Far removed from the social outcry caused by the flight of former king Juan Carlos and any slight sense of responsibility as elected public officials, the main public authorities of the Balearic Islands on Monday held their traditional summer meeting with current Spanish monarch Felipe VI, in his first public act at the Marivent palace. The Balearic autonomous community's president, Francina Armengol, came in person; so did the speaker of its Parliament, Vicenç Thomàs; and by video conference he also spoke to the mayor of Palma, José Hila. All three are representatives of the Socialists, once irredeemably republican in their views and today clearly intertwined in the regime of 1978.
After their royal audiences, Armengol, Thomàs and Hila limited themselves to stating that they had addressed the public health and economic situation of the Balearics and, with regard to the flight of Juan Carlos I, either indicated that they did not intend to reveal the content of the conversation or declared outright that they didn't talk about the issue. Not even when a whirlwind is ripping through the image of the Spanish monarchy due to the serious cases of corruption that directly threaten the royal family do the Spanish authorities, in this case regional and local, leave aside their sad role as lapdogs to act as demanding leaders. It is always easier, of course, to look the other way, and that is how the current situation has been reached.
Unlike in other periods of its history, the Spanish monarchy has not needed a specific royal court since its arrival at the leadership of the state in 1975, as all those who have held public office have openly behaved like royal courtiers. With this attitude, it is unsurprising that the excesses we have been aware of have enjoyed absolute impunity for decades. And that the Spanish government has behaved, almost by inertia, more as a layer of protection for crimes committed than as an executive willing to fight for the clarification of the truth and against corruption, even if this may affect the Spanish royal family.
Neither prime minister Pedro Sánchez, nor his deputy Pablo Iglesias, nor the government as a whole, nor the media, employer groups, unions or other official institutions and bodies will eliminate the regime of 1978 with their attitude which is servile and evasive of responsibilities. Without transparency, a will to change, democracy and ballot boxes in Catalonia, the monarchy has a dark future. The place which saw this first was Catalonia, but that snowball from October 2017 has not stopped growing bigger as it rolls across Spain. And so, while Felipe VI receives the authorities at Marivent, when he goes out into the street, as he did hours later in Petra, what he finds are protests against his visit.