Nobody went too far from the script. Neither the king in his traditional Christmas message, nor the representatives of the Galician political parties in their reactions after the royal speech. Felipe VI focused his intervention on the defense of the transition and democracy in the face of populism and radicalism, … which was very well received by the PPdeG, which celebrates the monarch’s call for coexistence, while the BNG, like every year, considers that the monarch’s remarks are far from real concerns of the people and attacks the spirit of 1978, the Constitution and the European Union. The PSdeG, halfway, missed its mark references to equality, gender-based violence or Gaza.
Popular Galicians wanted to join the king’s call for coexistence. A concept which, according to Paula Prado, general secretary of the PPdeG, illustrates the “Galicia of the ‘sentidiño’”. A A “real Galicia” faithful to the Constitution, focused on the essential and a “welcoming land”as “Princess Leonor herself defined it – recalled Prado – when she received the Gold Medal of our Community”, the highest distinction awarded by the Xunta and which was presented to her in July in a solemn ceremony in the Noble Hall of the Pazo de Raxoi, in Santiago.
The heir to the Spanish throne, the popular also remember, He completed his naval training this year with a flag oath at the military school of Marín, at which his parents, King Felipe and Queen Letizia, as well as his sister, Infanta Sofía, were present.
For Rueda’s number two in the PPdeG, Felipe VI “demonstrated once again that he is the King that we Galicians deserve and need”because “with his words he managed to represent those of us who share the values of coexistence, dialogue and confidence in democracy.”
“We celebrate your call for coexistence from this “welcoming land” that is Galicia”
Paula Prado
Secretary General of the PPdeG
In Galicia, Prado continues, “these radicalisms that he also spoke about do not correspond and that they walk in the opposite direction to our “sentidiño””, which he identifies with measures such as promoting access to housing, “a challenge cited by Felipe VI and which for the Xunta has been a priority for some time already”. And the popular leader recalled the promise of the Galician president that in 2026 4,000 social housing units would be in operation.
In short, concludes Prado, a speech which symbolizes the A Galicia that “believes in the strength of the autonomous model” and that they perfectly represent President Alfonso Rueda and the PPdeG.
Against the transition
The first to react were the Galician nationalists, through their spokesperson and sole deputy in Congress, Néstor Rego. The Bloc sees in the speech of “Felipe de Bourbón” “further proof that the monarchy, in addition to being an anachronistic institution, is far from the real concerns of citizens and the working classes”. And for Rego, the logical consequence of this analysis is that the “Bourbon monarchy” must “be left behind” -in other words, abolished- representing, from their point of view, “no solution for the interests of the Galician popular classes or of the Spanish State as a whole”.
“It’s far from the real concerns of citizens and the working classes”
Nestor Régo
BNG Congressman
Also secretary general of the UPG, the radical and dominant soul of the BNG, to whom Ana Pontón usually entrusts the task of evaluating the King’s Christmas message, He finds it “curious” that the monarch dates the start of democracy 50 years ago, coinciding with the coronation of Juan Carlos I “by the Francoist courts following the will of the dictator Franco who had previously designated him as heir to the head of state”. And “from there”, reproaches Rego, Don Felipe began a “praise of the Transition, the Constitution and the European Union” which the nationalist representative did not appreciate at all.
PPdeG
The people celebrate and share the King’s call for coexistence which they identify with the Galicia of the “sentidiño”, with the Galicia “welcoming land” and with the “royal” Galicia “faithful to the Constitution”.
BNG
Nationalists consider “Felipe de Bourbón” as distant from the “real concerns” of citizens and criticize his demands for the Transition, the Constitution and the EU as restrictive for Galicia.
PSdeG
The socialists regret that the extremists do not accept the message against the radicalism of Felipe VI and criticize him for not having made reference to equality, sexist violence or Gaza.
This did not please him because, he assures, the king “forgets that in the case of Galicia The Constitution establishes serious democratic limits and denies us as a nation and the rights that correspond to us. He says of the Transition that “it is at the root of many of the problems we face today, particularly regarding existing restrictions on democratic freedoms.” And regarding the European Union, Rego criticizes the fact that Felipe VI “forgets” that, once again, in the case of Galicia, “limited the productive capacity of our country in strategic sectors such as agriculture or fishing and that, even today, European policies represent a threat to our productive sectors”, adds the BNG MP in an exercise of nationalist Euroscepticism to say the least.
The King’s mention of the increase in the cost of living or the difficulties of accessing housing was not enough for Rego to consider that the King’s speech was linked to the reality of the street. According to him, “it is still significant that The main problems facing citizens today were absent in the monarch’s speech. “He liquidated them with a simple mention: the high cost of living and the price of housing,” said the Bloc deputy who sees “Felipe de Bourbón”, as they like to address the king in nationalism and in certain left-wing sectors, “very more concerned about the political disaffection of Spanish institutions which have their legitimacy in the so-called Transition. An idea which, it is true, and Rego regrets it, was the one which occupied “most of the time” of the monarch’s speech.
Pending Issues
For his part, the general secretary of the PSdeG, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro, criticized Felipe VI for having left aside “the references to equalityto solidarity and action against massacres like that of Gaza wave fight against gender-based violence“.
“There was a lack of references to equality, solidarity with Gaza or the fight against gender-based violence”
Jose Ramon Gomez Besteiro
Secretary General of the PSDeG
Besteiro missed a “without nuance” demand for these “universal values which must be defended from Galicia, from all of Spain and also from Europe” and which serve to “take care and preserve” our democratic system, which nevertheless “is not fragile”.
The leader of the Galician socialists also regretted that the king’s message – “firm against radicalism” – was used by “those who don’t realize”: “those who harm coexistence, those who fuel distrust, extremism and disinformation.”
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