Congress knocks down the ERC and Podemos proposal to end the King's inviolability

The coalition government once again shows its internal friction in a parliamentary vote.

The Congress of Deputies has rejected this Thursday the proposal of Esquerra Republicana, supported by United We Can, which urged the Executive to revoke the inviolability of King Felipe VI and withdraw the apologetics of Juan Carlos I and other members of the Royal Family.

The initiative has been rejected by 278 votes against, representing 80% of the Chamber, including those of the PSOE, PP, Vox, Ciudadanos and Unión del Pueblo Navarro (UPN).

In favor, 74 deputies of United We Can, ERC, Junts, PNV, EH Bildu, Más País, Compromís and BNG have voted.

The rejected proposal urged the Government to promote "all those regulatory modifications of the legal system so that all persons are effectively equal before the law and, consequently, must respond to the administration of justice under the same conditions."

In the debate prior to the vote, ERC criticized the PSOE protecting "a corrupt monarchy" while the socialists responded that the rise of the Royal Family does not imply a weakening before the courts since they can demand responsibilities

In addition, the socialist group stressed that a reform of such depth would require a great consensus.

United We, for its part, emphasized that "there is a democratic problem when the monarchy's corruption crimes cannot be investigated" and the PNV demanded the suppression of all surveys "without exceptions."

Esquerra Republicana registered this initiative last July after the appearance of information about the judicial investigations opened in Switzerland on the alleged irregularities committed by the King Emeritus, who at the beginning of August decided to establish his residence in the United Arab Emirates.

Five months later, in December, Juan Carlos I admitted that he had submitted a declaration to the Treasury to regularize his tax situation, to satisfy a tax debt "for the amount of 678,393.72 euros, including interest and surcharges."

The text of the initiative was debated last Tuesday, hours after the Congress commemorated the fortieth anniversary of the failure of the coup attempt of 23-F in a ceremony presided over by the King and which was not attended by representatives of the nationalist and independence forces .

The vote on this proposal also comes two weeks after Unidos Podemos proposed to repeal the crimes of insults to the Crown on the occasion of the mobilizations for the arrest of rapper Pablo Hasél, which occurred on February 16 in Lleida.

The musician was sentenced to a nine-month prison sentence for exalting terrorism, to which was added a fine of 10,800 euros for insults to the Crown, all for a series of song lyrics and tweets.