Felipe VI avoids talking about the emeritus king and asks that the institutions be "an example of moral integrity"

In Spain, the Prosecutor's Office is also about to close without complaint the triple investigation that it maintains on the finances of the emeritus king despite having been clear that he defrauded the Treasury and after accepting his tax regularizations when Juan Carlos I already knew that he was under the magnifying glass of the Tax Agency and the Public Ministry.

“We must always keep in mind the general interests and think about citizens, their concerns, their concerns, be permanently at their service and attend to their problems. We must be in the place that constitutionally corresponds to us; assume, each one, the obligations that we have entrusted, respect and comply with the laws and be an example of public and moral integrity ", said, oblivious to all the controversies, the current monarch in his Christmas address.

That is all reference that, between the lines, can be inferred about the situation of the emeritus king, whose trace has almost completely disappeared from the Royal House since he left public activity in 2019, first, and will run out of budget allocation a year later to transcend the scandal about his opaque fortune. The figure of Juan Carlos de Borbón, who periodically sends messages through emissaries about his desire to return to Spain from the United Arab Emirates, makes the government uncomfortable. Pedro Sánchez, who acts as a firewall to try that the emeritus does not harm the image of Felipe VI, insists that the former head of State must give explanations to the Spanish and defends the efforts of "transparency and exemplarity" of his son, despite the fact that silence is the general rule in the affairs of Zarzuela.

At a time of maximum political tension, Felipe VI has made a plea in favor of "understanding and collaboration" as "necessary attitudes that dignify the institutions" and "strengthen them because they generate the trust of citizens." In that sense, he has defended the pacts. "Differences of opinion should not prevent consensus that guarantees greater stability, greater well-being in homes and give families the necessary peace of mind about their future," he said.

The "great agreements" are, for the monarch, together with "generosity", "sense of history", "responsibility" and "vision of the future", which have allowed the "profound change" of Spain in "These more than four decades of democracy and freedom." Felipe VI has taken the opportunity to demand "respect, recognition and loyalty" to the Constitution, which "has been and is the main beam that has favored" "progress" and "coexistence". For the Head of State, the "spirit" of the Magna Carta calls on Spaniards to "unity in the face of division, dialogue and not confrontation, respect in the face of rancor, the integrating spirit in the face of exclusion." "It permanently summons us to a civic, serene and free coexistence," he added.

Felipe VI has remembered the allusion to the "collective effort" to which he appealed in 2020 to defeat the pandemic and, although he has recognized that the situation is different from last year thanks to vaccines, he has called for "prudence" and "responsibility" in the face of the coronavirus so as not to take "steps back" at a time when contagions are completely triggered by the omicron variant.

The king, who had words of special thanks to the health workers and of encouragement to the citizens of La Palma affected by the volcano, recognized the improvement in economic data in the last year. After admitting that "many citizens continue to suffer the economic, social and emotional consequences derived from the pandemic", he has boasted that the "economy has grown again and has recovered the vast majority of jobs that had been temporarily suspended" as well as a "really positive" job creation rate. However, he lamented the increase in "people in a situation of vulnerability" and referred to "concern" about "rising prices, the cost of energy or about the difficulties in finding stable employment, especially for young people" .

Crucial moment for the progress of Spain

The head of state has asked citizens to "react" to the "challenges" that Spain has ahead, such as new technologies or scientific advances that sometimes "test" some "values", "convictions" or "principles of social organization ”. “We must understand and assume the new transformations that we are experiencing in such an accelerated way, take the initiative and try to stay ahead of events, and we must also adapt quickly to changes always keeping clear our great objectives and priorities as a country. Because it is also a time of new projects, of new ideas and opportunities, of initiatives full of ambition to improve and progress ”, stressed Felipe VI.

"In what we do or decide from now on, it is at stake that we can continue to progress together with the most advanced nations or that we lose step on our way", warned the king, who has also bet that the future of Spain " it goes very hand in hand with the EU ”. “Now the Union opens up to the opportunity to invest European funds in the modernization of our country and our companies, in an increasingly digital, green and more inclusive economy. It is an opportunity that we cannot miss ”, he added.

“The moment is difficult, of course, but to stop today is to stay behind, it is to go back. We have to move on because history teaches us that Spaniards have known how to react and overcome adversity. Now a future is opening before us that requires responsibility, a willingness to collaborate and understand each other; and it needs us to trust more in our own forces as a nation ”, has sentenced the head of state.