The PSOE is now trying to involve King Felipe VI in the confrontation between the Government of Pedro Sanchez and the Constitutional Court.
The PSOE spokesman in the Constitutional Commission of Congress, Odon Elorzahas asked this Thursday that King Felipe VI make a “clear defense of democracy” and the “normal functioning of the institutions” during his traditional Christmas Eve speech.
Otherwise, the deputy and former mayor of San Sebastián has warned, “public opinion may come to the conclusion that [el monarca] is a decorative chinese vase“, that is, an “absolutely expendable” figure.
[Sánchez acusa al PP de “enmudecer” a las Cortes y Feijóo le pide que “no descalifique más al TC”]
The institutional crisis reached its peak this week, after the constitutional Court suspend cautiously, at the request of the PP, the amendments to the Penal Code with which PSOE and Unidas Podemos intended to alter the system of election of their magistrates.
Several PSOE ministers and their partners have questioned the legitimacy (provided by law) of the Constitutional Court to prevent a vote on an initiative in the Cortes.
President Pedro Sánchez himself has attributed the decision to “a Constitutional Court with a conservative majority and expired mandate“, while Podemos has described its magistrates as “toga-wearing putschists“.
In statements to Europa Press, the socialist Odón Elorza has considered that Felipe VI should have done “discreet managementbefore the parties to resolve the blockade in the renewal of the Constitutional Court and the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ).
“I don’t know if he has taken these steps, it doesn’t seem and, if he has, he hasn’t had any success, which would worry me even more,” said Odón Elorza, who recalls that article 56 of the Constitution confers on the head of the State the function of “arbitrating and moderating the regular functioning of the institutions”.
Elorza maintains that the King should have intervened months ago “because the situation of tension and anger that is transferred to the citizens from Parliament is terrible and degrades democracy and coexistence”.
“I would have liked him to have acted before the Christmas speech”, added the Socialist deputy, “if he makes any reference, I hope that send a smart message. It is not a matter of taking sides with anyone, but of doing that function of “arbitrary and moderation that the Constitution reserves for it”, he explained.
“He is also paid a salary for that“, Elorza argued about the function that the monarch must fulfill in a situation of serious institutional confrontation.
The Socialist deputy maintains that if Felipe VI “does not get it right” in his Christmas Eve speech, not only “would it look bad in public opinion”, but “would give the impression that it is a kind of decorative Chinese vase”.
“Public opinion can come to the conclusion that if, in the face of this conflict we are experiencing, the head of state does nothing, does not advise, recommend or manage to help resolve it, so you can do without it“, it suggested.
