“Our obligation, the obligation of all institutions, is to bequeath to the youngest Spaniards a solid and united Spain, without divisions or confrontations,” Felipe VI demanded at the opening of the new legislature in Congress. In a new mandate of Pedro Sánchez that will be supported by the understanding with nationalist and independence political forces – absent from the solemn act for the most part – the King has assured that “Parliament as a representative institution generates, as a primary political value, the integration of different options and projects within our Constitution.”
“The Spanish people have placed in their honors the most precious political asset: trust. He has entrusted them with the task of ensuring that the political pluralism represented here promotes the improvement of the living conditions of the people and groups in which it is integrated,” the King claimed.
Felipe VI has reiterated the link between the Crown and the Cortes, and between their respective functions: “For the Cortes Generales, to represent the Spanish people, holder of national sovereignty. For the Crown, to symbolize the unity of Spain and its permanence.”
The King has congratulated Pedro Sánchez on his election as President of the Government by Congress, as well as the ministers of the new progressive coalition executive between the PSOE and Sumar on their recent appointment. And he wished everyone “success in the responsibilities they have assumed.”
“In the general elections of July 23, as well as in the municipal and regional elections of May 28, thousands of young people of the same age as the Princess of Asturias exercised their right to vote for the first time,” recalled the monarch. “Our collective life must be enriched with their aspirations, needs and concerns. Young people are the ones who develop social energies the most, driven by the enthusiasm of those who have a broad horizon ahead of them and a natural capacity to adapt to new times. The future is always a promise of something better and our young people, who will be its protagonists, rightly aspire to that improvement,” he noted.
"But, to face that future with confidence, to face a time of great changes and transformations, they need a democratic framework - such as the one represented by the Constitution - that allows them to live together and prosper in freedom, and they need to receive a cohesive and united Spain. in which they can develop their lives and project their dreams,” the King has warned.
“For young people, democracy is not an aspiration, as it was for their parents and grandparents, but a reality in which they have been born, have grown up, and in which they have been formed as people. And that reality – let us remember – comes from the history of the great collective success of our democracy, supported by the Constitution. A Constitution that establishes freedom, equality, justice and political pluralism as values on which our democratic coexistence is based. “Values that are not anchored in the past and that must be permanently projected into the future.”
The King has stressed that "the search for understanding, the recognition of our differences together with mutual respect as citizens, the certainty that only by overcoming divisions do freedoms and rights have a secure basis, were all ideas and attitudes that were decisive in opening a new page in our history.”
“Reclaiming the profound meaning of that great pact between the Spanish people that is at the origin of our democracy is not, at all, looking back with nostalgia; Yes, it is, on the other hand, a proud and conscious reaffirmation of our best capabilities as a country and of the best achievement that orders, in our days, the life of Spanish society: the Constitution,” he assured. And for this reason, he has demanded, "we must honor its spirit, respect it and comply with it, to make effective the definition of Spain as a Social and Democratic State of Law." Three dimensions of the State that, he has insisted, "are the three essential pillars, inseparable and indissociable from each other of the same historical and political reality, which is Spain, and that guarantee our collective coexistence."
“For centuries, Spain has been a reality shared and built by women and men of diverse social or geographical origins with different ideologies, but with a common idea: a better country for all,” defended Felipe VI. “A country that in 1978 reached its best expression in mutual understanding without impositions or exclusions and in the will for integration that enriches, with diversity and pluralism, our common project, our emotional and supportive bond as a nation,” he assured. .
The Constitution, promulgated 45 years ago, “is the soul of our democracy and freedom, with an inclusive spirit of ideals and convictions and a common purpose like we have never had.” “A Spain that is serene, excited, confident in its future. We must honor that legacy; a legacy of greatness, responsibility and sense of History,” she warned.
The Congress of Deputies and the Senate met in a joint session of the Cortes Generales, this Wednesday, for the solemn opening of the 15th legislature. The session was chaired by Felipe VI, who declared the legislature open before the deputies and senators in the Lower House chamber.
In this ceremony, provided for in the regulations of Congress, only the King and the president of Congress, Francina Armengol, have spoken, who have been accompanied in the presidential gallery of the chamber by Mrs. Letizia, Princess Leonor, the president of the Senate, Pedro Rollán, and the members of the Bureaus of both Chambers.
The kings arrived at 11 a.m. at the Carrera de San Jerónimo, escorted by the squadron of the Royal Guard, where the Honors Battalion was in formation, four companies from the Army, the Navy, the Army of the Air and Space and the Civil Guard with Flag, squad of spenders, band and music.
The Royal Family has been received by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Chief of the Defense Staff (Jemad), Teodoro Esteban López Calderón. Next, the King received military honors and reviewed the Honors Battalion, accompanied by the Chief of the Defense Staff, the Lieutenant General Chief of the Military Quarter of the King's House and the Lieutenant Colonel Chief of the Honors Battalion. . The delegation moved to the steps of the Carrera de San Jerónimo palace, where they were received by the president of the Congress and the president of the Senate, and they greeted the rest of the members of the Tables of the Lower and Upper House.
The delegation has entered the interior of the Congress palace through the Lions Gate. Already in the lobby of Isabel II, the procession, preceded and closed by the maceros of the Cortes, has advanced through the hall of the Lost Steps and has entered the chamber through the staircase of the gallery of the Agenda, which gives direct access to the presidential gallery.
In the Session Hall, set up to accommodate the deputies and senators summoned to this joint session of the Cortes, the Royal Family was welcomed with the anthem of Spain. Next, the president of Congress opened the session, gave her speech and gave the floor to the King, who after her intervention declared the 15th legislature open.
Once the speeches were concluded, Armengol adjourned the session. Once the event in the chamber was over, the Royal Family went back to the Conference Hall to greet the authorities and guests in protocol order. After the greetings, the authorities went to the Carrera de San Jerónimo and the kings took their places on the podium of honor to attend the military parade in their honor by the Group of the Armed Forces and the Civil Guard, with the that the solemn act has concluded
