Princess Leonor's oath of the Constitution will be, in the opinion of Pedro Sánchez, a demonstration of “the strength of Spanish democracy,” by guaranteeing the continuity of the Crown and the head of the State.
This was stated by the acting Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, when the Council of Ministers agreed, on October 10, to request the holding of the joint session of the Cortes that will take place today in Congress, in addition to approving the concession of the necklace of the Royal Order of Charles III to the heir to the throne. And this was reiterated yesterday by the spokesperson for the acting Government, Isabel Rodríguez, after the early meeting of the Council of Ministers.
On the same day that she reaches the age of majority, the Princess of Asturias will commit, as highlighted by the Government, "to faithfully carry out her duties, keep and ensure that the Constitution and the laws are kept, respect the rights of citizens and autonomous communities, and remain faithful to the King.”
The Executive, its spokesperson reiterated yesterday, therefore grants maximum relevance to this solemn ceremony: "It is a very important milestone and of great historical and symbolic significance, with an important legal dimension."
Rodríguez also downplayed the announced absence of three Unidas Podemos ministers, Ione Belarra, Irene Montero and Alberto Garzón. “The Government will be practically complete at that ceremony,” he highlighted. “We have attended to this event with the importance that it demands, and with the care, affection and respect that we feel for the figure of the Princess of Asturias,” he concluded.
The ceremony, as agreed by the Government with the Royal Family and the Cortes Generales, will reproduce the protocol followed on January 30, 1986, when the current King Felipe VI came of age and swore the Constitution. Thus, Sánchez will speak today at the institutional event that will be held in the Royal Palace, after Princess Leonor swears in the Constitution in Congress, just as the then head of the socialist executive, Felipe González, did 37 years ago, with occasion of the coming of age of the current King.
On other capital issues, divergences or evolutions could be evident, but the defense of the institution of the monarchy has been firm and unequivocal by all the general secretaries of the PSOE from Felipe González to Joaquín Almunia, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba and, now , Pedro Sánchez. Without renouncing its republican principles and its legacy, the PSOE always embraced the Crown, since the recovery of democracy, as one of the main pillars of the State.
Sánchez has tried at all times to safeguard the institution of the monarchy, and the figure of Felipe VI and now Princess Leonor, from the financial scandals that have surrounded Juan Carlos I. The head of the Executive, now in office awaiting to be able to achieve a new investiture, maintains its demand that the emeritus king offer explanations to the Spaniards about his alleged frauds to the Treasury.
The Government attributes the presence of Juan Carlos today at the El Pardo palace, in the last act of Leonor's swearing-in, to a strictly “private and family” celebration.
