Spain is a great country that has overcome many challenges. The last relevant one is now 50 years old. Moving from a dictatorial regime to a democratic model based on coexistence and in which everyone has their place. It seemed like an impossible mission, but it was accomplished. And as the king recalled in his speech, this was done thanks to “dialogue” since was able to create a framework for coexistence, the Constitutionin which everyone fits in. “This courage to move forward without guarantees, but united, is one of the most valuable lessons they taught us,” he tells us.
Well, then,2025 is more complicated for the Spanish than 1975? At first glance this might not seem like it, but it’s a question that surely generates disparate answers, and probably most of them for some reason. Felipe VI’s message alludes to current challenges such as access to housing, which disrupts the attempts of so many young people to launch their own project. Or even technological disruption itself, which generates uncertainty in many work situations. Or a concern about environmental challenges. These are problems that the Spaniard of 2025 has and that the Spaniard of 1975 did not have (or not at the same level).
And alongside these challenges, others, increasingly strong, can generate a uncertain and worrying futuresuch as growing polarization and disbelief in certain institutions.
In the words of the king, democracies are going through “a worrying crisis of confidence”, which “seriously affects the minds of citizens and the credibility of institutions”. His speech assumes that there is a perception that tensions in public debate can lead to a feeling of “boredom, disenchantment and disaffection”. In fact, we are as a society, and not just Spain, at a critical point where everything can slide towards populism, towards a breakdown in coexistence with results that would disrupt the development of recent decades.
Are very complicated challenges of “this turbulent world, where multilateralism and the world order are in crisis and where democratic societies are going through a worrying crisis of confidence”. There is the king’s acknowledgment of the current situation, but the underlying message is that if Spain was able to move forward and establish democracy in 1975, we now have all the resources to overcome current challenges.
And it is at this moment that the king’s speech takes a turn which could well be inspired by the iconic speech given by John F. Kennedy at his inauguration. “Let us ask ourselves, without looking at anyone, without seeking the responsibilities of others: what can each of us do to strengthen coexistence? What red lines must we not cross?” Felipe VI told us this in his speech. His words are not far removed from “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”, which the US president said in his iconic inauguration speech which he delivered on January 2, 1961, minutes before entering the White House for the first time as president.
THE the king’s recipe is dialogueexemplarity of all politicians and institutions, empathy with others, always worthy of people, assuming that one’s own ideas are not dogmas and those of others are not threats. In short, all the elements that allowed Spanish society, 50 years ago, to give birth to the Constitution which gave us this framework of coexistence in which we all live.
2025 has been a fairly intense year politically and socially for Spain. And 2026, with so much political and electoral uncertainty ahead, is also intended to be a year full of possible curveballs into which to slip. Just like 50 years ago, the key here is know which red lines should not be crossedwhat can be abandoned and what needs to be emphasized. There are wickers to make everything go well again. And it will certainly not be because citizens – Spanish, but also European and global – have not already gone through worse situations and have always been able to overcome them.
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