Two important developments have occurred in the last two days in relation to the Real home. On Monday, Felipe VI made his assets public and this Tuesday the Government approved a decree that reforms the structure and operation of the Casa del Rey, whose most relevant novelty is that the Court of Accounts will supervise the budget of the Zarzuela, as it does now with political parties and public institutions.
Both measures are unprecedented and welcome because place the Casa del Rey at the same level as the other state agencies that receive public money and they are a significant step on the way to providing everything related to the Monarchy with greater transparency and exemplary character. In fact, the King decided to disclose his assets, amounting to 2.6 million euros (2.2 million in bank accounts and investment funds and 305,450 in objects of art and jewelry) to respond to the “demand of public regeneration” and make the Crown “deserving of the respect and trust of the citizens”. The King does not dispose of real estate owned by him or of assets abroad.
Although Zarzuela has disassociated this decision from the scandals starring the king emeritus, the relationship between both issues is evident. The publication of Felipe VI’s assets comes shortly after the Supreme Court prosecutor filed the three investigations to which Juan Carlos I was subjected. Felipe VI’s gesture stands out even more if we take into account that some of the main European monarchies -the British, Belgian and Dutch – are as opaque in this regard as the Spanish was until now.
As for the government decree, which has been prepared and approved in coordination with Zarzuela, after months of dialogue on the matter, the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, stressed that this “external audit” carried out by the Court of Auditors will give ” a faithful image of the heritage and financial situation of the Casa del Rey”, which will from now on have to publicize the contracts it makes and post the execution of the budget, remuneration and institutional gifts on the web every quarter.
Both initiatives are positive, but they are insufficient. The King, for example, has published his heritage voluntarily, without being forced by anyone, but it is not planned to make public that of other members of the royal family. In reality, Felipe VI has applied to himself the provisions of the laws on transparency and senior positions (of 2013 and 2015), from which the Head of State was excluded. Other measures that have been considered but have not yet been decided to be addressed are also pending, such as limiting the inviolability of the monarch to public acts, excluding private ones. Total immunity is what has allowed, in part, that Juan Carlos I could not continue to be investigated, who, however, should give explanations about his behavior, as the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has repeatedly requested.
For all this, for not depend on the will of the monarch, a legal regulation of the functions of the House of the King and the activities of the Head of State would be convenient, either by means of the so many times postponed and now it seems that the law of the Crown has been discarded or through different norms or decrees such as the one that has just to approve the Council of Ministers. The new regulation of the inviolability of the King is, in this sense, a necessary measure.