Among the many positions that Spain's Socialists, the PSOE, could take on the issue of the corruption of the Spanish monarchy or the debate within society on "monarchy or republic", the party has rigidly backed the one which is least defensible within its century-long history but most understandable for a political organization which clearly aims to stand by the regime of 1978 until the end. It is not just that the PSOE has again and again vetoed any parliamentary commission of inquiry to address the scandalous situation of having Juan Carlos I, first, as head of state for almost forty years and now as king emeritus, immersed in news of blatant corruption cases. These issues have been extensively revealed by his former lover Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, also known as Corinna Larsen or by her noble title of Princess Corinna, and the situation became so unbearable that it led to the former monarch's flight to the United Arab Emirates. It is as least as worrying - possibly more - that the protective layer which shields the Spanish monarchy has activated such alarming extremes as the PSOE overturning a proposal moved by its governing partner Unidas Podemos and supported by many pro-independence and nationalist forces, for the state's own opinion research agency, the CIS, to ask the public to give its assessment of Felipe VI's reign.
It does not seem an anomaly in a democracy to ask people about their opinion of the head of state, as other countries around us do. On the contrary, it is a requirement and an obligation which the public polling agency, the Centre for Sociological Research, should not be able to dispense with for political reasons. In fact, in Spain the question was regularly asked until April 2015 when the CIS, then in the hands of the conservative PP, decided to delete the question from its questionnaire due to the observed fall in Felipe VI's ratings. José Felix Tezanos, the controversial director of the prestigious agency, has followed the same path and for more than five years now the question has not been asked for an obvious reason: the monarchy is rapidly losing the positive support which Spanish society used to grant it. First, there was the case of Iñaki Undargarin, then the belligerent attitude in the Catalan independence process that caused the definite schism from Catalan society of Felipe VI, and finally, it is the outbreak of corruption in the royal family.
The PSOE has played the card of protecting not only the monarchy but the opacity of its actions by all means necessary. It is support which is essential so that nothing moves, completing a solid four-legged parliamentary majority with PP, Ciudadanos and Vox. No-one investigates anything, no-one seeks to find out anything, even if the court proceedings do not meet the European standards we are accustomed to. This does not seem to matter to either right or left, who are busy plugging all the leaks in the '78 regime. The leaders of the PSOE, always vigilant about who Vox votes with, should be worried about coinciding with them as it is vomitous to have them as travelling companions on an issue that pertains to democratic values and principles.
Because, this Tuesday in the Congress of Deputies, it was the Vox MPs who backed a modification of the law of political parties to outlaw the pro-independence groups which threaten the unity of Spain. And the PP and Ciudadanos simply looked the other way, by abstaining. Even if politics has this chameleonic quality, it is important to know which side you are on, when the issues are much more than mere anecdotes.