Lex-king of Spain, Juan Carlos, returns, but for the weekend only. A great weekend, until Monday. When his private jet lands yesterday in the small airport of Vigo, in Galicia, there are many curious people and journalists to see him behind the fences. Beige pants, navy blue jacket, the former monarch who looks good at his 84 years comes to attend a regatta with friends. Sailing is his passion, he has been world champion twice, the last of which was in 2019. Then he will go to Madrid to visit his wife and son. His precise agenda has not been made public, the king emeritus, who abdicated in 2014 and voluntarily exiled himself to the Emirates, is on a private trip. We know in any case that he will not stay in one of the official residences of the royal house, the government opposed it.
If his return to Spain arouses so much criticism, it is because he never gave any explanation to the citizens. This is what the government accuses him of. At the beginning of March, the three investigations that had been opened against him for corruption, embezzlement and tax evasion were dismissed but his lifestyle, the repeated scandals, his bank accounts in tax havens have definitely tarnished his image.
His legal troubles, moreover, are not over. He is currently on trial in Britain, where one of his former mistresses, a Danish businesswoman, accuses him of harassment. Juan Carlos was revered for decades for ensuring the democratic transition after Franco’s death in 1975, but his story is that of a disgraced king with whom Spain did not settle accounts. The wound is not closed.
From a legal point of view nothing prevents him from returning, but it is an ethical question which since yesterday occupies all the debates of the television sets and the one of the social networks and the daily newspapers. The left wing of the government coalition, notably Unidad Podemos, believes that its return is “a humiliation for the working classes“; she even believes that he should have been arrested when he left the plane for him to be brought to justice.
Through him, it is also the monarchy that is being attacked. Obviously, for the most Republican of Republicans, it represents a problem “structural” and “democratic”, which is no longer at all in phase with either the 21st century or the European idea. However the current sovereign, son of Juan Carlos, Felipe VI, who has reigned since 2014, has a good image. He distanced himself from his father by removing his annual allowance of 200,000 euros. He also recently launched a major transparency operation for the Royal Palace, which will now have to have its accounts audited, make its contracts public or draw up an inventory of the gifts received by the royal family. So, should we keep or abandon the monarchy? According to the polls, in public opinion it is 50-50. But the majority of Spaniards are calling for a referendum on the issue.