1/ The big set-piece event in Spain today is young Princess Leonor, the Princess of Asturias, swearing her allegiance to the Spanish Constitution in parliament, on the occasion of her 18th birthday. The continuity of the monarchy, handing down the royal baton and all that.
2/ Yolanda Diaz (Sumar, Deputy PM) was there, but three other government ministers on the far-left—Belarra, Montero and Garzón—along with the regional nationalists protested and did not go to the ceremony.
3/ Montero (Equality, Podemos), said that voters should choose the head of state in a democracy and that “the hereditary principle of the monarchy as an institution is from another time, and is above all incompatible with democracy”.
4/ Belarra (Social Rights) said “the monarchy seeks to perpetuate itself over the coming decades”, and that “republicanism is today”.
5/ Rufián (Esquerra) tweeted: “Today, we will not take part in a spectacle that seeks to whitewash and perpetuate an institution that is anti-democratic by definition and corrupt in its actions. This is not so much about republicanism, although it is, as deceny”.
6/ Meanwhile….yesterday….the PSOE and Puigdemont offered another image for the immediate future of Spain: a Socialist Party representative, the number three man, Santos Cerdán, travelled to Belgium to publicly meet the fugitive Catalan separatist leader.
7/ Now details are all important in politics and communcation: not only has the PSOE now formally met Puigdemont in Waterloo, signifying their progress towards a deal for government, the two met below a giant photo of the rebellious plastic ballot boxes from October 1, 2017:
8/ The Prime Minister, Sánchez, who is seeking reappointment via his deal in the second and third photos, nevertheless tweeted that the ceremony for the princess in the first “reaffirmed the strength” of Spain’s institutions and its democracy, “a guarantee of future progress, hope and institutional loyalty”.
9/ Conservative leader Feijóo congratulated the princess, the PP is loyal to the Crown, of course, and blasted Puigdemont: “after the photo with Bildu, now a photo in Brussels with a fugitive from justice”.
10/ Vox leader Abascal tried even harder to congratulate the princess, but “we cannot forget the truth, the treason of an interim Prime Minister in the hands of Spain’s enemies. While the future Queen of Spain swears allegiance to the law, the interim Prime Minister walks all over it”.
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