Foreign policy consensus and parliamentary diplomacy in the face of Egypt’s failed political transition (2011-2015)

Abstract

The Spanish parliament played a central role in building a consensus position on Spanish foreign policy in the face of the failed political transition in Egypt (2011-2015). With a preceding panorama of strong dissent in foreign policy since 2003, the formulation of a common position was extraordinary. It is worth noting that the consensus was forged in a period in which two cabinets of two different political colors alternated in the Government.

Institutional statements and debates and votes in the Foreign Affairs Committee formed the basis for the deployment of relevant parliamentary diplomacy with the Egyptian authorities. In a highly convulsive and volatile period in the Egyptian constitutional system, parliamentary diplomacy made the first exploratory contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood prior to their coming to power.

A written parliamentary question forced the Government to take a position on whether or not the fall of President Morsi amounted to a coup d'état.

This research analyzes the arrival of the Muslim Brotherhood to power through democratic elections and the concentration of all the country's powers in President Morsi, overriding the democratic system. The role of the army, religious leaders and opposition political parties in the end of the Islamist government and in the elections that brought General Abdelfatah El-Sisi to power in 2014 are also studied.

It is concluded that the fact that Spain hosts the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean is a relevant element for the maintenance of a Euro-Mediterranean foreign policy of consensus.