Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 176: Chapter 141: Christmas_2

This can effectively promote the development of the grape industry. Compared to simply growing grains, the income from growing grapes is significantly higher.

But the bad news is that in the north of Spain, there is a country more famous for its grape industry, which is France.

French wine is truly the bestseller in Europe, even causing a scramble among the majority of European nobility.

Of course, this has certain historical reasons. During France’s most prosperous period, the language used in diplomacy by European nobles was French.

When nobles provided elite aristocratic education to their children, besides learning their own country’s language, the first foreign language they learned was French.

With the spread of French, French wine also became popular throughout Europe. Although France has been in continuous decline, the nobility of various countries has not lessened their affection for French wine.

There are even legends about Lafite in later generations. Although most of the Lafite on the market is counterfeit, its fame proves how vast and renowned France’s wine industry is.

Even though Spain has one of the world’s top ten wine regions, in terms of wine, it clearly cannot compete with France.

Not to mention France, even across the Mediterranean to the east, Italy also has one of the world’s top ten wine regions and is also a competitor for Spain’s wine exports.

Soon, the Spanish nobility received news that His Majesty the King would hold a grand court banquet at the Imperial Palace on Christmas Day.

For the personal invitation of His Majesty the King, these nobles naturally had no reason to refuse. Of course, no one would decline the King’s invitation. After all, this is not only an opportunity for the King to strengthen relations with them but also for them to get closer to the King.

This large-scale court banquet invited most of the Grand Dukes and Dukes near Madrid, counting as a high-level gathering of the Spanish nobility class.

Including Duke Prime Minister Prim and Duke Serrano, the nobles participating in this banquet either have significant influence within the nobility class or hold some prestige in government and military.

Of course, Antonio Canovas del Castillo and Soler Jovellar were also among them.

Cavanos is the current Minister of Agriculture in the Cabinet Government and a main leader of the Spanish Conservative Party. Although Soler Jovellar is just an ordinary member of Parliament, he gained prominence by showing loyalty to Carlo early on and has thus been heavily utilized by Carlo.

After all, although Spanish parliamentary seats are limited, most are controlled by Prime Minister Prim, and members of Parliament like Soler Jovellar supporting Carlo are quite important.

Just like the recent affordable housing proposal, whatever Carlo wishes to submit to Parliament can be submitted by Soler Jovellar, thus alleviating the risks Carlo himself would bear.

Moreover, Members of Parliament not only have the power to elect the Cabinet Government, but they also have the right to run for the Cabinet Government.

In the future, after Prime Minister Prim and Duke Serrano gradually withdraw from the Spanish political arena, the next Cabinet Government will surely be formed through elections among parliament members.

In other words, the current Members of Parliament are highly likely to be members of the next Cabinet Government.

Of course, the prerequisite is that they remain as members of Parliament by the time of the next Cabinet Government election.

According to the Spanish constitution, representatives are elected based on population proportion in different regions to form the Spanish Senate, which is essentially the parliament.

Senators are elected every three years and can theoretically serve indefinitely. As long as they are supported by the local Spanish population, they can continue serving as members of the Senate.

Since the current Cabinet of the Spanish Government was elected in February 1869, the next Cabinet election will be in February 1874, five years later.

When February 1874 arrives, members of the Senate may run for the position of Prime Minister of the Cabinet and determine the final Prime Minister after votes by all members of the Senate.

Although there are no party requirements to run for Prime Minister, candidates must either be non-partisan members or actual leaders of a party.

Party members cannot run for Prime Minister, but can only assist their party leader in the Prime Minister election, subsequently obtaining seats as Cabinet Ministers during Cabinet formation.

After all, the Prime Minister is the leader of the Spanish Government. If they cannot be the top leader within a party, wouldn’t the position of Spanish Prime Minister, paramount yet ruling over countless people, be even more challenging?

If there is a requirement for party leaders to be candidates, it effectively screens candidates for Prime Minister based on prestige. Only by having enough prestige can a Prime Minister suppress the entire Cabinet Government. A Prime Minister without much prestige would instead lead to greater chaos in the Cabinet.

Although non-partisan individuals do not have this requirement, in reality, running as non-partisan is more difficult. Candidates running as party leaders can still leverage their entire party’s power to assist their campaign.

However, if one is a non-partisan, they can only rely on themselves, and the difficulty is certainly multiplied several times over.

According to the Spanish Constitution, one can assume the position of Spanish Government Prime Minister by securing over 60% of Senate votes.

If one or one’s party can achieve 60% of the votes through effort, such a Prime Minister would have entirely free authority to form a government.

But if one’s party alone cannot secure 60% of the votes, it is possible to combine efforts with other parties to collectively reach 60%.

However, the Prime Minister position obtained through coalition would also have considerable limitations, as others would not assist in the Prime Minister campaign unconditionally, and compromises would surely be necessary during Cabinet formation.

The Spanish Constitution stipulates that if no coalition Cabinet exceeds 60% of votes, the individual or party leader with the highest number of votes will become the Spanish Prime Minister, and other parties and independents will have the right to run for other Cabinet seats.

In other words, if 60% of the votes cannot be obtained, all positions in the Spanish Cabinet will be decided through election rather than being appointed after selecting a Prime Minister.

Regardless of the method used to establish a Cabinet Government, the Cabinet Government must swear allegiance to Carlo as the King.

This step was customary in monarchies, aimed at demonstrating the King’s supreme authority to the Cabinet Government, reminding them who the real master of the country is.

Prime Minister Prim retained this custom mainly to protect Spain’s monarchy and stability. After all, when he chose the monarchy as the government body, the monarchy and his fate were linked.

The more stable the monarchy in Spain, the more energy Prime Minister Prim’s government would have to advance Spain’s reforms.

Conversely, if the monarchy system in Spain is unstable, as a supporter of the monarchy, Prime Minister Prim naturally wouldn’t have much energy left to push for reforms.

The Cabinet Government is elected by the Senate, and the chiefs of various regions are also elected by their regional assemblies, including cities and towns, which mostly follow electoral procedures.

The Senate and regional assemblies also hold the power to impeach officials. Currently, Spain’s political system resembles a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, where power mainly concentrates in the parliament.

It closely aligns with the political system of the United Kingdom, or it is to say that the Spanish Constitution heavily references the UK’s constitutional provisions.

After all, at the time, the United Kingdom was undoubtedly the strongest nation globally and a representative of constitutional monarchy, referencing the UK Constitution was quite routine.

As Spain’s King, Carlo holds a rather unique position in Spain’s political system. Nominally, his power is vast, but he needs significant influence.

If he lacks influence in politics and the military, his power is more like a void, and barely exercisable.