Every December 24th, the King of Spain speaks to his subjects. As so often, the explanations of Felipe VI. badly received in Catalonia and particularly in Separatist circles.
The pro-independence movement, which had thronged to pay homage to Francesc Macià, the former President of Catalonia who died 89 years ago, at his tomb, criticized King Felipe VI’s Christmas speech.
In his traditional Christmas speech, Felipe VI. “Responsibility” and “loyalty” to avoid “the decay of the institutions” following the political crisis provoked by the renewal of the judges of the Constitutional Court. An issue tearing left and right apart is playing out behind the scenes at the heart of the Spanish judiciary, which is certainly independent but terribly politicized. After the vote by the deputies, the reform, which includes the renewal of the judges, was suspended by the Constitutional Court itself, which vetoed it.
In the background, the socialist government is fighting for far-reaching reforms, particularly with regard to the abolition of the severe penalties that led to the conviction of the Catalan separatist leaders.
In the short sentence of Felipe VI. there was therefore renewed suspicion towards the independence circles, which answered him this Sunday morning at the tomb of Francesc Macià.
“The monarchy is not exemplary”
Thus, the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, went to the Montjuïc hill, accompanied by a large part of his government. The Catalan President criticized King Felipe VI’s Christmas speech. and demanded an overcoming of the current structure of the Spanish state. He called for “republican values” against a monarchy that “is no example of institutional integrity or integrity, nor is the institutional architecture of the 1978 regime.” Thinly veiled attack on the antics of Juan-Carlos, king emeritus, mired in scandals but never prosecuted, notably for multiple embezzlements.
MPs from Junts, the former allies of Aragonès independence, also went to Macià’s tomb this Sunday morning, but at a different time. The opportunity for a double attack on the king and the Catalan president. “Macià challenges us because he was a president who fought to defend the rights of the Catalans in the face of the Spanish impulse that belittles them.”
Another centre-right pro-independence party, the PDeCat, replied to the king by saying: “Maintain your loyalty to the Catalan people”.