B1 · Intermediate
15 min
politicshistorycultureeuropean affairsdemocracy
El arte del pacto: por qué Europa necesita las coaliciones
The Art of the Deal: Why Europe Needs Coalitions
Fletcher breaks down this story in English. Octavio reacts and expands in Spanish. Follow along with the live transcript, tap any word for its translation. Intermediate level — perfect for intermediate learners expanding their range.
So I spent twenty-five years covering foreign governments, and the thing that always tripped up American readers was this: a party wins an election in Europe, and somehow they still can't govern.
And readers would write in, genuinely baffled.
How do you win and lose at the same time?
Bueno, mira, es una pregunta muy buena.
Well, look, that's a really good question.
En Europa, casi ningún partido gana solo.
In Europe, almost no party wins on its own.
Necesitas el apoyo de otros partidos para gobernar.
You need the support of other parties to govern.
Eso es una coalición: un acuerdo entre dos o más partidos para compartir el poder.
That's a coalition: an agreement between two or more parties to share power.
Right, and that word, "share the power" is doing a lot of work there.
Because in America or Britain you win a majority and you run the show.
Full stop.
The idea of having to sit down with your rivals and divide up the cabinet is almost unthinkable.
Es que el sistema es diferente.
The thing is, the system is different.
En muchos países europeos, el sistema electoral se llama representación proporcional.
In many European countries, the electoral system is called proportional representation.
Los partidos reciben escaños en el parlamento según el porcentaje de votos que obtuvieron.
Parties receive seats in parliament according to the percentage of votes they won.
Con ese sistema, es muy difícil que un solo partido tenga la mayoría.
With that system, it's very hard for a single party to have a majority.
Which is a design choice, not an accident.
And here's what gets me, it's a design choice Europe made very deliberately after the Second World War.
The question is why.
Mira, después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, muchos europeos pensaron: nunca más.
Look, after the Second World War, many Europeans thought: never again.
Nunca más un partido con demasiado poder.
Never again a party with too much power.
El nazismo y el fascismo llegaron al poder porque el sistema permitía que un solo partido controlara todo.
Nazism and fascism came to power because the system allowed a single party to control everything.
Los nuevos sistemas buscaban evitar eso.
The new systems were designed to prevent that.
The extraordinary thing is how consciously they built that in.
West Germany basically wrote proportional representation into its constitution as a firewall against authoritarianism.
It wasn't naivety, it was institutional memory.
Exactamente.
Exactly.
Alemania es un ejemplo perfecto.
Germany is a perfect example.
Después de la guerra, Alemania Occidental construyó un sistema donde casi siempre hay coaliciones.
After the war, West Germany built a system where there are almost always coalitions.
Por ejemplo, la última gran coalición se llamó la Ampelkoalition, la coalición semáforo, porque los tres partidos tenían los colores rojo, amarillo y verde.
For example, the last big coalition was called the Ampelkoalition, the traffic light coalition, because the three parties had the colors red, yellow, and green.
I love that name, by the way.
The traffic light coalition.
It sounds like something a child invented.
But it governed one of the largest economies in the world for three years, so clearly it worked well enough.
Though it did collapse in 2024, which we should get to.
A ver, España también tiene mucha experiencia con las coaliciones.
Well, Spain also has a lot of experience with coalitions.
El gobierno de Pedro Sánchez, por ejemplo, es una coalición entre el PSOE, que es el partido socialista, y Sumar, que es una alianza de partidos de la izquierda.
Pedro Sánchez's government, for example, is a coalition between the PSOE, which is the socialist party, and Sumar, which is an alliance of left-wing parties.
Pero también necesitó el apoyo de partidos regionalistas para gobernar.
But he also needed the support of regionalist parties to govern.
And that Spanish example is genuinely fascinating to me, because you've got a national government that depends on parties whose whole reason for existing is to challenge the idea of the nation.
Catalan separatists keeping a Spanish government alive.
I mean, that is a strange political marriage.
Es que en España la política es muy complicada, Fletcher.
The thing is, politics in Spain is very complicated, Fletcher.
Pero bueno, si hablamos de complicado, tenemos que hablar de Italia.
But look, if we're talking complicated, we have to talk about Italy.
Italia tuvo setenta gobiernos diferentes entre 1946 y el año 2000.
Italy had seventy different governments between 1946 and the year 2000.
Setenta.
Seventy.
Es casi uno por año.
That's almost one per year.
Seventy governments in fifty-four years.
I covered a few of those transitions and each one felt like a national nervous breakdown.
But here's the thing, Italy kept functioning.
The trains ran, more or less.
The economy grew.
Which raises a real question about whether political instability is actually as catastrophic as we think.
La verdad es que tienes un punto.
Honestly, you have a point.
Pero también hubo períodos muy difíciles en Italia.
But there were also very difficult periods in Italy.
Y los Países Bajos también tuvieron una situación extrema en 2021.
And the Netherlands also had an extreme situation in 2021.
Necesitaron doscientos setenta y uno días para formar un gobierno después de las elecciones.
They needed two hundred and seventy-one days to form a government after the elections.
Casi nueve meses.
Almost nine months.
Nine months of basically no government.
And the Netherlands is not a country known for chaos, it's one of the most organized societies on earth.
So what does that tell us?
Either coalitions are an incredible act of patience, or they're a sign that something is breaking down.
Mira, yo creo que las coaliciones son un reflejo de la cultura política europea.
Look, I think coalitions are a reflection of European political culture.
En Europa, el compromiso no es una debilidad.
In Europe, compromise is not a weakness.
Es una virtud.
It's a virtue.
Cuando dos partidos diferentes trabajan juntos, más ciudadanos están representados en el gobierno.
When two different parties work together, more citizens are represented in the government.
I hear that argument, and I respect it, but I also want to push back a little.
Because compromise can become paralysis.
If every policy has to satisfy three different parties with three different voter bases, you sometimes get policy that satisfies nobody.
Watered down to the point of meaninglessness.
Es que sí, eso pasa.
Yeah, that does happen.
Pero la alternativa también tiene problemas.
But the alternative has problems too.
Cuando un partido gobierna solo con una mayoría pequeña, puede cambiar leyes importantes muy rápido, sin mucho debate.
When one party governs alone with a small majority, it can change important laws very quickly, without much debate.
Y después el siguiente gobierno lo cambia todo otra vez.
And then the next government changes everything again.
Eso también es inestable.
That's also unstable.
No, you're absolutely right about that.
I think about what happened in Britain with Brexit.
A government with a slim majority making an enormous historic decision, and then basically blowing up its own country in the process.
A coalition might have forced more caution.
Bueno, y aquí es importante recordar la historia.
Well, and here it's important to remember history.
Alemania en los años veinte y treinta tenía un sistema de coaliciones, la República de Weimar, pero el sistema falló.
Germany in the twenties and thirties had a coalition system, the Weimar Republic, but the system failed.
Los partidos no pudieron llegar a acuerdos y Hitler llegó al poder.
The parties couldn't reach agreements and Hitler came to power.
Entonces las coaliciones no son perfectas.
So coalitions are not perfect.
The Weimar Republic.
That is the ghost that haunts every conversation about European democracy.
And the lesson people drew from Weimar wasn't simply that coalitions are dangerous, it was that coalitions without guardrails are dangerous.
The postwar systems added the guardrails.
Exactamente.
Exactly.
Y hoy hay un problema nuevo.
And today there's a new problem.
Con el aumento de los partidos de extrema derecha en Europa, las coaliciones son más difíciles de formar.
With the rise of far-right parties across Europe, coalitions are harder to form.
Hay más partidos en el parlamento y es más difícil encontrar un acuerdo entre todos.
There are more parties in parliament and it's harder to find agreement between all of them.
This is the fragmentation problem.
You used to have maybe four or five significant parties in a parliament.
Now you might have eight or ten, including parties that other parties refuse to govern with.
So the mathematical puzzle of building a majority gets exponentially harder.
Mira, las elecciones de España en 2023 son un buen ejemplo.
Look, the 2023 Spanish elections are a good example.
El Partido Popular ganó más votos que el PSOE, pero no pudo formar una coalición porque los otros partidos no querían trabajar con ellos.
The Partido Popular won more votes than the PSOE, but couldn't form a coalition because the other parties didn't want to work with them.
Al final, Sánchez formó el gobierno aunque ganó menos votos.
In the end, Sánchez formed the government even though he won fewer votes.
And that drives conservatives in Spain absolutely crazy.
I've heard the argument and I get it on a gut level.
You win more votes, you don't get to govern.
That feels wrong.
But then again, winning more votes than anyone else is not the same as having majority support.
A ver, eso es el punto clave.
Right, that's the key point.
En una democracia proporcional, necesitas el apoyo de la mayoría del parlamento.
In a proportional democracy, you need the support of a majority of parliament.
No solo ser el partido más grande.
Not just being the biggest party.
Y eso requiere tiempo.
And that requires time.
Las negociaciones para formar una coalición pueden durar semanas o meses.
Negotiations to form a coalition can last weeks or months.
Is that time well spent, though?
I go back and forth on this.
Because on one hand, it forces real negotiation.
Parties have to actually read each other's manifestos and find common ground.
On the other hand, governments are in caretaker mode for months and they can't make big decisions.
La verdad es que yo prefiero un gobierno que tardó mucho tiempo en formarse pero que tiene un programa sólido.
Honestly, I prefer a government that took a long time to form but has a solid program.
Cuando los partidos negocian bien, el acuerdo de coalición es como un contrato.
When parties negotiate well, the coalition agreement is like a contract.
Los dos partidos saben exactamente lo que prometieron.
Both parties know exactly what they promised.
That contract idea is interesting.
In Germany they actually publish the coalition agreement.
It's a public document, hundreds of pages, and citizens can read exactly what the parties agreed to do.
There's something almost admirably transparent about that.
Es que sí, pero también puede haber problemas.
Yeah, but there can also be problems.
A veces los partidos no cumplen sus promesas dentro de la coalición.
Sometimes parties don't keep their promises within the coalition.
Y después, en las próximas elecciones, los votantes los castigan.
And then in the next elections, voters punish them.
El partido más pequeño de una coalición frecuentemente pierde muchos votos.
The smaller party in a coalition frequently loses a lot of votes.
The junior partner problem.
I saw this over and over.
The smaller party goes into a coalition, they have to give up a lot of their platform to make the deal work, and their voters feel betrayed.
The Liberal Democrats in Britain after 2010 basically ceased to exist as a major force.
Bueno, y si hablamos de coaliciones que fallaron de manera espectacular, tenemos que hablar de Bélgica.
Well, and if we're talking about coalitions that failed spectacularly, we have to talk about Belgium.
Bélgica tuvo un período de quinientos cuarenta y un días sin gobierno.
Belgium had a period of five hundred and forty-one days without a government.
Entre 2010 y 2011.
Between 2010 and 2011.
Es el récord mundial.
It's the world record.
Five hundred and forty-one days.
A year and a half.
And Belgium is not a small country, it's the headquarters of the European Union, it's a NATO member.
And for five hundred and forty-one days it basically ran on autopilot.
The bureaucracy just kept going.
Mira, y Bélgica tiene un problema especial porque hay dos comunidades: los flamencos que hablan neerlandés y los valones que hablan francés.
Look, and Belgium has a special problem because there are two communities: the Flemish who speak Dutch and the Walloons who speak French.
Los partidos no son nacionales, son regionales.
The parties are not national, they are regional.
Entonces la negociación es siempre más complicada.
So the negotiation is always more complicated.
Belgium is almost a stress test for coalition politics.
It takes every difficulty, the linguistic divide, the regional tensions, the fragmented party system, and piles them all together.
If democracy can work there, it can probably work anywhere.
La verdad es que Bélgica funciona, aunque parece imposible.
Honestly, Belgium works, even though it seems impossible.
Y creo que eso nos dice algo importante sobre las coaliciones.
And I think that tells us something important about coalitions.
No son perfectas, pero cuando los políticos tienen buena voluntad, el sistema puede sobrevivir momentos muy difíciles.
They're not perfect, but when politicians have good will, the system can survive very difficult moments.
Here's the deeper question I keep coming back to.
Is coalition government actually more democratic?
Because you could argue either way.
More voices in government, more representation.
But also more horse-trading behind closed doors, more backroom deals that voters never see.
A ver, creo que la clave está en la transparencia.
Well, I think the key is in transparency.
Cuando los partidos publican sus acuerdos de coalición, cuando los ciudadanos pueden leer qué prometió cada partido, el sistema es más honesto.
When parties publish their coalition agreements, when citizens can read what each party promised, the system is more honest.
El problema es cuando las negociaciones son completamente secretas.
The problem is when negotiations are completely secret.
And there's a generational shift happening too, I think.
Younger European voters are more comfortable with fragmented politics, they expect their parliament to look like the actual diversity of opinions in society.
The old model of two big parties trading power feels outdated to them.
Sí, y eso explica por qué hay más partidos hoy que hace treinta años.
Yes, and that explains why there are more parties today than thirty years ago.
Los partidos verdes, los partidos de extrema derecha, los nuevos movimientos políticos.
Green parties, far-right parties, new political movements.
Todos llegaron porque los ciudadanos querían más opciones.
They all arrived because citizens wanted more options.
Y eso hace las coaliciones más necesarias y más difíciles al mismo tiempo.
And that makes coalitions both more necessary and more difficult at the same time.
Look, I think where I land on this is that coalitions are a feature, not a bug.
The difficulty is the point.
Making people with different views agree on a program of government is exactly what democracy is supposed to do.
It's just harder than it looks from the outside.
Mira, yo estoy de acuerdo.
Look, I agree.
La democracia no es fácil.
Democracy is not easy.
Las coaliciones son la prueba de que los políticos pueden trabajar juntos aunque tienen ideas diferentes.
Coalitions are proof that politicians can work together even when they have different ideas.
Cuando funciona bien, es algo bastante impresionante.
When it works well, it's something quite impressive.
Cuando no funciona, pues, tenemos a Bélgica.
When it doesn't, well, we have Belgium.
Before we wrap up, let me just flag a few words that came up today that learners will want to know.
We talked about coalición, which is coalition.
Pacto, which is pact or deal.
Negociar, which is to negotiate.
And compromiso, which is compromise.
Though I should note, in Spanish compromiso can also mean commitment, so context matters there.
Bueno, y si quieres hablar de política en español, también necesitas: mayoría, que significa majority, escaño, que es un seat in parliament, y acuerdo, que es agreement.
Well, and if you want to talk about politics in Spanish, you also need: mayoría, which means majority, escaño, which is a seat in parliament, and acuerdo, which is agreement.
Con estas palabras puedes leer un periódico español y entender la política bastante bien.
With these words you can read a Spanish newspaper and understand politics quite well.