important when it was approved for reasons of Spain's membership of the EU as a way out of the crisis of that time. Basically what the reform shows is that if we belong to Europe we have to fulfill a series of commitments, and among them is budget stability, which must also be one of the principles when managing public affairs so as not to indebt generations to come”.

The conference will be opened by the dean of the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences, María Luisa Delgado Jalón, and closed by the rector, Javier Ramos. 

An opportunity to get to know in depth all the implications and consequences of the last reform that the Spanish Constitution has undergone, up to now.