Dozens of workers working on the extension of the Santiago Bernabéu enjoyed this Wednesday from the top of the stadium privileged views of the 12-0 military parade that this year intended to shine as in times before the pandemic. From there they saw how more than 4,000 soldiers, 150 vehicles and 84 aircraft paraded down the Paseo de la Castellana during the National Holiday, which was overshadowed by the unprecedented crisis in which the Judiciary is plunged and the boos that The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, suffered, despite the fact that he tried to camouflage them.
From early in the morning, the outskirts of the Plaza de Lima – where the authorities' tribune was located – were filled with thousands of people dressed in Spanish flags. The weather accompanied the celebration. Numerous families, completely oblivious to the political and legal troubles, who took advantage of the holiday to witness the military parade. Other groups, less numerous, made several whistles against the Government, which they demanded to resign.
Those boos, which have already become a tradition against Pedro Sánchez in the military parade, are precisely the ones that the president tried to avoid. By protocol, he must be present before the Head of State arrives at the event. This Wednesday was not like that. A few minutes after 11:00 in the morning, the Rolls-Royce that transported the kings arrived at the Plaza de Lima, but Sánchez had not yet arrived. "Don't open the door yet," they shouted from the protocol services. Felipe VI, in the uniform of the Navy, had to wait a few moments with Letizia until Sánchez appeared.
In any case, the delay did not free him from the whistles, which were interspersed with insults from some of those gathered, and which were also directed in part at the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles. Others received the king with cheers.
Felipe VI, accompanied by the Chief of the Defense Staff, reviewed and then a paratrooper from the Air Force carrying the national flag landed in front of the rostrum, in which the absences gave more to talk about than the attendances. Some regulars such as those of the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonés, and the lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu. Vice Presidents Nadia Calviño and Teresa Ribera were not present. Nor the Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra; due to her advanced stage of pregnancy, the Industry, Reyes Maroto, and the Universities, Joan Subirats.
But without a doubt, the gaps in the gallery that raised blisters were those corresponding to the Judiciary on account of a controversy over the invitations to the parade. The question in recent days is whether the place reserved for Carlos Lesmes as the highest representative of the judges would be occupied by a substitute. Finally he was left empty, an absence that was joined by practically the entire General Council of the Judiciary. The reason was that the invitations sent by Moncloa did not arrive until the day before the parade. The conservative block of the organ saw it as a provocation, a clear demonstration that they did not want them to go. Another part of the Council understood it as a delay, a bureaucratic failure.
Failure or provocation, the truth is that this scene comes at the worst time, with a weakened judiciary in the face of the blockade of almost four years generated by the Government and PP and that is causing a judicial collapse, in addition to an image of political interference.
Who was seen was the member Rafael Mozo, who was on the platform together with the regional presidents, and the president of the Constitutional Court, Pedro González-Trevijano. There were also no invitations to the magistrates of the Supreme Court or to the presidents of the superior courts of justice, which caused some discomfort.
Where there were no failures was in the reception of the Royal Palace, there the judiciary was. And the negotiation for the renewal of the CGPJ starred in the huddles of politicians with journalists. In them, Feijóo declared that he expects a written commitment from the Government for the reform of the law that elects the governing body of the judges. For his part, Sánchez made it clear that there can be no preconditions.
