Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 183: Chapter 143: Annual Work Report 3

The new cabinet government coming to power will certainly not continue the policies of the previous government, as such policies, even if successful, would not contribute much credit to them.

Some governments even have completely opposite ideological attitudes to the previous ones; some support reform, while others oppose it. It would be surprising if Spain saw development in this chaotic period.

Historically, during Amadeo’s reign in Spain, there were nine cabinets altogether. Even removing the earliest periods of Serrano and Prim’s rule, there were still seven cabinet governments.

However, the time Amadeo ruled Spain was only two and a half years in total. Within these two and a half years, there were seven cabinets, with the average term being less than six months per cabinet government.

Such frequent government changes destined Amadeo to be unable to govern a stable Spain.

But it wasn’t entirely Amadeo’s fault. After all, before he arrived in Spain, his greatest supporter, Prime Minister Prim, had already been assassinated.

It was precisely due to the lack of this major support that the Spanish government during Amadeo’s reign changed so frequently, leaving the King with little power and unable to intervene in the chaotic government situation.

Carlo also truly understood the drawbacks of frequent government changes, hence he was quite cautious about such changes, not even planning to change the Spanish Prime Minister in the short term.

Of course, even if one wanted to change the Prime Minister now, it wouldn’t be feasible. Unless Prime Minister Prim voluntarily withdrew from the election for the Cabinet Prime Minister, his victory would be expected.

However, given Prime Minister Prim’s age, perhaps after the next cabinet government, he might no longer have the motivation to run.

After all, while the Spanish Prime Minister represents immense power second to none, it also signifies considerable responsibility and duty.

Prime Minister Prim’s goal was not to maintain the status quo of Spain but to reform Spain into an advanced and developed European powerhouse.

With this goal in mind, being the Spanish Prime Minister brings more of a heavy burden rather than the joy of immense power.

After a brief work report by Prime Minister Prim, the subsequent meeting was followed by detailed reports on the work of various departments by ministers from each cabinet department.

Carlo also carefully listened to several departments he was interested in, gaining a more detailed understanding of Spain’s current development status.

The population data of Spain isn’t just about the simple increase to 17.45 million. From the perspective of overall population growth rate, the new birth rate in Spain is continuously rising, which is a good thing for Spain.

At the very least, it proves that the efforts of the Spanish Government have not been in vain, and the burden on the people is effectively reducing, allowing them to have the mood, time, and energy to have children.

For this reason, the civil affairs department estimated the future population growth rate and total population of Spain, predicting that by early 1875, the total population of Spain might break the 18 million mark.

If such a favorable population growth rate continues, Spain might even hope to raise its total population to over 20 million before 1885.

Although this data is estimated based on the current population growth rate, it is definitely good news.

After all, by 1885, there would still be nearly 30 years before World War I. If Spain hopes to increase its population to 20 million by 1885, it would naturally also hope to raise it to nearly 30 million before the onset of World War I.

However, this is indeed just an estimate or perhaps a beautiful fantasy. Whether Spain’s population growth rate can consistently remain so high is an issue worth pondering. The current population high growth does not guarantee the future will be the same.

Still, considering the recently implemented government policies encouraging childbirth, disregarding the timeline for reaching 20 million and 30 million population, at least in the coming years, Spain’s population is undoubtedly moving in a positive direction.

In the overall population data, the increase in immigration numbers is also worth noting. During Queen Isabella’s period, the number of immigrants coming to Spain each year was not many, and there was even a substantial outflow of population annually, heading to other European countries, colonies, and those countries in South America that were former colonies.

In recent years, the overall scale of immigration to Spain is on the rise.

In the year 1872, Spain welcomed over 20,000 immigrants, the vast majority of whom were from Italy and Austria-Hungary.

Carlo’s Italian identity remains relatively important, at least in the minds of Italians. Many Italians, unable to make a living in their homeland, would also consider Spain when immigrating.

However, this is ultimately a minority. More Italians still choose to immigrate outside of Europe since Spain and Italy aren’t much different.

Towards these immigrants, Carlo generally maintains a welcoming attitude. Firstly, the number of immigrants is not large enough to significantly affect the overall ethnic ratio of Spain.

As long as the Spaniards remain the main ethnic group in Spain, occupying the majority of the population, Spain does not exclude other ethnicities.

Of course, African blacks are impossible. At present, racial discrimination by European whites against blacks remains quite severe, and it is rare to see blacks opting to immigrate to Europe.

After all, immigrating to Europe would not only not bring them a better environment, but they would also face discrimination from the vast majority of Europeans.

In fact, some more extreme white supremacists would even blatantly bully or even massacre blacks. As long as these whites have money and power, generally, the local government does not interfere much.

Blacks seeking true human rights will take a long time. At least before experiencing world wars, countries around the world do not lack population, and blacks are merely labor, labor that doesn’t need to worry about life.