ABC Editorial: The common good, behind the wall

More than predictable, conditioned by the sectarianism that has led them to turn their backs on the ‘common good’ to bet on the division between Spaniards, the evaluations of the King’s Christmas message made by the Executive’s partners have revealed not only the correct diagnosis made on Christmas Eve by Don Felipe, but the risk to democratic coexistence represented by a parliamentary coalition of crossed interests whose only common element is the delegitimization of the rule of law and the 1978 Constitution and the systematic disqualification of those who best represent our model of rights and freedoms. The representatives of Junts and ERC agreed in reproaching the King for his speech on October 3, 2017, in which he did nothing but vindicate the law that separatism was trying to break, and even the PNV, standard bearer of his “Basque nation”, described of “error” that impeccable public intervention of Felipe VI. Sumar called the royal message “right-wing” and “disappointing” and Podemos even referred to the King as “the highest representative of the extreme right.” These are the Government’s partners, incapable of taking up the Head of State’s call for serenity, precisely because they are not interested. These are the partners of a Socialist Party that in an exercise of Christmas hypocrisy said it “fully” subscribed to the King’s words and assured through its president that the value of dialogue is “absolutely essential to reach consensus on what is essential, beyond legitimate political disagreements. However, the analysis of the PSOE does not agree with the policy practiced by a President of the Government who, far from any consensus, internal or external, began the legislature with the construction of a wall founded on Manichaeism and exclusion, when not the pursuit of the adversary.

It is worth remembering that His Majesty’s message to the Spanish unequivocally ratified the adhesion of Felipe VI to the parliamentary monarchy, understood as the institution receiving a foundational legitimation, neither occasional nor perishable, inextricably linked to the democracy of 1978. And with that legitimation of origin, the Crown is today the only public institution that deserves to be believed when it appeals to the common good, as Felipe VI did up to seven times in his message of Christmas Eve. The King occupied his public space and not precisely to make a formal intervention, but to give meaning to his presence in Spanish homes at a difficult and complex time, inside and outside our borders. He was not condescending or paternalistic with the Dana tragedy, because he was a spokesperson for “the frustration, pain and impatience” that demand “greater and more effective coordination of administrations.” In these words the mud of Paiporta, Catarroja and all the Valencian towns still irritated by the ineffectiveness of the State at all levels to recover normality was present. And in this context of the floods, Don Felipe vindicated the common good and did so not as a pat on the back to the country’s leaders, but as a call for it to “be clearly reflected in any speech or any political decision.” The neutrality of the Monarch is not synonymous with blindness or indifference. There was none when he acceded to the Throne and was aware that the Crown must imperatively undertake a program of regenerative measures, nor when on October 3, 2017 he gave a historic speech, a militant for democracy, the law and coexistence against the independence movement. Catalan. And once again Felipe VI lived up to his constitutional significance by demanding on Christmas Eve a way of doing politics that favors “shared spaces” and fosters “agreements around what is essential.”

Whoever wants to take it for granted should do so, but this is the general feeling of citizens, who want another way of doing politics. Don Felipe proposed something as simple – and as revolutionary today – as following the example of the consensus that led to the 1978 Constitution and defending liberal democracy and social well-being, as pillars of our society. You can disagree with the King, and even ignore him, as Vox did with its noisy silence, perhaps provoked by Don Felipe’s allusion to the immigration crisis, but from the idea of ​​a common good that must be the objective shared by all forces. policies. Discrediting the King’s words, as each and every one of the Government’s partners did, is still an expression of their divisive vocation and their obsession with who, no matter how bad they feel, best represents our democratic system. If it is true that the PSOE “fully” subscribes to this resounding and impeccable Christmas message, it should begin by applying it and applying it to it.