Blessed is democracy if it is consolidated as the art of thinking, debating and transparently discerning the present and future of others. If he has enough solvency to take two steps forward and one step back, if that means reaching transcendental agreements in that present and for that future. And although it is the rule of the majority, it is not the rule of those majorities who have a servile aspect and have a distorted, deformed concept of unconditionality; but those majorities that allow debate, counterpoint, respect minorities and heal every wound by voting.

This is the democracy that I aspire to inaugurate these days in the country, and the first example of which must be the new Parliament, which opened its regular sessions yesterday, Friday, and to which (due to the closure of the edition) I am speaking now, without yet being able to measure my new political undertakings.

Is negotiation in a democracy sacrilege? Not. It is a fundamental part of the system and if we want to live with it, we have to accept it. It is true to a large extent that the examples we have seen since the last democratic return, in particular, are not the best, but negotiation remains the best way in civilized democratic societies, and the main negotiators, people with great education, specialized in manageability and with sufficient capacity to implement the political project, and not only the electoral one.

Should negotiations be selective and exclusive? Not. We have already experienced enough of this in the first two decades of the 21st century and the country cannot be worse now. The contempt and, worse, the deliberate rejection of this tool when it is believed to have enough votes, or enough public support, generates absolute powers that at the same time lead to failure, absolutely.

Should extortion be part of the package? Not. Because we have already suffered from extortionate democracies and their effects are more long-lasting and painful than those of COVID-19. Negotiating requires, yes, extensive research processes before you sit down to throw the cards and based on those results, a negotiator who knows his business will decide what information is useful to achieve his purpose. At that point, and throughout the process, ethics must be part of the package.

The challenge for those who take power these days is enormous. The presence of young people with significant experience in executive and legislative power is very well received by the new generations, but the bureaucratic learning curve, in both cases, can go against them if they fail to unblock processes and show progress in the beginning.

And while it is true that in the crisis that the country is going through there is no more room for experiments, I believe that the replacement generation, that of the millennials, is not an experiment at all, but a reality that some, out of practicality and clinging to the power they liked so much, look at with contempt, claiming lack of experience and negotiation skills. I am one of those who applauds that they have arrived. There is the Executive Power, the Assembly, control bodies. There they have to show that there is no going back. (OR)