Vox boycotts the king's 50th anniversary monarchy event

BarcelonaThe fifty years of the Spanish monarchy holding the head of state have fractured the right-wing bloc. The event, intended to commemorate the half-century of the Bourbons' rule since the death of Francisco Franco, will be boycotted by the far-right Vox party. Santiago Abascal's party announced on Tuesday that it will not participate and will once again snub King Felipe VI. "We are not going to participate in the farce that the government has prepared, which is an ode to Sánchez's totalitarian regime," stated Vox spokesperson in the lower house, Pepa Millán, who avoided commenting on the dictator. In her opinion, this event and the rest of those scheduled for this 50th anniversary of Franco's death are not "a tribute to democracy, the Transition, or the rule of law." In fact, the far-right party made it clear in mid-October that it would not participate in any event with the Spanish government where it could not denounce its alleged "criminal and corrupt actions." Aside from Vox's boycott, the absence of Sumar, Podemos, ERC, Junts, EH Bildu, the PNV, and also the BNG and Coalición Canaria will be repeated. Therefore, the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the monarchy in Congress will be incomplete: initially, only the PSOE and PP will attend, while the rest of the parliamentary spectrum will be absent.

What does the commemoration consist of? An event is planned for Friday at 12:30 pm in the Constitutional Hall of Congress, entitled "50 Years Later: The Crown in the Traffic of Democracy." It will be moderated by journalists Fernando Ónega and Iñaki Gabilondo, due to their role in the media during the Transition. The Spanish Parliament will once again hear speeches from Miquel Roca and Miguel Herrero, living fathers of the Constitution, as well as from academic Adela Cortina and the president of the Center for Political and Constitutional Studies, Rosaria García Mahamut. Besides King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, Infanta Sofía and Princess Leonor will also be present.

The Church

Alongside the political dispute over acts of historical memory, the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), Luis Argüello, asserted that the laws of historical and democratic memory have become an "instrument of ideological polarization serving political interests rather than a path to deepening reconciliation." Thus, just days before the 50th anniversary of Franco's death, Argüello advocated for the next three years—until the fiftieth anniversary of the Spanish Constitution in 2028—to serve as a "purification of memory," which, he said, he considers "contaminated by ideological biases." Amidst the ongoing conflict between the Spanish government and Isabel Díaz Ayuso over abortion, the president of the CEE also criticized abortion services. Argüello categorized abortion as "inhumane" and lamented that the "tragedy" of 73 million abortions performed annually worldwide, and 100,000 in Spain, has become "normalized." In his opening address to the Plenary Assembly of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), the Archbishop of Valladolid denounced Western society for having "completely swept" the issue of abortion "under the rug" and stated that we have reached a point "of extreme irrationality in matters of bioethics" in the service of bioethics.

Abortion

"In the same hospital, one group of doctors might be determined to save a five-and-a-half-month-old fetus, while another group of doctors deliberately kills a baby of the same age in the next room," he asserted. Similarly, Argüello criticized the fact that, in his opinion, the law can punish the destruction of an eagle's egg with a fine of €15,000 and up to two years in prison, "but grants the right to kill a child with Down syndrome until the end of the pregnancy." Regarding the current controversy surrounding the lists of conscientious objectors, the Conference president stated that the debate is preventing a comprehensive solution to the issue. "Nothing justifies ending the life of a human being in gestation, but true support for life requires addressing all circumstances," Argüello warned, emphasizing that the conditions under which some women become pregnant must be taken into account. Separately, the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) also called for respect for the presumption of innocence in the face of allegations of sexual abuse within the Church. He made this request without explicitly mentioning the case of the Bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta, Rafael Zornoza, whom the Vatican is investigating for the alleged sexual abuse of a minor when he was a priest in Getafe in the 1990s: "What we have experienced in recent weeks with the emergence of these allegations against us, regarding the presumption of innocence, which we want to respect and which we want to be respected for all citizens, including members of the Church, and also the freedom to report to civil authorities or to the Church."