Aware that Spain, King Felipe VI dedicated yesterday, almost monographically, his traditional Christmas Eve speech to a strong defense of coexistence as the basis of our democratic life. “We must all make caring for coexistence our daily work,” stressed the Monarch. The questioning of the principles that underpin the rule of law has become a real threat throughout the West. When multilateralism and the world order based on shared rules are experiencing their worst crisis since the end of the Second World War, democracies face “a disturbing crisis of confidence,” in the King’s apt definition. This results in the erosion of the credibility of the institutions and a disaffection with the democratic system that is increasingly worrying. Also in Spain.
50 years ago, we Spaniards recovered our freedoms after the death of the dictator. A Transition began, not without doubts and differences, but which entailed an exercise of responsibility and dialogue on the part of the entire society and its representatives. That appeal to dialogue permeated the entire speech of Felipe VI, the shortest of the 12 that he has addressed to the Spanish people as head of State on the occasion of the Christmas holidays, but one of the most unequivocally political.
There are many and complex challenges that Spain faces as the advanced democracy that it is. There are no easy answers, but the worst way to deal with them is undoubtedly polarization into ideological blocks. Based on the very measured but very clear words of Felipe VI, it is impossible not to contrast the day-to-day life of current politics with the collective effort for the common good that had its best fruit in the 1978 Constitution, not as an untouchable idol to worship but as the norm that gave way to the most prosperous and peaceful period in the history of Spain.
Half a century ago, a generation of politicians and citizens of very different ideologies had the “courage to move forward without guarantees, but united” in a time marked by social and economic instability and the memory of a fratricidal war. Today, with a democracy whose consolidation no one can question, they “perceive that the tension in public debate causes boredom, disenchantment and disaffection.”
40 years ago, in the same Columned Hall of the Royal Palace of Madrid that the Monarch chose yesterday to address the citizens, Spain signed its accession to the European Communities. Today Europe is experiencing moments of tension and threat, but its principles and values remain ours in the face of “extremism, radicalism and populism”, in the face of “misinformation, inequalities, disenchantment with the present and doubts about how to approach the future”.
Standing, Felipe VI recalled some of the main problems that mark the daily existence of Spaniards, such as the cost of living, young people’s access to housing, the climate crisis or the job uncertainty generated by the technological revolution. The King did not say what specific measures to take to solve them, something inconceivable in a parliamentary Monarchy and that would violate its constitutional role, but he insisted that solutions require “the commitment of everyone”, “respect in language” and listening to other people’s opinions. No one is aware, not even the Monarch, that Spanish politics is experiencing a visceral clash of arguments that, far from promoting basic agreements, makes them impossible.
Every year, when the King’s speech ends, party spokespersons tend to interpret the head of state’s words as proving them right and denying their opponents. Against this tendency to turn a plea for harmony into a new dispute—that sterile Christmas version of the famous “and you more”—, Felipe VI was clear in asking that, “without looking at anyone, without seeking other people’s responsibilities,” we all ask ourselves what we can do to strengthen coexistence. To think that the thoughtless political fray that we witness every week in Parliament and every day on social media is not going to resonate with citizens is as naive as it is reckless. If tension leads to boredom, persevering in it out of mere partisan calculation leads to disaffection with the system, but also undermines social cohesion.
As the King warned, “coexistence is not an imperishable legacy. It is not enough to have received it: it is a fragile construction.” In order for society not to lose confidence in institutions, “special exemplarity in the performance of all public powers” is essential. Also in the respectful use of words. Without that respect there is no dialogue or democracy possible.
