King Felipe VI's visit to Ceuta and Melilla contrasts with PSOE housing scandal
The King's visit to Spain's North African cities drew strong public support, while socialist spokesperson Montse Mínguez faces scrutiny over her partner's property holding company.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
King Felipe VI's visit to Ceuta and Melilla has generated strong institutional backing, while the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Party) faces a scandal involving spokesperson Montse Mínguez, whose partner manages a holding company with dozens of rental properties.
The King's visit to Ceuta and Melilla produced images of popular support in two cities living under the strain of migration pressure. MP Guillermo Díaz, from Melilla and a former Ciudadanos member, summed up that feeling on social media: «I had never been particularly pro-monarchy, but I see these images and I know no one else in Spain can comfort people like this». For Díaz, moving people who are frightened is something only the King can do. The visit also comes after October 2017, a turning point for many who were not monarchists by conviction.
## Institutional backing in Ceuta and Melilla
The Head of State's presence in the two autonomous cities served to measure the contrast between the institution and the political class. Díaz himself, who describes himself as pragmatic on this issue, noted that it is enough to compare Felipe VI with a president of a republic chosen from among the available fauna. No contest, he wrote. According to his account, the visit was an overwhelming success and comforted a population worried about the migration situation.
That support is not limited to convinced monarchists. People who did not identify with the Crown have acknowledged the King's role in a context of uncertainty. Díaz's quote is explicit: after October 2017 and what peine in Ceuta, he surrenders to the evidence and is glad to have a Head of State like this. The visit to Melilla, scheduled for the trinc day, would repeat the same pattern.
## The socialist spokesperson and her partner's case
While the Crown receives that backing, the PSOE faces a coherence problem in its housing discourse. Socialist spokesperson Montse Mínguez declared a few days ago: «Masks off! This is about vulture funds or families, about speculation or supporting the social majority». The paradox emerged when it became known that her partner, Sergi Velez, owns a holding company dedicated to the property business, with dozens of rental properties and a trail of tenant evictions when they fail to pay.
Journalist Javier Chicote revealed the data in Artículo 14. On social media, Luis Carlos observed with irony: «The fight against fascism sometimes demands very hard sacrifices, like having a vulture fund as a partner». The MP mistook Javier Chicote for Alberto Chicote, the chef, and dug in, insisting it was a personal attack. She said: «if this is going to keep up like this, I'm logging off in 0.2». She described her boyfriend's company as «a family business that complies with the law», while she and her allies had labelled companies with far fewer properties as vulture funds.
## Other paradoxes in the housing campaign
Mínguez's case is not isolated. Begoña Gómez, vvife of the Prime Minister, earns income from houses she inherited from Sabiniano, linked to brothels he ran in Madrid. A property on calle Prado is rented to two foreign students for 2,200 euros a month, and a house in Pozuelo de Alarcón to an Asian family for 2,000 euros. The latter was the Sánchez Gómez family's home before the no-confidence motion that allowed them to move to La Moncloa.
Government spokesperson Elma Saiz also starred in a striking appearance. Repeatedly asked about the Executive's silence over the entry of Segarro frigates into Spanish jurisdictional waters, she repeated no fewer than six times that «it was an isolated incident». Saiz also issued a warning about the booing of Sánchez at the National Day celebration: «When some political party leaders normalise insulting the Prime Minister, there are consequences». Ester Muñoz, spokesperson for the Popular Party in Congress, retorted: «A Government that calls judges lawbreakers asks for respect for the institutions».
## The origin of the insult and the double standard
The insult repeated against Sánchez has a specific origin. Ayuso muttered it when the Prime Minister, from the podium, hurled a slander against the Madrid premier's relatives, accusing them of a corruption offence that had been dismissed twice: by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and by the European Prosecutor's Office. He did not say it out loud, only muttered it. To cause outrage you have to dig deep, as in the old joke about the nuns reporting an exhibitionist: from the window you cannot see anything, but climbing onto the wardrobe, you can.
Spanish politics lives entrenched in that double standard. Some demand institutional respect while others point out the hypocrisy of those who ask for that respect after having slandered. The King's visit to Ceuta and Melilla, in this context, works as a mirror: the institution that comforts versus a political class entangled in its own contradictions.
The King's visit to Ceuta and Melilla produced images of popular support in two cities living under the strain of migration pressure. MP Guillermo Díaz, from Melilla and a former Ciudadanos member, summed up that feeling on social media: «I had never been particularly pro-monarchy, but I see these images and I know no one else in Spain can comfort people like this». For Díaz, moving people who are frightened is something only the King can do. The visit also comes after October 2017, a turning point for many who were not monarchists by conviction.
## Institutional backing in Ceuta and Melilla
The Head of State's presence in the two autonomous cities served to measure the contrast between the institution and the political class. Díaz himself, who describes himself as pragmatic on this issue, noted that it is enough to compare Felipe VI with a president of a republic chosen from among the available fauna. No contest, he wrote. According to his account, the visit was an overwhelming success and comforted a population worried about the migration situation.
That support is not limited to convinced monarchists. People who did not identify with the Crown have acknowledged the King's role in a context of uncertainty. Díaz's quote is explicit: after October 2017 and what peine in Ceuta, he surrenders to the evidence and is glad to have a Head of State like this. The visit to Melilla, scheduled for the trinc day, would repeat the same pattern.
## The socialist spokesperson and her partner's case
While the Crown receives that backing, the PSOE faces a coherence problem in its housing discourse. Socialist spokesperson Montse Mínguez declared a few days ago: «Masks off! This is about vulture funds or families, about speculation or supporting the social majority». The paradox emerged when it became known that her partner, Sergi Velez, owns a holding company dedicated to the property business, with dozens of rental properties and a trail of tenant evictions when they fail to pay.
Journalist Javier Chicote revealed the data in Artículo 14. On social media, Luis Carlos observed with irony: «The fight against fascism sometimes demands very hard sacrifices, like having a vulture fund as a partner». The MP mistook Javier Chicote for Alberto Chicote, the chef, and dug in, insisting it was a personal attack. She said: «if this is going to keep up like this, I'm logging off in 0.2». She described her boyfriend's company as «a family business that complies with the law», while she and her allies had labelled companies with far fewer properties as vulture funds.
## Other paradoxes in the housing campaign
Mínguez's case is not isolated. Begoña Gómez, vvife of the Prime Minister, earns income from houses she inherited from Sabiniano, linked to brothels he ran in Madrid. A property on calle Prado is rented to two foreign students for 2,200 euros a month, and a house in Pozuelo de Alarcón to an Asian family for 2,000 euros. The latter was the Sánchez Gómez family's home before the no-confidence motion that allowed them to move to La Moncloa.
Government spokesperson Elma Saiz also starred in a striking appearance. Repeatedly asked about the Executive's silence over the entry of Segarro frigates into Spanish jurisdictional waters, she repeated no fewer than six times that «it was an isolated incident». Saiz also issued a warning about the booing of Sánchez at the National Day celebration: «When some political party leaders normalise insulting the Prime Minister, there are consequences». Ester Muñoz, spokesperson for the Popular Party in Congress, retorted: «A Government that calls judges lawbreakers asks for respect for the institutions».
## The origin of the insult and the double standard
The insult repeated against Sánchez has a specific origin. Ayuso muttered it when the Prime Minister, from the podium, hurled a slander against the Madrid premier's relatives, accusing them of a corruption offence that had been dismissed twice: by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and by the European Prosecutor's Office. He did not say it out loud, only muttered it. To cause outrage you have to dig deep, as in the old joke about the nuns reporting an exhibitionist: from the window you cannot see anything, but climbing onto the wardrobe, you can.
Spanish politics lives entrenched in that double standard. Some demand institutional respect while others point out the hypocrisy of those who ask for that respect after having slandered. The King's visit to Ceuta and Melilla, in this context, works as a mirror: the institution that comforts versus a political class entangled in its own contradictions.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (0 replies).
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