Spain: Complaint over council's mini portrait of king

Councillors approved a motion to hang the unusually small portrait in August

A legal complaint has been made against a Catalan council for hanging a tiny portrait of King Felipe VI in its assembly chamber.

Councillors in the coastal town of Torredembarra passed a motion in August to downsize the image to one described in the Spanish media as not much bigger than a passport photo. The move was proposed by the pro-Catalan independence CUP party. The micro-portrait has been on display at the entrance to the council chamber since October, alongside an equally tiny picture of the regional president, Artur Mas, the ABC news website reports.

But a state prosecutor, apparently feeling the move could be a slight against the king, filed a complaint in a local court. Since 1986, all Spanish councils have been required by law to display a photo, painting or other likeness of the monarch in their assembly halls.

Councillor Lluis Sune tells the EFE news agency that he and his colleagues are "convinced" they have not broken any laws. "It's a political decision because there is no article specifying the size that the portraits should be, beyond that the king's must be of equal or greater dimensions than the regional president," he says.

The councillors of Torredembarra may have taken inspiration from their compatriots in the Catalan town of Gallifa. In 2013, the council took a swipe at a law requiring all towns to fly the Spanish flag by affixing a miniature version to the facade of the town hall. Then-mayor Jordi Fornas pointed out that the law doesn't specify how big the flag should be.

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