BUT HE'S NOT THE KING OF THE CATALANS:

Spain's king strikes a blow for monarchy (The Associated Press, October 2, 2007)

King Juan Carlos is defending Spain's parliamentary monarchy as a guarantor of stability, countering attacks from Catalan nationalists who burned photos of him and from a prominent rightist commentator who called on him to abdicate.

Opposition conservatives in the Popular Party accused the Socialist government Tuesday of failing to come to the defense of the king and thus weakening the monarchy.

Juan Carlos holds a largely figurehead position and rarely speaks out on political issues. So he surprised many Spaniards on Monday with a speech in the northern city of Oviedo in which he publicly defended the role of the crown.

In a one-paragraph allusion to the current controversy in an otherwise nonpolitical speech, the king said the monarchy - restored in Spain in 1975 - "has provided the longest period of stability and prosperity that Spain has ever experienced under democratic rule."

Of course, the stability and prosperity began with Franco, who also made possible the democracy, but the King is right that they need monarchy. Indeed, a more powerful one would be better, one that can, at a minimum, dismiss governments and call for elections and veto laws and Court rulings.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 2, 2007 7:07 AM