The unprecedented crisis opened in the Judiciary will be symbolized on the National Holiday with the absence of its highest representative: Carlos Lesmes. The highest authorities will gather in the traditional military parade – which will recover the participation of troops at pre-pandemic levels – but the former president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and the Supreme Court will not be present in the family photograph. A void that shows the unprecedented situation that has been experienced for the interim –since 2108- in the governing body of the judges due to the impossibility of reaching an agreement between the Government and the Popular Party.
Lesmes presented his resignation 48 hours after the events of October 12 that are held today in Madrid. The former presidents of the CGPJ, according to legal sources, were not willing to return to share an institutional act with King Felipe VI, who will preside over the parade this Wednesday, after at the opening of the judicial year he already warned before the attentive gaze of the monarch that the situation of the Judiciary "is unsustainable." Thus one of the powers of the State will be this 12-0 headless waiting for it to be resolved who will be his successor, which is also coming with controversy.
The acts will begin in the Paseo de la Castellana at 11:00. The starting signal will be marked by the arrival of Kings Felipe and Letizia together with the Infanta Sofía at the Plaza de Lima. For the second consecutive year, Princess Leonor will not be present due to her academic stay in Wales. Felipe VI will review the troops to later greet the authorities.
Members of the Government are expected to be in that row of authorities, including the purple wing of Moncloa, from where in recent months they have shown their differences with the Ministry of Defense on account of the increase in military spending or the shipment of weapons to Ukraine . The vice presidents Nadia Calviño and Teresa Ribera will not be present, nor will the ministers Ione Belarra and Joan Subirats. There will also be the regional presidents except, as usual, those of Catalonia and Euskadi; Pere Aragonés and Iñigo Urkullu.
Afterwards, the traditional parachute jump with the Spanish flag will take place, followed by the raising of the flag and an act of homage to those who have fallen for Spain. It will be followed by air and land parades of Army Units, Navy, Air Force, Civil Guard, Military Emergency Unit, Royal Guard, State Security Forces and Bodies and various Security, Civil Protection and Emergency agencies.
In the air parade one of the stars is the Patrulla Águila, the acrobatic patrol of the Air and Space Army. On this occasion, the patrol has taken extreme precautions to avoid failures in the colors of the smoke with which the Spanish flag is painted in the sky, after in past editions some images captured a purple tone.
More than 4,000 soldiers, 150 vehicles and 84 aircraft will take part in the ground parade. After the parade, Kings Felipe and Letizia will go to the Royal Palace for the traditional reception of the high authorities of the State and representatives of the political, economic, social and cultural world.
Like the parade, the reception has recovered after two years in which it has been affected by the pandemic; in 2020 it was canceled and last year it was held, with a very reduced list of guests, in the Palace's Patio de Armas and without a subsequent cocktail. About 1,300 guests are expected to attend, who after greeting the king and queen in the Throne Room, will go to the Royal Dining Room where a cocktail will be served during which they can talk in a relaxed way.
