The king must speak

As expected, on Monday Judge Castro announced the beginning of the trial over the Nóos case and confirmed the charges against the infanta Cristina as an accessory to the tax offenses committed by her husband Iñaki Urdangarin in 2007 and 2008. The written statement also sets a financial liability of €2.69 million for Doña Cristina. The judge’s statement adds that if she is not found guilty of being an accessory, Felipe VI’s sister would still be guilty of participating for her own profit in her husband’s acquisition of wealth.

Leaving legal debates and nuances to one side  – legitimate as they may be, as this is a questionable prosecution that lacks an accusation by the attorney’s office or by the attorney general – the decision by the investigating judge in Palma de Mallorca will shut the mouths of all the naysayers who claimed the case against Cristina would be shelved due to pressure from state agencies.

As it turns out, Doña Cristina is included on the same list as the other 16 defendants in the Noós case, regardless of the fact that she is sixth in succession to the Spanish throne.

This confirms what the former monarch Juan Carlos asserted in his 2011 Christmas address: “We live under the rule of law and any reprehensible action must be tried and sanctioned according to the law.” Then he added: “Justice is the same for everyone.”

Don Juan Carlos surely could not imagine back then that his own daughter would end up in the dock. But even without knowing that, he accepted that the Royal Household should banish the Urdangarin-Borbón couple from all official activities, and repeatedly tried through third parties to get Doña Cristina to make one of two decisions that would help preserve the Crown from the scandal: either divorce Iñaki Urdangarin or renounce her rights to the throne.

The Royal Household was sure that this was the best solution for the Spanish monarchy and for the infanta herself: by separating from her husband or from the Crown, she would stop being in the media and legal limelight. But Doña Cristina refused time and again to make any such decision, viewing it as an implicit acceptance of her guilt.

The king has shown himself to be a man of principle. That is why he should not avoid the issue

In recent weeks, as it became increasingly likely that Judge Castro would put Cristina on the stand, a growing chorus of voices in political and institutional circles, as well as in the media, asked her to renounce her succession rights (EL PAÍS has called for this twice). This has not happened. In the current circumstances, an immediate renunciation is the only way out if Cristina doesn’t want to continue inflicting irreparable damage to the Crown.

And that is not all. Spaniards are waiting for a firm statement from King Felipe VI regarding the need for democratic regeneration, including an explanation of the accusation against his sister. Don Felipe has made a tremendous effort to renew and modernize the monarchy in his first six months on the throne, introducing austerity, exemplariness and transparency measures for the royal family that were essential if the institution were to survive and be accepted by citizens. These measures have met with notable popular acceptance in the opinion polls.

The king has shown himself to be a man of principle. That is why he should not avoid the issue and just respectfully accept the decisions and independence of the judiciary. It is true that, as per the Constitution, only the infanta can make the decision to renounce her rights. But it is no less true that Felipe VI needs to send citizens a message, as his own father did three years ago. And the message needs to be this: that the principles he proclaims must also apply to his sister, even if she is no longer a part of the royal family.