Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 145 Annual Work Report
Time passed, and as 1872 became the past, 1873 officially began.

For the Spanish government, 1872 was a year of continuous progress. The government issued a number of decrees in this year to continue to promote reforms throughout Spain, and the completion of the Seville industrial base also led to a significant increase in Spanish industry.

Coupled with the achievements of various construction projects, Spain has begun to transform from a traditional agricultural country to an industrial country and is working towards becoming a developed country in Europe.

As the saying goes, you don’t get fat in one bite. Spain’s reform and industrial economic construction could not be completed in a short period of time, and the so-called slogan of surpassing Britain and France could not be achieved in the 19th century.

For the Spanish government and officials at all levels, the most important thing at present is to comply with the five-year development plan bill promulgated by the Spanish government, effectively improve the development of Spanish industry and various industries, and effectively promote the progress of the country.

As usual, Carlo attended the large-scale parliamentary meeting at the end of the year and listened with many members of parliament to the annual government work report of 1872 submitted by the Spanish cabinet government to the parliament.

In fact, it was Prime Minister Primo who proposed to submit an annual government work report to the parliament. The purpose is not only to explain to the parliamentarians what contributions and efforts the Spanish cabinet government has made in the past year, but also to tell the Spanish people through such an opportunity that the government is doing practical things for the country and all Spanish people, rather than doing nothing.

It is for this purpose that the annual government work report meeting is very important. Each department will summarize the achievements made in the past year in a clear and concise report so that all legislators and the public can understand it.

Once a government department does not have any impressive reports at the annual work report meeting, it is actually a disguised proof that the work performance of this department in that year is not very satisfactory.

It is for this reason that each department attaches great importance to the annual work report meeting, because it really concerns their own interests.

Don't forget that the Spanish Parliament has the power to impeach officials. Whether it is the prime minister who forms a cabinet government or every minister in the cabinet government, the Spanish Parliament has the power to impeach and remove them.

However, the entire impeachment process is not that easy. It must be supported by a majority of seats in parliament to complete the entire impeachment and removal process of officials.

According to the Spanish Constitution, members of the Spanish House of Representatives have the power to impeach any official. When any member submits an impeachment proposal to the parliament, it also means that the entire impeachment process officially begins.

The final direction of the impeachment proposal is actually determined by the attitude of all members of parliament. Once more than 60% of the members agree to the impeachment proposal, it means that the parliament has officially removed the impeached official from his position.

If the number of voters who agree to impeachment exceeds 40% but less than 60% of the seats in the House of Representatives, a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and the Senate will be triggered for a larger vote.

The House of Representatives and the Senate are actually the upper and lower houses of Spain, and together they form a complete parliament.

Spain's current parliamentary system is quite complex, even extending to small municipal councils, which elect members to form higher-level regional councils, which in turn elect a small number of members to form the House of Representatives, which has real power.

The real voting rights of the Spanish people are only reflected in the city councils of each city. They can elect members of the city council, and these members of the city council have the power to be elected as members of the higher-level parliament.

Elections beyond that have little to do with the public. After all, public opinion can be controlled, and a large number of voters will increase the burden of vote counting, which is unnecessary for Spain at the moment.

Unlike the House of Representatives, the election of the Senate has nothing to do with the people. According to the latest Spanish Constitution, the Spanish Senate is elected by the governments of the regions and colonies, plus the members of the cabinet government to form a complete Senate.

If the House of Representatives has the power to legislate, then the Senate's greatest power is to conduct a second review of the laws passed by the House of Representatives. Those that pass will be formally implemented, and those that fail will be sent back for revision.

Generally speaking, apart from reviewing laws submitted by the House of Representatives, the Senate does not do anything major.

But if there are some differences in some major votes, the role of the Senate will be reflected. When the House of Representatives and the Senate hold a joint meeting and vote together, the votes of these members of the Senate are still very important.

If more than 40% but less than 60% of the House of Representatives members agree to impeachment, a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and the Senate will be initiated to vote together.

At this time, if the number of votes exceeds 50% of the total number of people, the impeachment case can be advanced. If the number of votes does not exceed 50% of the total number of people, it means that the impeachment case is over.

Finally, if the number of votes in the House of Representatives on the impeachment proposal does not exceed 40%, it also means that the impeachment case will automatically end and the impeachment will be invalidated.

From this aspect, it can be seen that although the House of Representatives has the power to supervise the government, it is still difficult to actually remove an official or the entire government.

Compared with the House of Representatives, the Senate does not have the power to supervise the government. But this does not mean that the Senate is not important. After all, the attitude of the Senate is also very important for the successful implementation of the bill.

Currently, the Spanish House of Representatives has the most seats, with a total of 208 seats, and seats are allocated to each region according to the proportion of the population of the regions and colonies.

The seats in the Senate are relatively fixed, and the total number is less than 30. Each region and colony has only one seat, which is usually held by the governor of the region or the governor of the colony.

Apart from these, only cabinet ministers and the prime minister can enter the Senate, which actually means that the members of the Senate are all high-ranking officials in the Spanish government.

After all, these officials still have a certain right to express their opinions on whether a bill is suitable for implementation in all parts of Spain. Members of the House of Representatives generally consider things from too single a perspective and often forget about certain aspects of the government's concerns.

At this time, the opinion of the Senate is particularly important. Under the guidance of the Senate, the laws enacted by the House of Representatives can also move in a direction that is more suitable for the development of Spain, at least to ensure that the laws enacted will have a beneficial impact on Spain, rather than a harmful one.

The Spanish government's 1872 government work report meeting was quite grand.

All 208 members of the House of Representatives were present, together with the cabinet ministers and Carlo, making the meeting very lively.

Of course, the leader is Prime Minister Primo, but his task is to set the tone for the government work report meeting and leave some space for ministers from various departments to demonstrate their political achievements.

For Prime Minister Primo, these achievements are no longer important. As long as Prime Minister Primo is willing, he can still win in the next cabinet parliamentary election.

After all, more than half of the 208 members of the House of Representatives support him and the Progressive Party. Under such circumstances, unless Prime Minister Primo voluntarily withdraws, it will be difficult for him to lose the House of Representatives election.

“Your Majesty, Members of Parliament. It is an honor to be here on this occasion to present the annual work report of the Spanish Cabinet Government for the whole year of 1872 as the Prime Minister of Spain.

Throughout 1872, all walks of life in Spain developed very rapidly. According to the estimates of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, at the end of 1872, Spain was expected to have a population of 1745 million, an increase of at least 23 over the previous year.

Last year, our GDP reached 72.12 billion pesetas, an increase of 8.1% over the previous year.

Under the premise of the growth of the overall economic scale, the government's fiscal revenue also reached a new high, about 5.259 million pesetas.

However, our total fiscal expenditure is still greater than fiscal revenue. Last year, total fiscal expenditure was as high as 5.575 million pesetas, and the annual fiscal loss was 3160 million pesetas.

By the end of 1872, our total railway mileage had exceeded 6900 kilometers, and it is expected to exceed 7000 kilometers within three months.

自1868年下旬到1872年年底，我们只用了4年的时间，建造的铁路里程就已经超过了前任政府在1858年下旬到1868年下旬总计十年建造的铁路里程。

We will continue to attach importance to the construction of Spanish railways in the future, and plan to increase the total mileage of Spanish railways to at least 1874 kilometers by February 2. "

Prime Minister Primo's report was only cursory, but Spain's progress in 1872 was very obvious. There had been considerable developments in almost all aspects, and the railway mileage was increasing at a rate of at least 300 kilometers per year.

And according to Prime Minister Primo, the total railway mileage will be increased to about 1874 kilometers by February 2.

There was only a little over a year left until February 1874, but the railway distance to be built was more than 2 kilometers. This was a big test for the cabinet government, but at the same time, if it could be completed, it would also be a big achievement.

Although the five-year plan promulgated by the Spanish government was after the establishment of the cabinet government, the time is calculated together with the establishment of the cabinet government.

It is normal to think about it. If the five-year plan can be completed, the political achievements brought to the cabinet members will be absolutely immeasurable.

The cabinet government naturally cannot leave such a great achievement to the next term. Even if it takes a few months less, it must ensure that the five-year plan is completed during its term.

Even if the results are released later after the completion, the credit will not escape from your hands. But if it is completed by the next government, the credit will have little to do with you.

The ministers of the cabinet government are not fools. That is why the term of office of the cabinet government is five years and this development plan is also for five years.

This phenomenon happens from time to time in various countries, and Carlo will not stop it. After all, only when the development plan is truly related to their own political achievements and future prospects will these officials make every effort to promote the completion of the plan.

What we need to worry about is a situation where the government changes frequently and the policies promulgated by the previous government are not implemented by the next government.

This was the case during the reign of Amadeo and the subsequent Republican period in Spanish history. Can we say that all the prime ministers in Spain during this period were incompetent? I'm afraid not.

But the biggest problem is that the Spanish government changed too quickly during this period. Each cabinet government would just promulgate laws and the next government would come to power.

The new cabinet government will certainly not continue the policies of the previous government. After all, even if such policies achieve political achievements, the credit will not have much to do with them.

Some governments even have completely opposite ideological attitudes to the previous government, some support reforms and some oppose them. It would be strange if Spain could develop during this chaotic period.

In history, Spain had nine governments during the reign of Amadeo. Even if we exclude the reigns of Serrano and Primo, there were still seven cabinet governments.

Amadeo ruled Spain for only two and a half years at most, during which time he went through seven cabinet governments, with the average term of office of each cabinet government being less than half a year.

Such frequent changes of government meant that Amadeo was doomed to be unable to rule a stable Spain.

But this cannot be entirely blamed on Amadeo. After all, before he arrived in Spain, his biggest supporter, Prime Minister Primo, had been assassinated.

It was precisely because he did not have the biggest supporter that the Spanish government changed frequently during Amadeo's reign. The king did not have much power and naturally could not interfere in the chaotic situation of the government.

Carlo also fully understood the disadvantages of frequent changes of government, so he was very cautious about the change of government, and did not even plan to change the Spanish Prime Minister in the short term.

Of course, it is impossible to change the prime minister now. Unless Prime Minister Primo voluntarily withdraws from the election of the cabinet prime minister, his victory is a matter of course.

However, considering Prime Minister Primo's age, perhaps after the next cabinet government, he will no longer have the motivation to run for election.

After all, although the Spanish Prime Minister represents enormous power second only to the Prime Minister, he also represents considerable responsibilities and obligations.

Prime Minister Primo's goal is not to maintain the status quo in Spain, but to reform Spain into an advanced and developed European power.

To this end, the Spanish Prime Minister brings more of a heavy burden than the joy of having enormous power.

After Prime Minister Primo gave a brief work report, the next meeting was for the ministers of various cabinet departments to give detailed reports on the work of each department.

Carlo also listened in detail to several departments that he was more interested in, and gained a more detailed understanding of Spain's current development status.

Spain's population data is not just as simple as growing to 1745 million. From the perspective of the overall population growth rate, Spain's newborn population is constantly increasing, which is a good thing for Spain.

At least it proves that the Spanish government's efforts have not been in vain, and the burden on the people is being effectively reduced, allowing them to have the mood, time and energy to have children.

It is also for this reason that the people's livelihood department estimated Spain's future population growth rate and total population size, predicting that by the beginning of 1875, Spain's total population would exceed 1800 million.

If this good population growth rate continues, Spain may even have the hope of increasing its total population to over 1885 million before 2000.

Although such data is only an estimate based on the current population growth rate, it is definitely good news.

毕竟1885年距离一战仍然还有接近30年的时间，西班牙如果有希望在1885年将人口提高到2000万，自然也有希望在一战之前将人口提高到接近3000万的水平。

However, this is indeed just an estimate, or a beautiful fantasy. Whether Spain's population growth rate can continue to maintain such a high level is a question worth pondering. The current high population growth does not mean that it will remain the same in the future.

However, considering the government's recently announced policy to encourage childbirth, regardless of the time it will take for the population to reach 2000 million or 3000 million, at least in recent years, Spain's population is definitely developing in a good direction.

In the overall population data, it is also worth noting the increase in the number of immigrants. During the reign of Queen Isabel, Spain did not receive many immigrants each year, and even had a large outflow of people every year, going to other European countries, colonies and former colonies in South America.

In recent years, the overall scale of immigration to Spain has been increasing.

In 1872, Spain welcomed more than 2 immigrants, most of whom were from Italy and Austria-Hungary.

Carlo's Italian identity is still very important, at least in the minds of Italians. Many Italians who can't make a living in Italy will also consider Spain when they immigrate.

But they are still a minority after all. More Italians still choose to immigrate outside Europe. After all, Spain and Italy are not much different.

Carlo generally welcomes these immigrants. First of all, the number of immigrants is not large, and it will not have a big impact on the overall ethnic ratio in Spain.

As long as Spaniards remain the main ethnic group in Spain and make up the majority of the Spanish population, Spain is not exclusive of other ethnic groups.

Of course, it is impossible for African blacks. At present, discrimination against blacks by white people in Europe is still quite serious, and it is rare to see blacks choose to immigrate to Europe.

After all, if they immigrate to Europe, they will not only not get a better environment, but will also be discriminated against by the vast majority of Europeans.

There are even some more extreme white supremacists who will wantonly bully or even massacre black people. As long as these white people are rich and powerful, the local government generally won't care.

It will take a long time for black people to obtain real human rights. At least before the world war, countries around the world were not short of population, and black people were just laborers, a labor force that did not require them to worry about their lives.

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(End of this chapter)