Covid forces, for the second year running, to celebrate Constitution Day in the street and without the public
The evolution of the pandemic has forced Congress to once again celebrate the anniversary of the Constitution in the Carrera de San Jerónimo, in the vicinity of the steps of the Puerta de los Leones, where the President of the Lower House, Meritxell Batet, will give a speech today before the President of the Government and high-ranking political and institutional officials. This is the second consecutive year in which, due to health restrictions linked to the pandemic, the event will be held in the street and not in the Salon de Pasos Perdidos of the Palace of Congress.
Batet will commemorate the 43rd anniversary of the Constitution from 12 noon onwards, accompanied by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, by the recently elected President of the Constitutional Court, Pedro José González-Trevijano, and by the President of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Carlos Lesmes, whose mandate has been expired for three years due to the lack of agreement between PSOE and PP to renew the CGPJ. The President of the Senate, Ander Gil, will not be able to attend the celebration as he remains in isolation having contracted the coronavirus.
On the steps and on both sides of the lions will also be the members of the Congress and Senate Committees and the spokespersons of the parliamentary groups of both Chambers, as well as the ministers.
The leaders of the majority opposition parties, deputies and senators, former presidents of the Government and of Congress and the Senate, and constitutional rapporteurs are other authorities who will attend the commemoration ceremony. For example, the leader of the PP, Pablo Casado, and the president of Ciudadanos, Inés Arimadas, will be present, but the presence of the nationalist and pro-independence parties is not expected, as usual.
Other high-ranking officials, such as the new president of the Court of Auditors, Enriqueta Chicano, and the new Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, have been invited to the institutional event.
The State Attorney General, Dolores Delgado, is also expected to attend, as is the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, and, as every year, the presidents of all the autonomous communities and cities have been invited.
The presidents of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso; the president of the Xunta de Galicia, Alberto Núñez Feijóo; the president of La Rioja, Concepción Andreu; the president of Murcia, Fernando López Miras; the president of Aragón, Francisco Javier Lambán; the president of the Canary Islands, Víctor Torres; and the president of Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, have confirmed their attendance. Representatives of employers’ organisations, trade unions and civil society will also be present.
