Felipe González and José María Aznar to discuss the Constitution

Former Prime Ministers Felipe González and José María Aznar are to sit down together next Thursday, September 20th, to discuss the past, present and future of the Constitution. The event, moderated by the editor-in-chief of EL PAÍS, Soledad Gallego-Díaz, inaugurates the special coverage that the newspaper has prepared for the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Spain’s constitution.

The former leaders– who have enjoyed the longest in tenures in Spain’s democracy – will address the importance and relevance of the constitution at the Official College of Architects of Madrid, official collaborator of the event. EL PAÍS readers can follow the debate via streaming on the newspaper's website.

The event is the first in a series that the newspaper has organized together with radio broadcaster Cadena SER that will bring together leading figures to analyze the Constitution. The debates are due to take place in cities such as Seville and Barcelona, ​​with the sponsorship of Toyota Hybrid. Salamanca will also host one of these events, with the collaboration of the Junta de Castilla y León, the City Council and the University, which celebrates its eighth centenary.

EL PAÍS will be providing exclusive editorial coverage and content, looking at the constitution from a range of different perspectives, and will be featuring opinion from some of the authors of the text, members of parliament from the period, former prime ministers, constitutional experts, regional government leaders, young university students and representatives of civil society. Together, they’ll be looking at the most outstanding aspects of the document and how it has evolved. Reports and articles of all kinds on this key episode in the history of Spain will be brought together in a special magazine and a special multimedia feature.

In keeping with EL PAÍS’s ongoing commitment to audiovisual content, there’ll also be an online documentary directed by Juan Pajares, with the support of Prodigioso Volcán and Pólvora Films.This is set to be a journey through the text of the Constitution, with anonymous citizens of all ages and from all over Spain reading each article. Each reading will be accompanied by an explanation by experts and analysis by leading figures from the worlds of culture, sports, politics and the arts. There will be links to publications, tweets related to the content of the articles, and a series of infographics that will show the results of a survey.

Óscar Mariné is in charge of the graphics for this special anniversary. The designer says he has drawn on "constructivist ideas that see knowledge and culture as a process that are forever in motion, that are participatory and interactive" to create a logo that frames the celebration. As the artist explains, the symbol aims to convey a concept of visual modernity built with typography and geometry, that is inspired by solid and contemporary values, ​​and which seeks, with its power, to involve our youngest citizens.