The damage to the monarchy by the scandal of Inaki Urdangarin brought to John Charles I to abdicate in 2014 in favor of his son, Felipe VI. This deterioration continued with numerous reports about the unknown fortune of the emeritus and the King reacted, in March 2020, making it known that he will renounce his father’s inheritance that may touch him and withdraw the allocation of public money that he received as former head of state. Now, with the prosecutor’s decision to close the investigations into Juan Carlos I, because some crimes have prescribed or because it has been considered inviolable in their private acts, the focus is once again on the Monarch and his determination to modernize and recover the image of the institution. Felipe VI, according to sources familiar with the debate within the institution, must decide if he wants to stop being inviolable in the crimes that he could commit outside the exercise of his function as head of state.
That decision would send a resounding message and mark a before and after in the reign of Felipe VI by renouncing a prerogative that has its origin in the medievalwhen monarchies were born from divine mandate and the king (was supposed) cannot sin (rex non potest peccare). Now it has been proven that Juan Carlos I has committed irregularities and that some of them have not been prosecuted for that reason. comprehensive immunity which he enjoyed while he was head of state. The President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, has said on more than one occasion that he considers this total legal shield “a product of another era” and is in favor of applying it only to the exercise of his position as head of state. These days, the Executive does not want to put pressure on the Monarch, but the opinion of the Chief Executive has been clear in public.
The reform of the organic law of the judiciary could “clarify” the interpretation on the total immunity of the head of state
This privilege that the emeritus has benefited from is included in the Magna Carta, in its article 56.3: “The person of the King is inviolable and is not subject to liability“. However, there is no unanimity among jurists on whether that sentence comprehensively reaches any act of the Monarch and, as this newspaper has learned, the Government has reports that indicate that it could “limit” the interpretation of that article modifying the Organic law of judicial power. That rule, which includes the appraisals of members of the Government, deputies, judges and prosecutors, among others, can be reformed according to the Executive, to clarify article 56.3 and specify that the King will no longer be inviolable and will be subject to criminal liability in his private acts.
That rule was changed in july 2014 to give appraisal from the abdication to the emeritus, Queen Letizia and the Princess of Asturias and that any cause they have to face be resolved in the Supreme and not in the ordinary courts.
An aggravated reform
The constitutional path would be unfeasible at this time of economic crisis and international instability, admits the Government. Retouching Title II of the Magna Carta, referring to the Crown, requires applying the aggravated reform procedurewhich includes dissolving the Cortes, summoning elections and a referendum. For now, the Executive, in publiccontinues to refer to that formula as the one necessary to eliminate that prerogative (which most European monarchs enjoy), because he is waiting to find out what Felipe VI wants to do to overcome the damage that Juan Carlos I has inflicted on the institution.
The renunciation of that privilege would be the most forceful message of the current Monarch after the scandals of Juan Carlos I
The proposal to reform the organic law would allow a quick solution. “We just need to know how far the King wants to go,” Sources familiar with the conversations between the Government and Zarzuela declare to EL PERIÓDICO. These two institutions have “written” since last spring a set of measures to improve the transparency and the control of the Head of State, with the aim of modernizing and recovering the image of the monarchy.
Calvo and Alfonsin
But, a year after agreeing on this kind of catalog of initiatives, neither of the two institutions has promoted them and this newspaper has confirmed that both parties blame each other for the responsibility of having to take the first step. La Moncloa assures that any decision will be done “by the hand of the King”. And the Zarzuela emphasizes that they are “the government and the rest of the groups” which should activate the operation. The work with the PP is advanced, since the content of the conversations, headed at the time by the former vice president Carmen Bald and the head of the King’s House, Jaime Alfonsin, a person designated by Pablo Casado was spoken to. Now it is the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, who is in charge of this dossier.
The Executive ensures that any decision to update the institution will be agreed with the Monarch
Among the measures that are on the table, in addition to the issue of inviolability, are those that would force the Kings to publish their heritage, transparency of expenses (ministry by ministry) and the oversight of the institution through the Court of Accounts. In the Government it is considered that the one that affects the inviolability is the one that would give more “credibility” to the new stage that Felipe VI could open.
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Sanchez It has manifested itself more than once in favor of limiting the legal armor to the King. “I believe that it is not necessary that this condition be recognized [de inviolabilidad] to the head of state. It’s a product of another era legitimate part of our democracy, but not of a consolidated democratic stage with more than 40 years of history that looks forward & rdquor ;, affirmed the president on October 18.