Dancing around the truth
On 40th anniversary of constitution King Felipe VI claims it can bring “harmony” and refers in passing to “political problems” in Spain
Politicians and social leaders arrested, his exclusionary speech of last October 3rd, the crisis of an autonomy statute as of yet unsigned because of wilful blockage by the Constitutional Court, justice in stasis thanks to a duel between the PSOE and the PP, the lack of impartiality in the Supreme Court aired in the senate by a PP spokesperson and the recent eruption of racist and sexist Vox outlaws… this is the context into which Felipe VI came to Congress yesterday to celebrate 40 years of the Spanish constitution. He went so far as mentioning some “political, economic and social problems”, as well as “possible errors over four decades”, but did his best to tiptoe around all the open fronts, showing a wilful ignorance of the various crises ongoing in modern Spain. Accompanied by King Emeritus Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia, Felipe VI praised himself and defended the validity of the “reconciliation” and “understanding” written into the Constitution of 1978. Also in attendance were the three remaining living fathers of the constitution – it had no mothers - as well as Spanish ex-presidents Rajoy, Zapatero, Aznar and González. Notable absences included Catalan President Quim Torra,the Basque leader Íñigo Urkullu, of Francina Armengol (Balearic Islands), Ximo Puig, (País Valencià) and the Republican left (ERC). En Comú –Podemos didn’t absent themselves, but pointedly stood still with their arms crossed during the ovations and shouts of “Long live the King”. Pablo Iglesias explained “we do not applaud the King. In 2018, inmodern Spain we cannot countenance that the head of state could come as a result of heredity”.