king

Spanish Guardia Civil question aerodrome to find out if Puigdemont could land there in his eventual return to Catalonia

Felipe fails to refer to the incarcerated leaders and the need of dialogue between Catalonia and Spain expressed by Puigdemont

Despite "politcal and monarchical pressure" to move the company's headquarters, the current political situation is not affecting production or sales

Felipe says that authorities in Catalonia are “fracturing” society, but makes no comment on the police violence

The five pro-independence activists who burned pictures of the King of Spain will testify on Tuesday at 9 am (CET time) before Spain’s High Court, the ‘Audiencia Nacional’, in Madrid. The Catalan Police Force, Mossos d’Esquadra, has already arrested three of them and will detain the remaining two and hand them over to the Spanish Guardia Civil during the course of the day. Mossos d’Esquadra acted following the orders of the Spanish Court. The judge investigating the five people for an alleged crime against the crown, Fernando Andreu, decided to order the arrest after those activists who are now to be prosecuted refused to testify by videoconference last Wednesday. This case fuels once again tensions between the radical left pro-independence CUP and the governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel sí’ (JxSí) over the action of the Catalan Police Force. Indeed, CUP has already announced it will request the resignation of the Catalan Minister for Home Affairs, Jordi Jané, for allowing Mossos d’Esquadra to be subordinated to the Spanish courts.

Spain’s King called for all citizens to respect the courts’ decisions since they “ensure democracy and eliminate the arbitrariness of public power”. During his opening speech for the 12^th Spanish term of office, Spain’s King didn’t refer specifically to Catalonia but called for “honest and loyal” dialogue, always “within the law” and bearing in mind the “fraternity and solidarity” amongst all Spaniards. “Spain can’t renounce itself nor its common heritage, from which it has to keep on building a shared future”, he stated. Philip VI also called to “dignify public affairs and give prestige to the institutions” especially after the deadlock over Spain’s new government and the lack of agreement regarding the investiture which led to “anxiety and unease”. 

Liberal Convergència (CDC), left-wing pro-independence ERC and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNB) have been excluded from the lunch organised on the occasion of the US President, Barack Obama’s visit to Spain. Spain’s King will preside over the event, to be held on Monday, and according to the Royal Household the reason for not inviting these parties is that Obama was interested in meeting the leaders of the most important political groups in the Spanish Parliament. Thus, current Spanish President and leader of the Conservative People’s Party (PP), Mariano Rajoy, Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) leader, Pedro Sánchez, Pablo Iglesias, leader of alternative left coalition Unidos-Podemos and Albert Rivera, from Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’ will attend the lunch, as well as several acting ministers.

The time for the main Spanish parties to continue negotiating and agree to form new government appears to be coming to an end. To explore if any of the candidates is likely to obtain the necessary support to be invested as new Spanish President, Philip VI announced a new round of meetings to take place on the 25^th and 26^th of April. If the formations fail to reach an agreement and the investiture deadlock continues, the Royal Household will “procced to the dissolution of both chambers”, the Spanish Parliament and the Senate, “and call for new elections within the terms established by the Spanish Constitution”. Conservative People’s Party (PP) leader, Mariano Rajoy, has been acting as Spanish President since the 20^th of December 2015, as elections showed a fragmented scenario, where none of the parties obtained an absolute majority nor achieved any agreement to form government.

This Wednesday, Spain’s king Philip VI requested Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sánchez to start the negotiations with the other groups in the Spanish Parliament so that the first investiture debate can take place. Sánchez assured that he is “aware of the difficulties” but expressed his will to “unblock the current situation” in Spain. PSOE obtained 90 seats from the 350 in the Spanish Parliament and would therefore need the support of both alternative left ‘Podemos’ (68 seats) and anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans (40 seats) to reach the absolute majority. However, Podemos has openly expressed its support for holding a referendum in Spain, while both PSOE and Ciutadans have repeatedly rejected the possibility of holding such a poll. The Conservative People’s Party (PP), the party currently governing Spain, obtained 123 MPs in the 20^th of December Spanish elections. 

Philip VI refused Parliament President Carme Forcadell’s request for an audience to communicate to him the investiture of the new Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont. The Royal Household asked Forcadell to do so in writing and thus broke with the tradition according to which the presidents of the Catalan, Basque and Galician Parliaments travel to Madrid to communicate to the monarch the decision of their respective chambers. Philip VI’s secretary asked for the investiture to be communicated “complying with the procedures established by the Spanish Constitution and the Catalan Statute of Autonomy”.  

On the day after the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) suspended the Parliament's declaration to start the independence process and the same day that the official notification arrived at the Parliament, Spain's King Philip VI has guaranteed Spain's unity. "The Constitution will prevail" he stated and added that Spain "won't allow that its unity could be questioned, as it is the base of its people’s peaceful and free coexistence". "It is not the time to go back to the past" stated Spain's King "but to reaffirm ourselves in our compromise with a present and a future full of shared progress and democratic coexistence". "As head of the State" he concluded "I will always be by all Spanish citizens' side". Spain's King made these statements during a ceremonial event of the 'Marca España' ('Spain Brand') initiative, during which many personalities from the cultural, economic and sporting spheres were honoured by Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Manuel García Margallo. 

Philip VI, the Spanish Monarch, defended this Wednesday “a united Spain” at Strasbourg’s plenary. “Europe has been built on the basis of adding rather than deducting, of uniting rather than dividing and the ability to share and be supportive” he stated. The EU can count “on a united Spain, which is proud of its diversity” and “respectful of the rule of law”, he emphasised. The Spanish King praised the Constitution and described it as “the great agreement” which “protects the regions in Spain in the exercising of their diverse cultures and traditions, languages, and institutions”. Spanish alternative-left Podemos MEP Pablo Iglesias criticised Philip VI’s role regarding Catalonia’s push for independence and stated that “the king shouldn’t interfere in issues that have to be democratically solved by the citizens”.  

The President of the US, Barack Obama, called for a “strong and unified Spain” during a brief meeting held this Tuesday with Spain’s monarch Felipe VI. The Spanish King described Spain as “one of the most ancient nations in Europe” and Obama stated that Spain’s presence is important “not only for Europe but also for the US”. Catalan President Artur Mas declared that he didn’t feel the target of Obama’s statement, as Spain could be unified “with or without Catalonia” and lamented that the Spanish Government discusses Catalonia’s case with everybody “except with the Catalan institutions”.

"I come in peace", stated the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, when a journalist asked him whether he saw himself coming to La Zarzuela Palace once again as a Head of State on an official visit. It was the first meeting between the Catalan President and the King of Spain, Felipe VI, after the unitary pro-independence list was announced for the forthcoming Catalan Parliament elections, scheduled for 27 September and likely to become a 'de facto' plebiscite on independence from Spain. The conversation between Felipe VI and Mas is a part of a series of protocol meetings that the Spanish monarch is currently holding with all the Presidents of the Autonomous Communities. The meeting lasted one hour and 15 minutes, and had a cordial tone, according to Catalan Government sources. As is the custom with this type of encounter, there were no statements made afterwards. However, before the meeting, the Catalan Government believed the King and Mas would also talk about the self-determination process.

A memorial ceremony for the 150 victims of the Germanwings plane, 53 of whom were living in Catalonia, has taken place on Monday evening at Barcelona's Sagrada Família Basilica, the world famous church designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. In the end, the ceremony also included a few words from representatives of the Protestant, Jewish and Muslim communities, after the controversy surrounding the Archbishop of Barcelona, Lluís Martínez Sistach, who had initially planned a solely Catholic ceremony. The mass was attended by relatives and close friends of 52 victims. Out of the 150 victims on the Germanwings plane, which was flying between Barcelona and Düsseldorf and was intentionally crashed in the Alps, 47 had Spanish nationality and 72 were German citizens. The ceremony in Barcelona was held in Catalan, Spanish, German, French, English, Greek and Italian. It was attended by the King of Spain, the Spanish PM and the Catalan President.