2023-10-29 23:16:46
This Tuesday, Princess Leonor de Borbón Ortiz will turn 18 and will swear allegiance to the Constitution as heir to the throne of Spain in a solemn ceremony in the Congress of Deputies.
However, the Catalan and Basque separatist deputies will be conspicuous by their absence, added to the fact that they will do so with an acting president, given that Pedro Sánchez continues in the bid to negotiate with other parties the possibility of forming a Government and being re-elected in office. This is one of the most symbolic institutional acts of the 15th legislature and one of the most important events for the Spanish people.
The session will be marked by the absence of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), Junts, EH Bildu and the Galician Nationalist Bloc, whose leaders have reaffirmed their criticism of the monarchical model that governs the country. Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu, president of the Basque Country, and the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, will not attend either. These are, in short, the main Catalan, Basque and Galician separatists.
ERC spokesperson, Gabriel Rufián, stated that his party will not attend the session because the monarchy is an “absolutely anachronistic, corrupt and opaque institution, which does not stand for elections.” Similar reasons were given by others. This Tuesday’s session will be attended by King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia Ortiz and Infanta Sofía in an event scheduled for 11 in the morning.
The monarchy is an absolutely anachronistic, corrupt and opaque institution, which does not stand for elections
The script has already been released to the press. The acting president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, and Teodoro Esteban López, chief of the Defense Staff, will receive the royal family. The session will begin with the interpretation of the national anthem, a speech by the president of Congress, the reading of article 61 of the Constitution and the oath of Princess Leonor before all the congressmen present. She will also receive the necklace of the Order of Charles III.
To celebrate Princess Leonor’s coming of age, the Royal House distributed a photo album with 20 unpublished images of the successor to the Crown. Among them, she appears when she was in kindergarten, during the celebration of the victory of the Spanish National Team in the 2012 Euro Cup and when, at eight years of age, she boarded an Air Force fighter.
Princess Leonor in her military uniform
Airs to the monarchy
Upon turning 18, the Princess of Asturias will officially become the first successor to the Spanish throne, according to constitutional regulations, marking the beginning of a new monarchical stage, since it can only be carried out when the heir, in this case heiress, at throne reaches the age of majority and, therefore, swears loyalty to be the one who will command – when necessary – the Spanish Crown.
With the act of the oath of loyalty to the Constitution, the monarchy ensures its historical and constitutional continuity. Supported by the majority parties -PP and PSOE-, the institutional projection of the princess is assured.
However, Leonor will not have easy times and will experience a very different situation from the one faced in 1986 when the then Prince Felipe was sworn in before a parliamentary arch in which the politicians in charge of writing the 1978 Constitution, the first of the Constitution, were present. newly inaugurated Spanish democracy, including José Antonio Ardanza and Jordi Pujol, leaders of the Basque Country and Catalonia, respectively.
The then president of Congress, Gregorio Peces-Barba, stressed in his speech that “the Crown is a constitutional body” and recalled that the political consensus at that time, with a socialist majority in Parliament and with the presence of the opposition in hemicycle, “helps understand the solidity of the constitutional situation.”
The words of one of the “fathers” of the Spanish Magna Carta were framed in an era that came from the transition to democracy after the Franco dictatorship (1939-1975) and overcoming an attempted coup d’état, on February 23 1981, just five years ago.
Political unity and respect for the parliamentary monarchy prevailed.
And the current political polarization in Spain, together with the fiscal irregularities of the emeritus king, Juan Carlos I, abroad, have exacerbated the positions of the defenders and detractors of Corona.
Most political parties emphasize that the current monarchy is facing the new times well despite the fact that the left and the independence and nationalist parties continue to demand some changes, such as the suppression of the inviolability of the king.
A more current and modern Spain will be present in the speech that the current president of Congress, the socialist Francina Armengol, will make before the princess’s oath of office.
Another point in her favor is that Leonor was saved from a strong debate that she would have engaged in if she had had a male brother (the kings had two daughters), since he would have been the one to inherit the throne even if he was younger in age.
In any case, the monarchy does not seem to be drowning in Spain yet. Especially because King Felipe VI has been very careful in his private behavior, knowing that one false step could bring down the entire institution. Hence, he has tried to demonstrate that the Crown is a means of unity in a country marked by separatist impulses.
For now, Princess Leonor will continue her military and academic training, while the country remains in the strong political tension that does not subside, with her eyes fixed on Pedro Sánchez’s negotiations with the separatists, the only ones who can make him president with their vote. .
That is the paradox: the majority of the population wants to remain united, but the cries of those who prefer splitting are heard louder. What is worrying is that they are the ones who have the upper hand. In any case, the monarchy will try to adjust to the new conditions of a country that no longer venerates it as it did a few decades ago, but which does not seem willing to be a Republic either.
JUANITA SAMPER OSPINA
TIME CORRESPONDENT
MADRID
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