Felipe VI has commemorated the 40th anniversary of the failed coup of 23-F by claiming the role played, in that grave moment in the country’s history, the figure of his father Juan Carlos I, his firmness and authority that they were has said determinants for the defense and triumph of democracy.
In a sober act, almost soulless by the distance measures required by the pandemic, and indelibly marked by the rejection shown by a good number of political forces, including those that are part as a minor partner of the Government, the institution of the Crown and the democratic regime inaugurated with the Constitution in 1978, the King has highlighted how his father assumed as Head of State his responsibility and his commitment to the Constitution given the unacceptable fracture of the legitimate and legal democratic order. In this way, Felipe VI has granted the King Emeritus, today outside of Spain and reviled for his alleged opaque businesses, the leading role that corresponds to him at that historical moment and that from the parliamentary forces allied with the coalition government, and even from the ranks of the minority partner of the Executive, it is intended to undermine.
The Monarch, also, has made a plea in defense of the democratic quality of constructed Spain, he has said, for more than four decades, step by step and shoulder to shoulder, as a prior and necessary condition for coexistence and social progress. Also at this point, the speech of the head of State has been a resounding reply to those from formations such as United Podemos, ERC, Bildu, BNG, Junts, CUP, or PdeCAT who put into question the level and solvency of Spanish democracy. That is why Felipe VI has called on citizens and institutions to commit themselves to the defense, protection, and preservation of coexistence in democracy and freedom because he stressed, we know how difficult it was to achieve it and that there are always risks that can threaten her.
These words have been pronounced when the country is experiencing a spiral of violent protests, mainly focused on Barcelona, demanding the release of rapper Pablo Hasel, who was convicted, after reoffending, for exalting terrorism. A riot that has been justified, and even encouraged, from the ranks of the purple formation and its allies in Congress. The King has not ignored in his speech the need for democracy, as a living concept that it is to face without losing its foundations the new challenges of society, giving space in it and recognition to all citizens.
Felipe VI has closed his brief speech, which did not have the applause of the second vice president, Pablo Iglesias, assuring his commitment stronger and more firm than ever with the Constitution, as well as the vocation of the Crown to be an institution that includes, integrate and unite all Spaniards. His last words have served to send a message to all citizens that he has urged to continue strengthening, increasing, and enriching the path of freedom and democracy. Iglesias, minutes before Felipe VI arrived at the Congress of Deputies summoned the journalists outside the Chamber’s facilities to insist on his republican aspirations and criticize that Juan Carlos I may be outside of Spain, despite the investigations that are being carried out. they carry out their alleged opaque businesses, while within the country people are imprisoned for their tweets or their songs.
Before the King, the president of the Congress, Meritxell Batet, celebrated the “determined action that the public institutions led by King Don Juan Carlos in defense of democracy had in the face of the events of 23-F. They used, Batet said, effectively their constitutional capabilities to defeat the coup plotters. Thanks to all of them the president of Congress insisted, the attempted coup belongs to the past and is inconceivable for today’s Spanish society. From that emerged, in his opinion, a democracy recognized in the world and fully integrated into the international community of free states. Those who defended the Constitution he added managed to keep their values and their options alive and in force today and with that, they won the future for Spain.
Despite all this Batet has warned that today the dangers that loom over the democratic system lie in the delegitimization and instrumentalization of democratic institutions themselves to denature them thus turning democracy into a facade stripped of its fundamental contents the pluralism, freedoms, equality of people, and the social cohesion of a community made up of free citizens. The victory of democracy in our time, has stressed the third authority of the state is built with the same wickers that have brought us here, citizenship and institutionality.
