The transition of the Spanish Court towards greater transparency is continuing, with King Felipe taking the unprecedented step of releasing a statement about his finances.
The statement puts clearly on paper the value of His Majesty’s wealth, which comes to over 2.5 million euros.
The patrimony of King Felipe totals 2,573, 392,80 euros, divided into 2,267,942,80 euros in assets and bank deposits, and 305,450 euros in art, jewellery and antiquities.
This decision to reveal these sums was made by the King himself, as the Spanish Constitution states that the Head of State is not mandated to release any financial information. This change comes as the Spanish Parliament is approving a reform to make the country’s fiscal system more transparent and less costly.
The legal implications of this decision are complex, because they involve other State organs supervising the King’s finances, both personal and related to the management of the Court.
These measures are nothing new for the King, who has made public his intent of making the Court a more transparent institution and has published the salaries for Royal Family members and the high ranking officials within the Zarzuela Palace.
But this decision by the parliament to codify the measures into norms and, eventually, laws means that the King’s intentions are now official. It also signifies that a public organism like the Fiscal Tribunal can audit the Royal House’s finances if it deems so appropriate, clearly a form of deterrence for anyone trying to profit from the office of the Head of State.
This decision also means that contracts for the Zarzuela Palace are going to change; they will have to be made public, and high officials who work in the Court will have to publish a “declaration of goods” (in many European countries, this is a fiscal document where individuals and entities declare their monetary, financial and material possessions for tax purposes) both at the beginning and at the end of their contract in the Zarzuela Palace.
In short, “a renewed Monarchy for new times” is taking steps to make transparency a reality. Many are still demanding measures towards revoking other Royal privileges, such as the King’s inviolability. However, the combined efforts of the Monarchy and Parliament towards transparency in this latest reform package feeds into the goals that King Felipe laid out in his proclamation speech.
