Monarchy Is Indispensable Asset to Spain, Government Says

BARCELONA – Spain’s monarchy is “an asset we cannot do without” and an institution that should be treated with “enormous delicacy and affection,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said on Monday.

The monarchy “made possible the transition from dictatorship to democracy,” he told reporters, referring to the political process that followed the 1975 death of Francisco Franco.

“I have had the honor of traveling with the king, those trips have translated into very important contracts for Spanish companies, which have generated jobs,” the foreign minister said.

King Juan Carlos “is the most important asset of Brand Spain,” Garcia-Margallo said.

The minister’s comments came a day after several thousand people gathered in Madrid to mark the 82nd anniversary of the founding of Spain’s Second Republic – toppled by Franco in 1939 – and call for a return to republicanism.

The monarchy has found itself at the center of controversy recently as Princess Cristina, the younger daughter of Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, was mentioned as a potential suspect in a corruption case involving her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin.

The time has come to regulate “certain aspects” of the monarchy with the aim of bolstering it as an institution, the secretary-general of Spain’s governing Popular Party said Monday.

Declining to offer any details, the PP’s Maria Dolores de Cospedal said her party sees the royal family’s desire to be included in a new transparency law as a “very important” step.

Dipetik dari - Latin American Herald Tribune