Spain's government Friday approved a draft law easing the path to citizenship for the descendants of Jews expelled in 1492.

Spain already grants citizenship to proven Sephardic Jews, the descendants of the Jewish people who were expelled in 1492 in a period of Roman Catholic zeal under the reign of Isabella and Ferdinand.

A new Spanish protest party that did well in last month's European elections said Thursday its backers would take part in demonstrations demanding a referendum on the monarchy following the abdication of King Juan Carlos.

A coalition of over 50 anti-monarchy groups, the State Republican Board, is planning to stage a protest on Saturday in Madrid and several other cities to press the government for a popular vote.

Spain's new king-in-waiting, Prince Felipe, urged Spaniards to unite for a better future on Wednesday in his first public remarks since King Juan Carlos announced an end to his 39-year reign.

The tall, 46-year-old former Olympic yachtsman ascends to the throne as his nation struggles with a towering 26-percent jobless rate, smoldering republican sentiment and a growing independence movement in the northeastern region of Catalonia.

Spain set its future King Felipe VI on the path to the throne Tuesday, launching an unprecedented handover of the crown in the face of a breakout of anti-royalist protests.

One day after 76-year-old King Juan Carlos declared an end to a four-decade reign that guided Spain from dictatorship to democracy, the government met to ponder the first succession in post-Franco history.

A former television presenter from a modest background, Letizia Ortiz will break the mold of the classic royal when she is crowned queen of Spain.

Ortiz, the granddaughter of a taxi driver, got married on May 22, 2004 to Crown Prince Felipe de Bourbon who is now to take over the throne after the abdication of his father, King Juan Carlos.

Spain's King Juan Carlos announced Monday he is abdicating after a 39-year reign that spanned the end of a dictatorship, the re-birth of democracy, an economic crisis and several royal scandals.

Here are the key events of the 76-year-old monarch's reign:

Spain's 76-year-old King Juan Carlos will abdicate in favor of his son, Prince Felipe, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced Monday.

"His Majesty King Juan Carlos has just informed me of his desire to renounce the throne and begin the process of succession," Rajoy said.

Spain released a former senior leader of the Basque separatist group ETA on Saturday, just a day after he was arrested, a court source said, citing a legal error.

Harriet Aguirre Garcia, 35, was believed to be one of the top leaders of the armed group's military wing when he was first arrested in France in 2005 on an international warrant.

People were wondering what had happened to the "Indignants", the protesters who swamped Spanish squares in 2011 to demand political change.

The protests may have lessened, but just when Spain was least expecting it, the Indignants have surged back -- not in the streets but in the polls.

Spain reported Friday a feeble increase in consumer prices in May as the eurozone struggled with the spectre of an economically damaging deflationary spiral.

Spanish consumer prices rose at an annual rate of just 0.2 percent in May, held down by lower food and soft drink prices, said an initial estimate by the National Statistics Institute calculated in line with European Union norms.