A somewhat lame reception this afternoon at the Royal Palace. The event that the Kings preside over together with Princess Leonor – in the gala uniform of the Air and Space Army – and, for the first time, Infanta Sofía after having reached the age of majority last April, after the , has been marked by relevant absences that have, however, left all the political prominence to the leader of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, after being the first to kiss the hands before the Royal Family – and without his wife, Begoña Gómez, who has not attended this event for three years now – has not spoken to accredited journalists, a common exercise in this type of events.
As is also usual, the representatives of the pro-independence parties did not attend the commemorative events for Hispanic Heritage Day this Sunday either. And Vox announced this Saturday that its highest representative, Santiago Abascal, would not attend either. This Sunday, in addition, the ultra leader has assured that he will stop attending institutional events in which the Government is present. It will only be in parliamentary forums. Given this panorama, the head of the PP has taken advantage of this position to equate the independentistas and Vox for their support of the King in the midst of the fight to lead the right-wing bloc in the face of the rise in the polls of the ultra party. “I am very proud to come to this event (…). Here we come to accompany the King and the Spanish soldiers. Whenever I can I will do so. Whoever does not come will have to explain it,” he remarked.
Paradoxically, it was last month at the opening of the judicial year arguing that he did not want to share space with the State Attorney General, accused of revealing secrets in the case of the partner of the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. And the same thing happened last June, when the leader of the opposition was absent from the commemoration in the Royal Palace of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the treaty of accession of Spain to the European Community, explaining that he did not want to coincide with Sánchez on the same day that the UCO report was known in which the Civil Guard fully implicated the then number two of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, in the corruption plot that nested in the Ministry of Transportation of José Luis Ábalos.
In the absence of his most direct political rivals, a relaxed Feijóo has reviewed the current political fronts. He has harshly attacked Sánchez: “It is not easy for the president to talk about what is happening,” said the PP leader in reference to the corruption cases affecting the PSOE and the accusations of his wife and his brother David Sánchez. “because my partner is not in court, neither is my brother and my number two [en referencia a Santos Cerdán] He is not in jail,” said Feijóo.
Given these statements, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente – the last member of the Council of Ministers to leave the reception – has come out in defense of his boss: “He who does not console himself is because he does not want to,” he said to Feijóo in reference to the accusations of corruption. He has also denied that the PSOE envelopes with cash that the UCO uncovered on Friday are corruption and has assured that “in the party [PSOE] there is no money b” and explained that “in the ministries you also pay in cash.”
The Kings, who have been chatting with most of the guests along with their daughters, have received this year just over 1,000 personalities, among whom were all the powers and authorities of the State, with some notable absences such as the Attorney General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz, and some regional barons, among others, that of the Valencian Community, Carlos Mazón; that of Murcia, Fernando López Miras; or that of the Balearic Islands, Marga Prohens, who had previously excused themselves due to the damage Alice that has devastated the east of the country for days.
The Minister of Health, Mónica García, has not attended either; the Minister of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2023, Pablo Bustinduy; the Minister of Youth and Children, Sira Rego; that of Equality, Ana Redondo; nor the head of Economy, Commerce and Business, Carlos Body. Also, as is almost the norm, representatives of the pro-independence parties and the Lehendakari, Imanol Pradales.
Although La Moncloa has not given an official reason for the president’s early departure, it so happens that Sánchez leaves tomorrow at seven in the morning for Egypt to witness the signing of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas. A conflict that has already claimed more than 65,000 Gazan lives, many of them children. And Feijóo uploaded again, directly relating the signing of the peace agreement promoted by the president of the United States, Donald Trump: “An arms embargo is approved hours before a peace agreement is reached. The Spanish Foreign Ministry [en referencia al Ministerio de Exteriores que dirige José Manuel Albares] He can’t make a fool of himself with such intensity. There is some left in Spain that has gone from ‘no to war’ to no to peace.”
