Felipe and Letizia Mark Forty Years Since Spain’s Cortes Generales Elected

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia attended events marking the fortieth anniversary of Spain’s 1977 general elections, the first election since prior to the Spanish Civil War.

The royal couple were present for a solemn session of the Cortes Generales at the Palacio de las Cortes in Madrid on Wednesday. They were joined by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, the President of the Congress of Deputies, Ana María Pastor, and the President of the Senate, Pio García-Escudero.

“Recalling the words of King Juan Carlos I at the opening of the Constituent Legislature on July 22, 1977, ‘Democracy has begun‘. Now we must try to consolidate it,” King Felipe said in the beginning of his speech to the Cortes. He went on to say that he offers “the deepest testimony of our gratitude, homage and admiration” to the “generation that opened the way to our democracy”.

The King spoke of the work and reason of the Cortes Generales in the four decades since it was established, as well as praising the Spanish people – the “true protagonists” – of the time period for their support of the Law for Political Reform, the 1977 elections, and the 1978 referendum; all of which showed “the Spanish people decided, unreservedly, to walk together in the same direction and returned to Spain their self-confidence, self-esteem and pride of being”.

Filed under Spain
Tagged Anniversary, Felipe VI of Spain, Government, Parliament, Prime Minister Rajoy of Spain, Queen Letizia of Spain.

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