The Spanish government has sparked a fierce row by inviting a soldier who fought with Hitler's Wehrmacht to share the podium at the national day military parade today with a republican veteran of the Spanish Civil War. The defence minister, Jose Bono, who was once caught on microphone calling Tony Blair a "complete dickhead", said the presence of the former member of the Spanish Blue Division, recruited to fight for the Nazis in the Second World War, was part of the reconciliation process between the two opposing sides in the 1936-39 civil war. The two men will stand with King Juan Carlos on the podium during the parade.
Left-wing parties denounced the decision as "offensive". Dolors Camats, of the Catalan Green Party, said reconciliation was already a fact, and the inclusion of someone who fought for Hitler would "cause offence and an historic injustice... The government should not put on the same platform soldiers who fought against democracy and those who defended it." The Socialist government's radical Left-wing nationalist ally in the Catalan regional assembly, the Catalan Republican Left, was also critical and said the regional premier, Pasqual Maragall, would not attend. Mr Bono said the presence of the two veterans was to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Allies' liberation of Paris, in which Spanish republicans who fled to France after the civil war took part. French soldiers have been invited to join the parade, though the defence minister created a diplomatic spat when American soldiers were left out. They had been included in the parade since the September 11 attacks. |