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Mark Nayler
Malaga
Friday, 22 November 2024, 15:48
Time heals everything. That hackneyed saying certainly seems to be true of residents in the areas worst affected by the 29 October floods. This Wednesday, when King Felipe VI returned to hard-hit parts of Valencia, he was welcomed with applause instead of insults and mudballs. What's happened over the last couple of weeks to account for such a radical change in attitude towards Spain's head of state?
First, there's been steady progress in the recovery and clean-up operation, which is likely to cost tens of billions of euros. Felipe's second visit to Valencia this week coincided with the Bank of Spain's announcement that the floods will reduce the country's GDP by about 0.2% this year.
Pedro Sánchez has pledged over 14 billion euros to help households and businesses in the most devastated areas, a sum that will surely contribute to the economic contraction. The Bank of Spain recommends that in order to have the most impact, the emergency funds should be "temporary and specifically targeted" at damaged industries, i.e. to avoid sustained pressure on the welfare state.
Secondly, the blame battle has increased in intensity, especially surrounding environment minister Teresa Ribera's ascension to the post of EU commissioner for energy and competition (despite the PP's attempts to sabotage her promotion).
But neither of these two developments reflects either positively or poorly on the Spanish monarchy. They have nothing to do with Spain's royal household.
Like any largely decorative head of a constitutional monarchy, Felipe is not involved in the day-to-day running of his country, far less in emergency response operations. He didn't deserve the mud hurled at him on 3 November. But nor has he done anything since to earn the cheers he received this week. If the king wasn't responsible for the state's perceived failures before and after the floods (which he wasn't), then he can't consistently be praised for that state's conduct since. Or so one could argue.
The factors that really account for the change in attitude towards the king are emotional and psychological. Emotional because citizens' initial anger and distress has diminished; psychological because at least he was there on the street, listening to people, showing solidarity.
That's something that politicians are notoriously bad at. Yolanda Díaz had a go when she launched Sumar a couple of years ago, but members of the Spanish government generally try to avoid the public. Sánchez, you'll notice, was not part of the delegation to Valencia this week. Just as local residents took charge of the recovery operation during the floods' immediate aftermath, while representatives of Spain's over-populated state were nowhere to be seen, the king is now stepping into the political vacuum.
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