Chapter 162: The Second Five-Year Plan

The splitting of the Ministry of Industry was merely a minor interlude for Prime Minister Primo and Luo Lun, and it would not damage the tacit cooperative relationship the two currently shared.

The previous Minister of Industry, Luis, also successfully became the first Minister of Transportation and Communications following the establishment of that department, retaining his position as a cabinet minister.

With a candidate selected for the Minister of Transportation and Communications, the full roster of Spain's new cabinet government was freshly unveiled.

According to the Spanish Constitution, after the Prime Minister nominates candidates for the various ministerial positions, the final list must be submitted to the King of Spain.

Only after the King of Spain personally signs the appointments of the cabinet members can these individuals nominated by the Prime Minister be considered cabinet members.

Of course, Luo Lun, as the King of Spain, certainly has the power to reject the nominated cabinet members and demand that the Prime Minister select new ones.

However, such power is generally not exercised; after all, the cabinet ministers nominated by the Prime Minister are essentially their own confidants, and a direct rejection would be equivalent to a falling out with the Prime Minister.

Once the cabinet members were confirmed, Prime Minister Primo lost no time in announcing the expectations for the Second Five-Year Plan to the cabinet government, and required each department to make adjustments within a certain range to their tasks in the Five-Year Plan based on their actual circumstances.

Practical discussions with each department are very necessary, as the detailed content of the Five-Year Plan still needs to be executed by the departments themselves.

If this step were missing, the goals of the Five-Year Plan could become empty and grandiose; either the goals would be impossible to achieve, leading subordinates in various departments to engage in fraud, or the goals would be too easy for Spain to achieve, causing the Five-Year Plan to lose its original significance.

The Second Five-Year Plan proposed by Prime Minister Primo is even more important than the first, serving as a crucial goal that connects the past and the future.

Looking at the expressions of the cabinet ministers after they received Prime Minister Primo's Second Five-Year Development Plan, one could tell just how exaggerated this plan was.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, is it not somewhat unreasonable to increase the scale of the railways to 11, 00 kilometers before 1879?" Although he did not want to stand up and oppose Prime Minister Primo, in order for the Department of Transportation and Communications to successfully complete its tasks over the next five years, Luis had no choice but to stand up and voice his dissenting opinion.

Spain's current total railway mileage is only just over 7, 00 kilometers, and this was only achieved because the industrial department vigorously built railways last year.

There is currently a gap of 3, 00 kilometers to reach the 11, 00-kilometer milestone; to build over 3, 00 kilometers of railway in five years, the average annual construction would have to exceed 700 kilometers.

And that was only achieved because the Ministry of Industry was building railways frantically in 1873. If one follows the level of the first four years of that Five-Year Plan, the average annual construction was actually only a little over 300 kilometers.

Yet the Second Five-Year Plan proposed by Prime Minister Primo requires an average of over 700 kilometers of railway construction per year, which is nearly double the speed of the first Five-Year Plan.

Moreover, the Department of Transportation and Communications has only just been separated from the Ministry of Industry, and whether it can quickly reach the speed at which the industrial department once built railways remains an unknown.

Prime Minister Primo had long anticipated that someone would raise different opinions; he nodded calmly, looked at Minister Luis, and said, "Does the Department of Transportation and Communications have any other opinions?"

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, I believe the goal for the Department of Transportation and Communications should be to increase our total railway mileage to 10, 00 kilometers within the five-year development plan.

Our current railway construction speed cannot meet the requirement of 11, 00 kilometers unless the government is willing to increase capital investment and simultaneously start more railway construction projects," Minister of Transportation and Communications Luis said through gritted teeth.

"Considering the difficulty for each department to complete its tasks, this year's fiscal budget will be increased. As for problems other than funding, you departments must find ways to solve them yourselves." Having said this, Prime Minister Primo's expression became even more serious, and he was blunt even toward his own party subordinates:

"If you feel you cannot complete such a task, you might as well bring it up early. That way, I will have more time to report to His Majesty the King and replace the cabinet minister position sooner."

"Understood, Your Excellency Prime Minister. The Department of Transportation and Communications will do everything in its power to complete your task." Luis immediately understood that Prime Minister Primo was making an example of him; he nodded solemnly and dared not raise any further objections.

With this incident involving Luis, the other cabinet ministers dared not raise any different opinions and could only nod along, indicating they understood.

Prime Minister Primo nodded with satisfaction, and the new Five-Year Development Plan was officially confirmed.

Although the goals of this development plan were more ambitious than the previous one, they were not impossible dreams for the various departments.

As long as the government increases investment and the officials in each department put in a little effort, achieving the goals is not a problem.

Take the 3, 00 kilometers of railway for the Department of Transportation and Communications as an example. Although Spain built over 2, 00 kilometers of railway during the last Five-Year Development Plan, only 1, 00 kilometers were built in the first four years, while over 600 kilometers were built in the final year.

According to the development trend, it is not difficult for the Department of Transportation and Communications to complete the annual target of 700 kilometers of railway construction; at the very least, there is hope of achieving it.

The situation in other departments is much the same. Although the goals are difficult, as long as they work hard, there is still a great deal of hope.

After the cabinet departments confirmed the final Five-Year Development Plan, Prime Minister Primo submitted the complete plan to Luo Lun.

Because this was only a plan, it did not need to be submitted to the Senate for a vote. In fact, it was more like a goal the cabinet government set for itself to spur the cabinet ministers to work hard to achieve it.

But if the goals in the Five-Year Plan could be successfully completed, it would definitely be a great achievement and would be beneficial for the cabinet government's re-election five years later.

Even if one could not be elected Prime Minister, it could serve as a manifestation of one's political achievements and capabilities, to be displayed to the Prime Minister of the next cabinet government, thereby gaining the opportunity to be re-promoted as a cabinet minister.

Spain has specific requirements for the term of the Prime Minister: each term is five years, and one can only serve two consecutive terms.

However, there are no specific requirements for other cabinet ministers; as long as they have the ability and have gained the Prime Minister's trust, there is no problem with them serving consecutively until they die.

The reason there are no specific requirements for the terms of cabinet ministers is entirely to make better use of these capable talents.

If a person is very capable but has to bid farewell to the cabinet government at a young age because of the term limit for cabinet ministers, that would be a loss for Spain.

When Luo Lun saw the Five-Year Development Plan formulated by Prime Minister Primo, his first reaction was some surprise, but he quickly understood Prime Minister Primo's thinking.

Although the overall goals of the Five-Year Plan were more ambitious than before, the problem is that the Spain of today is by no means the Spain of five years ago.

What's more, the economic crisis is still ongoing. Spain's "buy, buy, buy" and "dig, dig, dig" actions are still continuing, and every day a large amount of foreign equipment and technical data is transported to Spain and then transferred to other enterprises and factories.

Perhaps no results will be seen within a year or two, but after three or four years, when Spain's enterprises and factories have thoroughly absorbed these foreign equipment and technical data and are able to independently produce and research, Spain's industry and other sectors will experience explosive growth.

In other words, such grand goals might seem difficult now, but considering that there are five years to complete them, there is actually a great deal of hope.

Besides, national development is inherently a process of meeting challenges head-on. If development were really that smooth and easy, wouldn't that mean the position of cabinet minister could be perfectly executed by anyone?

What are these cabinet ministers for? Isn't it for them to meet challenges head-on and lead their departments to promote Spain's development?

Luo Lun took a general look at the Five-Year Development Plan formulated by Prime Minister Primo and was quite looking forward to Spain five years later.

If all the goals in the Five-Year Plan could be properly completed, Spain could proudly call itself a powerful great power in five years.

Why say that? Because after this Five-Year Plan is completed, Spain's total industrial scale, heavy industrial scale, and military industrial scale will have completely caught up with Italy.

In terms of economic scale, it might not be as good as Italy, after all, Italy has a larger population. Furthermore, Spain's military expansion will be completely finished, and the total combat power and scale of both the navy and army will exceed Italy's.

If Italy can be called a great power, why can't Spain be called a great power?

What Luo Lun is looking forward to most is the situation regarding Spain's population. In the first Five-Year Plan, Spain's population growth exceeded 1. 5 million.

And Prime Minister Primo's preliminary expectation for the specific scale of Spain's population growth in the Second Five-Year Plan is around 1. million.

This is not blind imagination. First is the increase in the number of newborns resulting from the growth of Spain's population scale. A country with a larger population will certainly have more newborns than a country with a smaller population.

Second is the immigration from various countries during the economic crisis. Although Spain mainly digs for technical and scientific research talent, a large number of Europeans are still immigrating abroad following the economic crisis.

Spain is relatively special in this economic crisis, and coupled with the massive "digging" and "buying" that has attracted the attention of many countries and the public, it is expected that it may be welcomed by European immigrants in the future.

However, for these European immigrants, their numbers must still be controlled. This is also the reason why Prime Minister Primo initially estimated the population growth in the Five-Year Plan at 1. million.

If the number of immigrants were not limited, Spain's population would even have the hope of rising to 20 million within five years.

But such blind population growth is not a good thing. The main ethnic group of Spain is the Spanish, and the proportion of the total population occupied by the Spanish will also determine the stability within Spain.

The most obvious example that can reflect this is the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is not small, at least over 37 million, second only to Germany among the European great powers, and more than the populations of France and Britain.

But the comprehensive national strength of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is clearly below that of Britain and France, and one of the main reasons is that the ethnic distribution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is too complex, and the main people, the Austrians, or rather the Southern Germans, do not occupy a high enough proportion.

And one of the main reasons for the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I was precisely because other ethnic groups had already occupied considerable discourse power.

Although the estimated population growth is only about 1. million, Spain still has the hope of reaching a population of about 19. 5 million in 1879.

Although Spain cannot absorb too many immigrants, there is an exception for immigrants from one region, and that is immigrants from countries that once belonged to Spanish colonies.

Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and other American countries are among them. Although the populations of these countries are not purely Spanish, they definitely all have Spanish blood.

Plus, because they speak Spanish and believe in Catholicism, it is easier for Spain to assimilate them.

Attracting and accepting more immigrants from former American colonies and assimilating them into Spaniards may be the only way for Spain to quickly increase its population in a short period of time.

Unfortunately, the populations of these American countries are currently not very large, and there is ultimately an upper limit to the immigrants Spain can absorb.

Looking at Prime Minister Primo, who had been sitting respectfully on the luxurious sofa ever since he handed over the Five-Year Development Plan, Luo Lun asked with a smile: "Prime Minister Primo, how is the government's work on outward migration going?"

This is not conventional outward migration, but rather encouraging outward migration in Catalonia, the Basque region, and other areas with non-Spaniards.

Simply put, it is to encourage these non-Spaniards to migrate to regions outside of Spain through asset conversion.

After Spain promulgated the act on unifying the nation's religion and language, the living environment of these other ethnic groups who shouted every day that they were not Spanish was not that good in Spain.

According to Spanish law, those who do not admit they are Spanish are also not recognized as citizens by the Spanish government.

Without the status of a Spanish citizen, they cannot work in government and royal enterprises. It should be known that although Spain also has a minimum income guarantee, the income and welfare benefits of government and royal enterprises are clearly higher.

Being unable to enter these enterprises is equivalent to them losing many welfare policies. Some private enterprises also follow suit and refuse to let non-Spaniards join, which makes it very difficult for these groups who do not admit they are Spanish to find high-paying jobs.

For most civilians, they already admit they are Spanish. For those who have been severely brainwashed and have even become radical nationalists, they are of course unwilling to admit they are Spanish.

But this is just as well, as Spain does not welcome these radical nationalists either.

The policy of encouraging outward migration is precisely aimed at these radical nationalists, using relatively gentle means to persuade them to migrate abroad.

At this time, there is a problem, and that is what should be done about those radical nationalists who are unwilling to accept gentle persuasion and are unwilling to migrate to regions outside of Spain?

This problem is also very easy to solve, and that is to use even tougher means to force them to migrate or rebel.

"Your Majesty, the outward migration in the Catalonia region is currently going quite smoothly. Since our policy of unifying the nation was promulgated, at least ten thousand people have already chosen to migrate abroad.

Currently, more than half of the radical nationalists in Catalonia have already migrated, and it is expected that within the next five years, most of the relatively radical Catalans can be migrated abroad," Prime Minister Primo reported.

As a Catalan, Prime Minister Primo still has a relatively good understanding of the situation in Catalonia.

Most Catalans today still admit they are Spanish. As for why the tendency for Catalan independence in later generations was so serious, the main reason was the long-term brainwashing of nationalism coupled with Spain's blood-sucking of Catalonia.

Yes, for a long time in later generations, Spain was sucking the blood of Catalonia.

If one were to talk about responsibility, it actually has to be attributed to the Bourbon royal family. Why did Spain decline? There are many reasons, and one of the most important reasons is the instability of the situation in Spain since the Industrial Revolution, as well as missing two very important industrial revolutions.

The Carlist Wars, which plagued Spain for decades, were actually caused by the succession to the throne of Queen Isabel.

And the mediocre rule of Queen Isabel herself also caused Spain to completely fall from the pedestal of a great power. The industry and economy in other parts of Spain did not receive much development; instead, the Catalonia region, under the development of republicans and nationalists, became one of the most developed regions in Spain.

The developed Catalonia and Barcelona naturally became the objects of blood-sucking for the whole of Spain. The Catalans were already unhappy about this, and under the instigation of radical nationalists, it was normal for independence sentiment to become increasingly intense.

Hearing that tens of thousands of Catalans had already migrated out, Luo Lun was quite satisfied with the government's progress.

Don't look at the fact that the population of the entire Catalonia region is as high as over one million; those relatively radical nationalists are at most a few tens of thousands.

As long as they can be sent out, more than half of the problems in the Catalonia region will be solved. Without radical nationalists, it is relatively simple to assimilate Catalonia.

Although it cannot reach the same depth as other regions, there is no problem in ensuring that the vast majority of Catalans admit they are Spanish and are proud to be Spanish.

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(End of this chapter)