Could Juan Carlos' departure mark a regime crisis in Spain? According to historian Benoît Pellistrandi, a specialist in contemporary Spain, the figure of Juan Carlos is inseparable from Spanish democracy. Thus, seeing him announce his departure from Spain could help to shake the Spanish monarchy. "The figure of Juan-Carlos is inextricably linked with the exit from the Franco dictatorship and the construction of a democracy, the first lasting experience of liberal democracy."
The embodiment of Spanish democracy
He was the dolphin of the dictator Franco and he led Spain to democracy, Juan Carlos was the "reconciler of the Spaniards" and if he is not "the only midwife of democracy", his figure is there historically linked. As Benoît Pellistrandi explains, "the constitution of 1978 makes it clear that the monarchy desired by Franco was Juan Carlos and his descendants. His name is in the Spanish constitution". It is for this reason that the scandals that affect him, and his exile can have such a strong institutional impact. "With the crisis of image, reputation which affects the former sovereign, it is the foundation of the monarchy which is reached".
The historian also emphasizes that we must not be mistaken about the reasons for this departure. "This decision, which is presented as the king, is that of the government and the current king who forced Juan Carlos to leave Spain. He was forced, in the same way he was forced to leave Spain. 'abdication in 2014 ".
Republican aspirations in Spain
For him it is in particular the results of "the action of republican forces which would like to put an end to the monarchy". Proof of this, according to him, is "the reaction of the president of the Catalan parliament, who asked King Felipe VI to abdicate, telling him you protected your father's flight".
Indeed, as Benoît Pellistrandi explains, "Catalans dream of an autonomous Catalan republic". "When he goes to Catalonia, Philippe VI is no longer received by the authorities and the ministers of the radical left refuse to accompany him" in a certain number of protocol commitments recalls the historian. "The great victim of this is this monarchical incarnation which embodies both the unity of Spain but also the adhesion of all Spaniards to the democratic pact of 1978", he concludes.