Editorial: “We” want our say

I agree with the majority of Spaniards who claim that the royal family should have a bigger say in politics.  A recent opinion poll in Spain said that the majority of people wanted to see new monarch King Felipe being more active on the political stage and in some instances breaking deadlock between the two main parties. This is not a bad idea. In Spain, there is a rigid party structure which can´t be broken. Sometimes the two main parties, the centre-right Partido Popular and the Spanish Socialist Party are unwilling to compromise on big issues in which they are split. This is where the King could play a key role. Also, I am sure that he could listen to the Catalan nationalists and try and bring them together with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. At the moment Rajoy refuses to even debate possible independence for Catalonia while support for a referendum on a breakaway from Spain grows. Rajoy´s tough line has won him praise in  the rest of the country but in Catalonia he is about as popular as Prime Minister David Cameron is in Scotland. But, I also believe that the British Royal Family should have their say also. Recently, Prince Charles compared Russian President Vladimir Putin  to Hitler. There was an outcry but at the end of the day the heir to the  throne was only saying what most people believe. It could be said that the monarchy is a rather outdated institution but the time has come for them to become more modern and have their say.