MADRID.- He king of Spain, Felipe VIadvocated in his traditional Christmas message for respect for the Constitution and urges citizens to avoid “germ of discord”in the midst of the political polarization that the country is going through as a result of the amnesty law that the socialist intends to enact Pedro Sanchez.
“Preventing the germ of discord from ever establishing itself among us is a moral duty that we all have, because we cannot afford it,” said the monarch in his tenth Christmas message since he ascended the throne in 2014, after the abdication of his father, Juan Carlos I.
As in his last speech, delivered on November 29 on the occasion of the solemn inauguration of the XV Legislature, Felipe defended the Magna Carta, promulgated in 1978, which, in his opinion, is “the greatest political success in our recent history” which resulted in the “greatest success” of Spain, by overcoming the division of the country.
“Thanks to the Constitution we managed to overcome the division, which has been the cause of many errors in our history, which opened wounds, fractured affections and distanced people,” said the king.
Felipe VI asks for current loyalty to the Constitution
Felipe made it clear during his speech that to face the future of all State institutions, including the Crown, Spain has the duty to act “with the greatest responsibility and always seek the general interests of all Spaniards with loyalty to the Constitution.”
“Each institution, starting with the king, must be placed in the place that constitutionally corresponds to itexercise the functions attributed to him and comply with the obligations and duties that the Constitution establishes,” he stated.
He stressed that apart from the Constitution there is no peace, freedom or democracy in the European nation, since this, he added, is the guarantee “so that the lives of Spaniards can continue to flow with confidence, with stability, with certainty.”
“Outside respect for the Constitution, there is no democracy or coexistence possible; there are no freedoms but imposition; there is no law, but arbitrariness,” said the king.
Historic moment
His Christmas message comes at a historic moment for the European nation, in which the amnesty law is being debated, which Sánchez agreed with Carles Puigdemont in exchange for the support of the Catalan independentists for his re-election.
On November 11, Pedro Sánchez was sworn in as president of the Spanish Government, thanks to the support of JuntsXCat and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), despite having come second in the July 23 elections.
With the former, Sánchez agreed to an amnesty that has caused strong criticism and a wave of protests both inside and outside the country. While with the PNV, he agreed to negotiate the “national recognition” of the Basque Country and the “effective transfer” to it of all pending transfers included in the Statute of Guernica, approved in 1979, in a maximum period of two years.
Source: With information from AFP / Europa Press
