Empire Rising: Spain

Carlo was just pleased with the influx of population brought to the Congo Territory by the gold rush, but in a blink, Spain faces a brow-furrowing issue for Carlo.

The emergence of this problem must be blamed on the influx of French capital into Spain, as not all capital is willing to operate within the boundaries set by Spain.

The greed of capital is well known, as mentioned in Marx’s Capital: when faced with a 10% profit, capitalists become restless; with a 20% profit, capitalists become active; with a 50% profit, capitalists take risks; with a 100% profit, capitalists tread on the law; with a 300% profit, capitalists will even dare to commit any crime.

French capital in Spain has not yet reached the stage of committing any crime, but they have indeed started to become active, seeking more privileges and favors in Spain.

To expand their discourse power, some French capital began investing in Spanish political parties, attempting to change the unwelcomed status of capital within Spain through political parties.

Although the actions of French capital can’t temporarily change the political situation in Spain, this is indeed something Carlo does not want to see.

Political activities require a lot of funding, which is also the reason most political parties cannot develop in Spain. The Spanish Government does not have too strict requirements for the establishment of political parties, needing only to have at least one seat in the regional parliaments to apply for party establishment in the Senate.

Due to the lack of funds, most political parties, even if established, are doomed not to develop.

Only parties truly supported by the populace can receive political donations from the populace, thereby having the capital to engage in political activities.

Due to the weakness of domestic capital in Spain before, the parties receiving more political donations were mostly those supported by the populace, essentially accumulating political cash through sheer numbers.

But amid the intervention of French capital, some parties not supported by the populace also have a chance to receive more political cash and thus engage in more political activities.

Among the many parties in Spain, French capital initially contacted the Liberal Party, which is also the party Carlo is most wary of among existing parties in Spain.

The Liberal Party has a precedent for supporting republicanism, and France is a republican country, which inevitably raises suspicion and caution.

Carlo does not want French capital to overly interfere in Spanish government affairs, so the best way is to change the current system and related regulations for political donations received by parties in Spain.

Currently, there are no restrictions on political donations in Spain; as long as someone donates political cash to a party, the party can receive the entire sum and use it for political activities.

If this system continues, French capital can easily cultivate a huge party, posing a threat to Spain’s current ruling Conservative Party.

The current slogan of the Liberal Party is the pursuit of democracy and freedom; if intervened by French capital, will it become a pursuit of democratic republicanism?

Carlo does not believe in the integrity of capital, if turning Spain into a republic can make French capital earn more, French capital will certainly do so.

Hence, Carlo must reduce the opportunities for French capital to gain more political influence from the start, preventing them from gaining more political power through controlling a certain party.

The simplest way is to change the political donation system, allowing the money donated by French capital to enter the pockets of all parties, rather than just one party supported by French capital.

With the plan in place, the next steps are easier.

Kano and Prime Minister Canovas discussed for several days, finally producing a new political donation system proposal.

Originally, political donations from the public went directly into a party’s pockets, but according to the new system, political donations from the public need to be submitted to the party management organization in the Upper House before being distributed by the organization to the parties.

This political donation will be divided into two parts: 40% directly granted to the party being donated to as political activity funds, with no requirements or preconditions, as long as it is a legal party.

The remaining 60% will be distributed to all parties holding seats according to their proportion of Lower House seats, achieving the goal of all parties sharing the political donations.

The benefits of such a system are clear, which is ensuring all parties can have a taste, not forced to dissolve due to a lack of public donations.

The downsides are also obvious, which is that one party cannot obtain all political donations, ultimately the share gained is based on the proportion of Lower House seats held by the party.

Taking the largest party in Spain, the Conservative Party, as an example, if someone donates 100 Pesseta to the Conservative Party as political cash, the Conservative Party can directly take 40 Pesseta, and with its Lower House seats, get 49% of the remaining 60 Pesseta, which is 29.4 Pesseta.

According to the previous system, the Conservative Party could receive the entire 100 Pesseta of funds. But under the new system, the Conservative Party can only receive 69.4 Pesseta, with the remaining 30.6 Pesseta shared proportionately by other parties.

This also means every donation received by the Conservative Party is subject to a 30.6% share by other parties. Although it seems a loss, the political donations received by other parties must also be considered.