For the second time in just a few weeks, the Spanish Congress's Bureau, which decides the parliamentary agenda and rules on many procedural questions, has banned the creation of a commission of inquiry into the alleged irregularities of Spain's royal house and, in particular, about the dealings undertaken by former king Juan Carlos I over the alleged Saudi Arabian commissions he received which came to light via the discovery of a Swiss bank account in an affair which also implicates his heir Felipe VI and his granddaughter Elionor.
Despite being unable to agree on anything - absolutely anything - the representatives of Spain's three largest political parties, the PSOE, the PP and Vox, joined together to veto it, thus rejecting the request of various regional and pro-independence parliamentary parties, as well as that of Podemos, which did not sign it but did support the initiative. In total, almost a hundred parliamentarians were in favour, out of the 375 members of the chamber, if it had been voted in a plenary session. It will be worth reminding the Socialists of the PSOE how they didn't mind being in the company of Santiago Abascal's far-right deputies from the Vox party, nor did they shrink from breaking the unity of their governing coalition with Podemos on a issue which is far from trivial, involving nothing less than an investigation into decades-long corruption in the very top echelon of the Spanish state.
Thus, with the parliamentary route to an investigation having been closed, with a certain perception of apparent disinterest in the matter from the Spanish judicial institutions, we will have to wait and see what the countries with cases open over the issue, such as Switzerland and the UK, will do, and whether Corinna, the former lover of Juan Charles I, who is apparently ready to lift the lid on the whole business, or let someone else do so, has much to say.
The fact that the monarchy has taken advantage of the coronavirus crisis to smother a topic which it was aware of a year ago is clearly intended to reduce the scandal's visibility. In terms of domestic media, it has largely succeeded. It is yet to be seen, though, whether the final chapter in the drama might be written in either Geneva or London.