Spain, Sanchez on Juan Carlos: 'lack of civic sense'

The Spanish premier, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, said at a press conference that he shares with most of his fellow citizens a feeling of "refusal" regarding the tax irregularities committed by King Emeritus Juan Carlos, after he paid almost 4.4 million. euros to the tax authorities to compensate unpaid taxes for flights on private jets.

Sanchez added that he considers a "lack of civic sense" the behavior maintained by the former monarch in the past, stressing that this judgment is not about the crown as an institution.

The president of the Spanish government said Juan Carlos' son, the current King Felipe VI, has shown "exemplary" behavior.

The monarch, for his part, avoided references to his father's tax disputes in a public appearance.

Juan Carlos, in exile in Abu Dhabi and targeted by several judicial investigations, paid almost 4.4 million euros to the Spanish tax authorities to regularize his position.

The figure is intended to pay for the cost of flights aboard private jets that the former monarch had benefited from and which had been paid for by a foundation based in Liechtenstein belonging to a distant cousin.