King Felipe recalls the 'determining' role of Don Juan Carlos against the 23F coup d'etat

"Faced with that unacceptable fracture of the legal and legitimate democratic order, King Juan Carlos assumed his responsibility and commitment to the Constitution as head of state." With these words Felipe VI wanted today to extol the figure and the essential role that his father played 40 years ago now to stop the coup attempt by a group of soldiers in our country. In the act of commemoration of 23F held in the Hall of Lost Steps of the Congress of Deputies, the King recalled in his speech how the "firmness and authority" of Don Juan Carlos "were decisive for the defense and triumph of democracy ", also recalling that" televised message that is already part of our collective memory. It was before the cameras where "he communicated to all Spaniards" that "the necessary measures" had been taken to stop that "extraordinarily serious attack against our system of rights and freedoms."

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Felipe VI has also highlighted that "millions of Spaniards, including those of my generation, have recorded that date of February 23, 1981 because of its meaning and relevance". Above all, "the memory of anguish and worry about what could happen." Parliament, the maximum expression of national sovereignty, "remained temporarily captive due to the actions of forces contrary to the path of progress that we had all undertaken with great enthusiasm and hope for the future." Happily, that feeling of fear and uncertainty that later turned into "the tranquility of seeing how freedom and constitutional order prevailed", said the king. "The institutional and citizen rejection of the rupture of our framework of coexistence was decisive in defeating that coup d'état," Don Felipe remarked, as well as "the wave of democratic conviction of the parliamentarians and members of the Government who during those long hours were detained in this camera."

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For all this, the King has shown his "great admiration and gratitude to the person of President Adolfo Suárez", but also to "a long list of men and women, civilians and soldiers that we have in mind and who offered that night together with the media, an example of courage and loyalty to State institutions". That day, "I was a witness, still a child, of that historical episode from which I was able to learn the immense and incalculable value that freedom has for the Spanish people", Don Felipe said. "Today, as King and a symbol of the unity and permanence of the State, my commitment to the Constitution is stronger than ever, as is the Crown's desire to be an institution that includes, integrates and unites everyone", he highlighted. . "We have been participants in the profound transformation of Spain and its extraordinary collective progress. Now, we have the moral obligation to increase and enrich our common project," Don Felipe asserted.

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"Celebrating the victory of democracy is a very opportune occasion to recognize the full validity of its values ​​and principles", continued the King. "We owe it to those who defended it then and to the new generations in whose hands will be the future of our country." Therefore, "preserving it constitutes an inalienable premise for the full development, well-being and prosperity of our citizens", Felipe VI concluded in an act where the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, was present; the president of the Congress, Meritxell Batet; the president of the Senate, Pilar Llop; the president of the Constitutional Court, Juan José González Rivas; and the president of the Supreme Court and the General Council of the Judiciary, Carlos Lesmes. Likewise, the four vice presidents of the Government have attended, as well as the leader of the PP, Pablo Casado. The only two 'fathers' of the Constitution who are still alive, Miguel Herrero and Rodríguez de Miñón and Miquel Roca i Junyent, have also been invited.

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