Eduardo González
The Government has defended itself against criticism for the award of the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel la Católica to the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, arguing that these decorations are a “common practice” in “State visits” and that they can only be withdrawn from those who have been convicted “of a criminal act by virtue of a final judgment”.
The Executive thus responds to a written question made by the MP Jordi Salvador i Duch, of the Republican Parliament, in which he warns that “the award of the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel la Católica to the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, is generating strong social criticism against the Spanish Government due to the lack of coherence between the democratic values that this Executive preaches and the diplomatic actions it carries out.”
The award took place on the occasion of the State visit made on December 11 by the King and Queen of Spain to Rome, for which the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani; the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Maria Tripodi; and the Italian ambassador to Spain, Giuseppe Buccino, were also decorated.
According to Duch, “the awarding of this decoration to a political figure as dangerous for peaceful coexistence, the survival of thousands of people and the social progress of our societies as Giorgia Meloni is contrary to any social or cultural value that, from a democratic point of view, is acceptable to uphold.”
“It is especially worrying that this decision by the Spanish Government could be perceived as a sign of support for the policies of one of the heads of Government who are leading the new reactionary and far-right wave in the European Union,” he continued. “In fact, even the Spanish Government itself has publicly criticised some of these positions and measures of the Italian leader in European and international forums,” he added.
For all these reasons, the Republican Group asks whether “the Government intends to withdraw the decoration awarded to Mrs. Giorgia Meloni” and what are the “specific criteria” that the Executive has used to justify the award of the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel la Católica to the Italian Prime Minister. The question also asks “how the Government assesses the possibility that this decoration may be perceived as implicit support for the policies of the Italian Government, especially those that contradict democratic values and human rights”, and whether there is “any protocol or mechanism that guarantees that the honorary decorations granted to foreign leaders are consistent with the values and interests that the State Government claims to defend”.
In its response, registered on February 13 and published this week by the Official Bulletin of Congress, the Government assures that the priorities that govern the granting of decorations are included in the Royal Decrees of 1998 by which the Regulations of the Orders of Isabel la Católica and of Civil Merit are approved and that the granting of the higher grades (Collars and Grand Crosses) of both orders require their processing as a draft Royal Decree that is submitted for the mandatory approval of the Council of Ministers.
It also indicates that the initiation of the procedure, which culminates with the granting of these distinctions to heads of State and high institutional authorities, “is based on the widespread and habitual practice of exchanging or swapping decorations in the field of international relations on the occasion of State trips or visits.”
Furthermore, and according to Article 12 of the Regulations of the Order of Isabel la Católica, approved by Royal Decree, “the mere possibility of initiating a procedure to remove a decorated person from the Order of Isabel la Católica, in any of its degrees, requires as a prior condition that he or she be convicted of a criminal act by virtue of a final judgment,” it concludes.
