Spain’s royal family agrees to open up to scrutiny

MADRID,  (Reuters) – Spain’s embattled royal family has agreed to open its affairs to more public scrutiny under a new transparency law intended to restore confidence in a political establishment sapped by corruption and economic crisis.

Two days after King Juan Carlos’s daughter was charged in an embezzlement case, a palace source told Reuters yesterday that the royal household had accepted, after weeks of talks with the government, that it should be subject to the new freedom-of-information legislation, along with other organs of the state.
The government later confirmed its bill would reflect that.

The move reflects the family’s mounting concern about retaining its largely figurehead role as scandals erode its standing among Spaniards stricken with economic malaise; nearly half the nation thinks it is time the 75-year-old king stepped down and over a third now want to return to being a republic.