Room for us all

The king’s Christmas message to the nation had been as eagerly anticipated as any during his 38-year-reign. Never during that long historical period had Spaniards endured an economic crisis such as this one, which has been eating away at their standards of living for six years now. Nor had we felt such a palpable sense of institutional decay, from which the monarchy itself is by no means excluded. Then there is the current identity crisis, prompted by the strong support for secession on the part of many Catalans and which is supported by a large portion of the region’s political class.

In such a situation, whatever King Juan Carlos actually said in his traditional broadcast was bound to acquire special significance. The year is ending, what’s more, without the small improvement in macroeconomic data by which the government sets such store having had the slightest impact on the situation of poor and middle-class families. The reputation of politicians as a whole has continued to plummet on the back of various corruption cases which blight the main political parties — this year affecting the governing Popular Party in particular — as well as business organizations, the trade unions and various other sectors within the public administrations. One such corruption scandal — the one in which the king’s son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin, has been implicated — is a continuing and painful reminder for the Royal Household of how close Princess Cristina has come to being formally targeted in the ongoing judicial investigation.

Amid such expectation and within the constitutional constraints which naturally limit the freedom of the king to take a position on the key political issues of the day, Don Juan Carlos’s Christmas message did not disappoint. First and foremost, the speech contained ample recognition of the sacrifices that large sectors of society are having to bear due to the longevity of the crisis, adding to this a call for greater ethical commitment on the part of Spain’s political, economic and social leaders, from which he did not exclude himself. “Society’s insistence on transparency and setting an example” is all part and parcel of the monarch’s role, the king said.

The recognition of “voices in our society which want our fundamental agreements to be updated” will doubtless be interpreted as a reference to what is occurring in Catalonia. The king is saying that this question, like many others, could be resolved with a strong dose of realism, effort and a correct application of the rule of law. He also pointed out the benefits the 1978 constitutional model has brought Spain in terms of wellbeing and peaceful coexistence, while accepting that some aspects of our system need a boost to be worthy of an advanced democracy. Never had the king been so explicit in describing the national model supported by the crown: “an open Spain in which there is room for us all” and whose bonds of unity are “the intense affection within our historical ties, shared cultures, the coexistence of our languages and the acceptance of our differences.”