The Prosecutor’s Office spoke, shelved the three investigations into Juan Carlos I and I think the State breathed a sigh of relief. The narration of the events is stark, but the most heartbreaking drink for the system was avoided: the engine of the transition, promoter of the Constitution and king of Spain for forty years will not have to sit as a defendant in the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court. If the Prosecutor’s Office had found crimes to denounce him, the system might not have entered into a crisis, but it would have suffered another notable wear. Of prestige and image.
The 68 pages of the decrees of “doña Dolores”, as a famous watsap said of the attorney general, are hard for the previous king because of what they have by heart, but they do not cause special blood. It is true that the Prosecutor’s Office could have limited itself to decreeing the file without further explanation, but the relevance of the matter and its protagonist required detail. For the story, there remains the list of the facts, aseptic and therefore credible, which confirms what people close to don Juan Carlos said: “They are investigating even the gas tickets.” This chronicler only makes two criticisms: the delay in publication after months of leaks and the probable excess in considering gifts that are part of the custom of courtesy tax irregularities.
The fallacy of the AVE commissions, the provision of money from the Jersey funds and the favorable treatment in tax regularization have fallen. And the authentic causes of salvation remain inviolability and prescription. Rank and time saved a king. Well, they saved it from the Supreme Court, but not from public opinion, with furious social networks, and I think they do not help to recover the lost prestige after forty years of glory. The great challenge from now on is for the safeguard mechanism for his son, Felipe VI, and, therefore, for the Crown to work.
The word and the initiative is don Juan Carlos. He would make a mistake if he decided to go back to Spain at this time. When asked if he is closer to returning today, the answer is: he is exactly as close as he was five months ago. There was nothing to prevent him from traveling to his country and, however, he did not want to do it so as not to create problems for his son. If he comes now, after the file of the investigations, he will be linking his decision to that file and there will be those who allege that he was in Abu Dhabi fleeing from justice.
© Dani Duch / Archive
06 / 12/ 18 MADRID. Constitution Day celebration in the Congress of Deputies SSMM Kings Felipe and Letizia with Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofia with SSMM Kings Juan Carlos I and Doña Sofia
When should you come back then? When his prudence decides, and prudence says elementary things. For example, that it is very healthy not to put yourself in the spotlight when person and facts are highly discussed and even more so if they are morbid; that it is good for public figures to avoid creating situations that Mariano Rajoy described as “messes”; that it is convenient to measure the effects on the very institution that Don Juan Carlos restored; and that, first of all, father and son have to agree on what the residence would be and what is best for the country. That is the labyrinth of the emeritus. Surely he knows how to get out of it with intelligence and, before Felipe VI, with generosity.
scraps
Europe. A war had to be declared for the European Union to realize its weaknesses and begin to correct them. The fear is that the war will end and they will be forgotten again. It usually happens to him.
Grass. You have to have some courage to be a minister and not applaud and criticize your president when she speaks in Parliament. There are scenes that we had never seen before. But the thing is that Podemos had never been in government either.
Feijóo. Fashion question in Madrid: what will Pedro Sánchez think or fear of the future leader of the PP? For now, he is respected. And they begin to look at the polls that say that the Galician is the preferred president. They won’t make it easy for you.
Yolanda. Now that he launches into his dialogue with society, what a pity: so many historical events that take place do not allow him to take advantage of the increase in indefinite contracts. He will have to preach it town to town.
Taxes. The report of the experts for the fiscal reform has arrived. Let no one take the money out of Spain yet. The ministers assure that they do not intend to raise taxes. Attention to Podemos: not raising them to high incomes is worse than sending weapons to Ukraine.
victims. The number of deaths from covid in Spain has exceeded 100,000. One of the great historical catastrophes. But whoever said that a dead person is a misfortune is right; 100,000, a statistic.