2012 was the year that some of Spain’s most revered and powerful institutions lost their aura. Crisis hit the country’s banking sector, once seen as among the strongest in the world and the already unpopular judiciary was further discredited by a scandal affecting the president of the Supreme Court, Carlos Dívar. Even the royal family could not escape the wave of opprobrium. A scandal linking King Juan Carlos’s son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin, to an embezzlement scam dragged on without resolution, at times threatening to sully the name of Princess Cristina. And in April, as Spain’s borrowing costs soared and the economic crisis reached a new peak, it was revealed that Juan Carlos himself had … [Read more...] about King Juan Carlos
king juan carlos
Spain’s true crisis isn’t economic, it’s institutional
As Spain has moved closer to what looks increasingly like economic disaster, there have been a couple of surprising - even heartening - moves by the country’s senior politicians lately. One was the announcement made by Socialist leader Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba that his party offered its full support to the conservative government going into the key European summit in Brussels on June 28. This rare instance of political unity was accompanied by an unusual show of stark public honesty by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. “We can’t finance ourselves at these levels of interest much longer,” said the man who had denied that Spain would request a bank bailout days before it did so, and who said he … [Read more...] about Spain’s true crisis isn’t economic, it’s institutional
What now for Spain’s monarchy?
The dung from King Juan Carlos’ accident, while on a private trip to Botswana to kill elephants during which he broke his hip, has well and truly hit the proverbial fan, with Spain revelling in an unprecedented outpouring of criticism in the media that looks set to continue. The King has apologised for the gaffe, promising on state television to Spaniards before limping out of hospital: “it will never happen again.” Ouch: that must have hurt more than the crack he gave himself after tripping over his tent peg on safari. However humbling the experience, his plea to be given a chance to redeem himself and get back to being the king everybody loves may have been too little, too late. He … [Read more...] about What now for Spain’s monarchy?
King’s big-game fall comes at just the wrong time
One week and two accidents related to the Spanish royal family’s predilection for guns. On April 9, King Juan Carlos’s 13-year-old grandson, Felipe Juan Froilán, suffered a foot injury while out shooting in Soria, an incident that is being investigated due to the age of the boy. But when the king had a serious fall in Botswana at the weekend while on holiday hunting for big game, it seemed as if it was the monarch who had shot himself in the foot. By a strange twist of fate, the same day that Juan Carlos had his hip operated on, several thousands people marched through central Madrid to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the Second Republic. Their other motive for being there was to … [Read more...] about King’s big-game fall comes at just the wrong time
King Juan Carlos
The boyish grin, the Bourbon nose, the endless joshing: even if he wasn’t the king of Spain, you could spot Juan Carlos a mile off. But despite the down-to-earth bonhomie, he has a livelier CV than most living monarchs. Juan Carlos accidentally shot his brother dead with a hunting gun as a child. He then became the protégé of dictator Franco, expected to ensure the country stayed “old school”. But Juan Carlos proved he was more than a tyrant’s puppet by steering Spain into democracy and then foiling a 1981 attempted coup with a now-historic television address to his people. All by the age of 43. Who can blame him for enjoying the high life since? … [Read more...] about King Juan Carlos
The Tejero coup, North Africa and back-slapping
That day is widely seen as a turning point in modern Spanish history – the moment when the country’s commitment to democracy was bolstered following the firm action of King Juan Carlos in putting down the putsch. But in his column Ramoneda identifies an exaggerated sense of self-congratulation in the memory of that day now, charging that “we commemorate 23-F in a tribe-like way, without being capable of thinking for one minute about those who today fight for democracy.” And those who fight for democracy today are on Spain’s doorstep. Spain and Europe have failed to send a clear message to North Africa in recent weeks, Ramoneda charges. Spain is a country with particular … [Read more...] about The Tejero coup, North Africa and back-slapping
Wikileaks: Washington’s peculiar view of Spain
The amount of information related to Spain that has emerged as part of the recent Wikileaks revelations is enormous. With El País nominated as one of the five newspapers to benefit from the distribution, this was inevitable. Since the first day of publication, on November 28, we have seen reports of how the US government pressured Spanish legal authorities to drop the case against American troops blamed for the death of cameraman José Couso in Iraq; of how Washington pressured Spanish firms to leave Iran and the Spanish government to approve internet anti-piracy legislation; of Madrid’s covert support for Morocco’s cause in the Western Sahara conflict; and of Prime Minister Zapatero’s … [Read more...] about Wikileaks: Washington’s peculiar view of Spain