Onwards to the Third Republic
In his Christmas Eve address to the nation (or more aptly, ‘nations’) Spain’s King Felipe VI attempted to subtly distance himself from the blatant corruption and subsequent flight into exile of his father, former King Juan Carlos I. The numerous scandals involving Juan Carlos have brought approval of the monarchy to a record low and put the Spanish monarchy in its most precarious position since 1931.
Hand-picked by fascist Francisco Franco to be his successor as head of state, Juan Carlos has been widely praised for his role in steering Spain from dictatorship to democracy. This democracy, however, was not a clean break from Spain’s fascist past, as had been the case in post-war Germany, France, and Italy. Rather, it was a compromise between the forces of reform and reaction. The resultant 1978 constitution placed the monarchy at the centre of the new democracy, and while its constitutional powers are quite limited, it wields huge influence over the state as the guarantor of stability and legitimacy.
Since the transition to democracy, Juan Carlos had enjoyed sweeping support from across the political spectrum. That, however, began to change after his arrogant and ill-conceived 2012 hunting trip to Botswana, paid for by the Saudi government, and later an embezzlement crisis involving other members of the royal family. In 2014, he bowed to public pressure and abdicated in favour of his son, Felipe. In the years that followed, a series of new corruption and financial crime scandals emerged, prompting Juan Carlos to flee the country in August 2020. Despite the efforts of Felipe to distance himself from his father, the former king’s fall from grace has no doubt caused immense damage to the monarchy, and called into question its relevance in a modern Spain. Furthermore, Felipe’s aggressive and rare political intervention in the aftermath of the Catalan independence referendum demonstrated that he and his institution remain a significant obstacle to progress on the Iberian Peninsula.
Spain’s current government, a ‘progressive coalition’ of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers Party [PSOE] and left-wing Unidas Podemos, is by no means united on its view of the monarchy. PSOE, formerly an avowed republican party, has long embraced the monarchy as a vital part of the state and insists that only Juan Carlos as an individual, not the monarchy itself, is under scrutiny. Their partner Unidas Podemos, however, is openly republican, and recognises that the monarchy is an inherently corrupt and outdated institution. The clear anti-monarchist views of some members of the government, particularly those of Minister of Consumer Affairs Alberto Garzón from Izquierda Unida (part of the Unidas Podemos electoral alliance), have prompted fury from the political right, namely Partido Popular [PP] and the fascist Vox, who blindly revere the monarchy, despite its obvious corruption and unaccountability.
The decline of the monarchy is concurrent to a steady rise in support for independence in Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Galicia, whose disputes over autonomy and self-determination have long remained unresolved In the Basque Country, EH Bildu continues its impressive growth, while the Galician Nationalist Bloc is on a high after its remarkable showing in the 2020 Galician Parliamentary election. The independence struggle in Catalonia remains as pressing and divisive an issue as ever and is a constant thorn in the side of the Madrid government, who rejects any attempt by Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Galicia to assert their fundamental rights. To the reactionary right, any infringement on the territorial integrity of Spain is akin to treason, and use the 1978 Constitution as justification for their oppression. It was this belief that led to Mariano Rajoy’s Francoist crackdown on the democratic will of the Catalan people in 2017. Even the self-styled socialists PSOE have little sympathy or concern for regional nationalists and would only support their calls for self-determination if it became politically convenient.
While PSOE and their leader Sánchez are exceedingly moderate to all but the most delusional reactionary, the influence of republicans in Madrid is horrifying to the right. This coalition is everything they perceive to be ‘anti-Spanish,’ and many would love nothing more than to see it toppled from power, as was the fate of the last leftist coalition to govern Spain eighty years prior. Although this current government is certainly not radical, the political situation in Spain does present the left with an opportunity to put republicanism back on the table. A republic is not about simply doing away with the monarchy, it’s about a complete departure from Spain’s fascist past and its lingering effects. As is the case with reunification here in Ireland, a Third Republic offers Spain the opportunity to redefine itself for the 21st century and address the injustices of the past. For Spain and all its nations to move forward, it must abandon this regime with its antiquated monarchy and relics of Francoism, and pursue a republic based on the ideals of equality, modernity, and self-determination.
Le Liam Kiernan
Disclaimer: Ógra Shinn Féin’s position is to support the independence of Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia, regardless of the constitutional situation in the Spanish state.