KING JUAN CARLOS OF SPAIN ABDICATES
Monday morning Spanish Prime
Minister Mariano Rajoy made a surprise announcement that King Juan Carlos will
step down, paving way for Prince Felipe to take over as head of state. Despite
public surprise the abdication plan had been five months in the making, and it
was agreed upon by Juan Carlos, Felipe, Rajoy and the leader of opposition,
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. This consensus among them says a lot about the moment Spain
is living.
While the conservative Popular Party enjoys an absolute majority in the parliament, the reality in the country is far from being stable. Crisis affects the vast majority, the unemployment (25%) is especially dramatic among young people (52%), the two main parties only reached 49% of the valid votes in the recent European elections and lack of consensus is always a problem when trying to deal with the big challenges of the State. Laws to reform the health, justice, education or taxes systems among other laws usually divide the parties as well as society. Furthermore, the territorial debate is more open than ever, with a scheduled consultation[1] in Catalonia and the pro-independence movement gaining votes and influence in the Basque Country, where the peace process is far from being closed.
If Juan Carlos was a key actor during the transition process after Franco’s dictatorship and his role during the attempt of coup-d’état on 23th February 1981 was crucial to stop the insurgents, it seems the effect of these merits came to an end. Even the ¿Por que no te callas? (Why don’t you shut up?) he uttered to Hugo Chávez at the 2007 Ibero-American Summit, when the President of Venezuela was repeatedly interrupting PM Zapatero's speech seems remote. The phrase became an overnight sensation, gaining cult status as a mobile-phone ringtone, spawning a domain name, a contest, T-shirt sales, a television program, YouTube videos, etc. For many, that episode was the starting of the King’s annus horribilis, followed by even worse times afterwards: health problems, rumors regarding Juan Carlos’ infidelity, the implication of his son in law, Iñaki Urdangarin, in a huge corruption scandal, etc.
Despite this, the most awkward episode was the accident he suffered in Botswana: the feeling of Spaniards was that the King was not only hunting elephants in Africa while the country was struggling but also that this trip was only a public issue due to the accident, showing the lack of transparency of the monarchy. The only thing the King could say was “I’m sorry, this will never happen again”.
After all this, 85% of Spanish people believe the monarchy is involved in corruption cases, the level of satisfaction is historically low and right after his abdication thousands of people demonstrated in the streets in favour of the Third Republic. Nonetheless, many think Prince Felipe could do a good job and the country should give him an opportunity. What’s more, the situation wasn’t better when Juan Carlos came into power in 1975 and Spain, after decades of dictatorship, was a country without almost any monarchic tradition.
Is this the moment for a new King or for the Third Republic? Is the time to slowly reform Spain or the perfect opportunity for a second transition and a constituent process?
[1] Legally non-binding referendum
While the conservative Popular Party enjoys an absolute majority in the parliament, the reality in the country is far from being stable. Crisis affects the vast majority, the unemployment (25%) is especially dramatic among young people (52%), the two main parties only reached 49% of the valid votes in the recent European elections and lack of consensus is always a problem when trying to deal with the big challenges of the State. Laws to reform the health, justice, education or taxes systems among other laws usually divide the parties as well as society. Furthermore, the territorial debate is more open than ever, with a scheduled consultation[1] in Catalonia and the pro-independence movement gaining votes and influence in the Basque Country, where the peace process is far from being closed.
If Juan Carlos was a key actor during the transition process after Franco’s dictatorship and his role during the attempt of coup-d’état on 23th February 1981 was crucial to stop the insurgents, it seems the effect of these merits came to an end. Even the ¿Por que no te callas? (Why don’t you shut up?) he uttered to Hugo Chávez at the 2007 Ibero-American Summit, when the President of Venezuela was repeatedly interrupting PM Zapatero's speech seems remote. The phrase became an overnight sensation, gaining cult status as a mobile-phone ringtone, spawning a domain name, a contest, T-shirt sales, a television program, YouTube videos, etc. For many, that episode was the starting of the King’s annus horribilis, followed by even worse times afterwards: health problems, rumors regarding Juan Carlos’ infidelity, the implication of his son in law, Iñaki Urdangarin, in a huge corruption scandal, etc.
Despite this, the most awkward episode was the accident he suffered in Botswana: the feeling of Spaniards was that the King was not only hunting elephants in Africa while the country was struggling but also that this trip was only a public issue due to the accident, showing the lack of transparency of the monarchy. The only thing the King could say was “I’m sorry, this will never happen again”.
After all this, 85% of Spanish people believe the monarchy is involved in corruption cases, the level of satisfaction is historically low and right after his abdication thousands of people demonstrated in the streets in favour of the Third Republic. Nonetheless, many think Prince Felipe could do a good job and the country should give him an opportunity. What’s more, the situation wasn’t better when Juan Carlos came into power in 1975 and Spain, after decades of dictatorship, was a country without almost any monarchic tradition.
Is this the moment for a new King or for the Third Republic? Is the time to slowly reform Spain or the perfect opportunity for a second transition and a constituent process?
[1] Legally non-binding referendum
All opinions and views expressed in the articles on this website are the opinions of the designated authors only and do not reflect the opinions or views of the Current Affairs Society itself in any way.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_I_de_Espa%C3%B1a
http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2014/06/02/actualidad/1401697005_470180.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23-F
http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/06/02/inenglish/1401699497_947043.html
http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/06/03/inenglish/1401796996_785602.html?rel=rosEP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%BFPor_qu%C3%A9_no_te_callas%3F
Photos taken from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.es/2014/06/02/fotos-republica_n_5434110.html
http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2014/06/02/actualidad/1401697005_470180.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23-F
http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/06/02/inenglish/1401699497_947043.html
http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/06/03/inenglish/1401796996_785602.html?rel=rosEP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%BFPor_qu%C3%A9_no_te_callas%3F
Photos taken from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.es/2014/06/02/fotos-republica_n_5434110.html