Constitution reform definitively approved for Formentera to have its own senator
The fourth reform of the Spanish Constitution has already finished its path, counting only with the rejection of Vox, for which reason it will be sent directly to the BOE
PalmaThe plenary session of the Senate has definitively approved this Wednesday the reform of the Spanish Constitution promoted by the Balearic Parliament that modifies article 69.3 so that the island of Formentera has its own senator and is detached from the electoral tandem it currently forms with Ibiza.
The fourth reform of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 has already completed its journey, with only the rejection of Vox, which is why it will be sent directly to the Official State Gazette (BOE). The president of the Balearic Islands, Marga Prohens, was present at the vote on this constitutional reform in the Senate.
The Senate, like the Congress, decided to process it in a single reading, without going through a committee or commission, and therefore no amendments have been presented and only the text that came from Congress has been voted on.
The definitive support of the PP was unblocked in Congress after the PSOE allowed an amendment to this reform to be approved so that the denomination "Ibiza" in Spanish is maintained in the Constitution and not "Eivissa" as proposed by the Balearic Parliament. In any case, the Balearic Parliament has tried to approve this constitutional reform in the Cortes Generales for three more legislatures unsuccessfully, although the Cortes Generales pressed the accelerator and it has finally been approved.
Currently, Formentera and Ibiza share a joint electoral constituency for Senate elections, a position that in this legislature is held by Juanjo Ferrer, who ran in the last elections with the joint candidacy of PSOE, Sumar, EUIB and Ara Eivissa.
Reform of article 69.3
The proposal from the Parliament of the Balearic Islands, which has finally been approved, is that section 3 of Article 69 of the Spanish Constitution should include in its wording that one senator corresponds to the following islands: Ibiza, Formentera, Menorca, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote, and La Palma.
They also include a single additional provision so that the effectiveness of the creation of the electoral constituency in the Senate for the island of Formentera "will be delayed" until the immediate Senate elections, once this reform of the Spanish Constitution has entered into force.
Territorial peculiarities
In the statement of reasons, the Balearic Parliament argues that this reform of the Constitution attempts to ensure that "the territorial, geographical and existential singularities of all the territories that make up Spain, in all their constitutive plurality and diversity" are effectively "recognized" in the Senate.
At the same time, it highlights the islands' leading role so that a decision like this "is considered a good constitutional reform", felt "as its own and cherished, within the Balearic archipelago itself (in full equality with the Canary Islands) and, by extension, in the whole of Spain".
