The Economic Legacy of Don Juan Carlos

Don Juan Carlos has currently returned to Spain on a trip, although we expect he will return to live in his home very soon. Although certain groups of extreme left—some sit in the Council of Ministers—try to tarnish his personality, the work of his reign is so vast that they cannot even scratch it. The only thing he has achieved is that he has to spend almost two years outside Spain, with a gruesome persecution that has ended for Don Juan Carlos without any pending cause. Today, some ministers, who are from a country that is the Kingdom of Spain, still try to attack the monarchy in the person of Don Juan Carlos, where he has come to brazenly call him a thief. The reality is different and the legacy of Don Juan Carlos is illustrious in all aspects, among which there is an economic one.

His Majesty Don Juan Carlos I ruled Spain between November 22, 1975 and June 19, 2014, a period of nearly forty years during which Spain was completely transformed, taking advantage of the economic momentum sown during the 1960s. With the industrialization and creation of the pre-existing non-existent middle class, the basis of our prosperity, incorporating the economic boom that had begun earlier, freedom and harmony among all Spaniards.

“The king wants to be king of all at the same time”, said Don Juan Carlos in his first message to Cortes on November 22, 1975, and that purpose, which, if pronounced by a politician, would remain one. Could only be the election slogan, fully fulfilled, because Don Juan Carlos brought democracy, in addition to doing so, respecting the law (Torqueto Fernández-Miranda’s famous “from law to law”) and with agreement of the majority. Political representation which, at that time, inherited from Francoism, advocated in Cortes, who voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Eighth Fundamental Law, known as the “Political Reform Law”, which repealed the previous one and supported it. Promoted after. Spanish people in referendum, call of constituent courts.

Therefore, he was a king who had received unlimited power from Franco’s hands and who made it possible to fully enable the advent of democracy in Spain, from an impulse to a national reconciliation, which made it possible to lay the foundations on those Had given. Our definite development with the rest of Western democracies, fostering symmetry and enabling the recovery of a role with some relevance in the international context.

During his reign went an authoritarian regime—very soft in his final years, but authoritarian in any case—to a democratic rule of independence; The PCE was legitimized on the basis of the national flag of all Spaniards, legitimacy, reconciliation and acceptance of the national flag of the monarchy; As I have said, the constitution called for free elections for the courts; The current constitution was approved and supported by the Spaniards, which some now wish to overthrow; Similarly, Don Juan Carlos repulsed the February 23, 1981 coup attempt; And during his reign Spain entered NATO.

All this paved the way for a new economic development, with Spain being included in the common market. Similarly, necessary re-industrialization was carried out and the service sector reformed.

Spain consolidated its tourist and cultural appeal when it was a showcase to the world on the fifth century of humanity’s greatest achievement, the discovery of the New World, no matter how much some fanatics may now criticize it: thus, with all its significance. Also the economic part, in 1992 the Olympic Games were held in Barcelona, ​​the Sovereign Exhibition in Seville and the cultural capital in Madrid.

Similarly, Spain was a founding member of the euro, meeting the criteria for economic convergence with good marks, known as the “Maastricht Criteria”: under his reign, Spain reached the beginning of May 1998. when it was decided which countries would create a single currency with a public deficit of less than 3% of GDP; a steadily falling public debt toward 60% of GDP; exchange rate stability; and inflation and interest rates around the average for countries with record minimums for both variables.

Throughout this time, the economy grew and, in the current context, grew from EUR 36,290.3 million in 1975 to EUR 1,032 billion in 2014.

This greatly boosted the national GDP per capita, which started at 2,840.57 euros in 1975 and reached 22,218 euros in 2014.

In the labor market, it grew from just over twelve million employed people at the end of 1975 to over seventeen million people.

In real terms, GDP growth was more than 100% and GDP per capita, in those constant terms, doubled.

Under his reign, Spain developed a spectacular infrastructure network: just look at the existing highways and motorways, a large high-speed rail network and the strengthening of the airport network, as a symbol of the modernization of these avant-garde Barajas. With T4. Basic Infrastructure.

Similarly, many Spanish companies strengthened themselves in the domestic market to be able to later develop and expand internationally, such as Telefónica, Iberia, Ferrovial, ACS, Banco de Santander or BBVA, among many others. , which in turn are great professionals carefully formed all those years.

Don Juan Carlos was our best ambassador for the expansion of Spain and its companies, thanks to his reputation, his work and his dedication to serving the Spanish, which he displayed during all the decades of his reign, under which Spain was economically had changed radically. , as I have said, was modernized and reclaimed all the liberties which some now yearn to dissect to return us in the dark times of the Second Republic.

For this reason, they attack Don Juan Carlos from the far left out of hatred in this way. They didn’t even give him the presumption of innocence that everyone deserves, but instead sentenced him in advance, and now that everything is over without pending reasons for Don Juan Carlos, they publicly abuse him. continue.

And that damage is intended to extend to Don Felipe, the illustrious king and the entire monarchy. The attack on Don Juan Carlos has a purpose that is beyond his person. They attack him for two reasons: first, his obsession with abolishing the monarchy due to the fact that the restoration took place when he got power from the previous regime. For this reason, they question all titles granted between 1939 and 1978, as they seek to annul Don Juan Carlos’s post as the heir to the title of king, the main one of them. Second, because they want it to impress Don Felipe, abdicate and thus impose a republic.

If today they can criticize Don Juan Carlos, it is because Don Juan Carlos brought us freedom. This must be remembered by all Spanish society: if we are able to enjoy the prosperity that we have, it is thanks to the fact that one person, Don Juan Carlos – along with his successes and his mistakes The Allies, along with a small group, decided to turn Spain into an independent nation, in harmony and reconciliation and prosperity.

There is hope that the monarchy will survive and that Don Felipe can remain the great king, as Donna Leonor undoubtedly will be in her day as queen. If this happens – hopefully – we will save the parliamentary and constitutional monarchy, which at the time has been shown to be the best governance for Spain and which has clearly promoted prosperity, as demonstrated by the economic regime of Don Juan Carlos. The figures show. article.