The outcome is near for the suspense which has agitated Spain for several days. The country will in fact know this Monday if it will experience a real political earthquake. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will break his silence and announce whether he resigns or not, after the opening of an investigation against his wife, illustration, according to him, of a campaign of destabilization orchestrated by the right-wing opposition.
In power since 2018, the 52-year-old socialist leader is due to speak to the press at a time which has not yet been specified.
“I need to stop and think”
Accustomed to brilliance and poker moves, Sánchez stunned Spain by putting his resignation in the balance on Wednesday after the announcement by a Madrid court of the opening of a preliminary investigation for influence peddling and corruption against his wife, Begoña Gómez. “I need to stop and think” in order to decide “whether I should continue to be head of government,” he wrote in a four-page letter, published on X.
Absolutely unprecedented, he has since suspended all his public activities. Chanting “Pedro, stay!” », Thousands of supporters gathered on Saturday in front of the headquarters of the Socialist Party in Madrid to support the Prime Minister.
If he resigns, new early elections could be called after those of July 23, with or without him at the head of the Socialist Party (PSOE). If he remains in his post, he could choose to submit to a question of confidence in order to show the opposition that he enjoys the support of a majority of MPs.
The investigation against the wife of Pedro Sánchez, placed under the seal of investigative secrecy, was opened following a complaint from the association Manos limpias (Clean Hands), a collective close to the extreme RIGHT. She wears in particular, according to the online media The Confidentialon the links established by Begoña Gómez with the Globalia group, sponsor of the foundation in which she worked, at the time when Air Europa, an airline belonging to Globalia, was negotiating with the Sánchez government to obtain public aid.
The prosecution asks to close the investigation
The prosecution requested on Thursday that this investigation be closed, while Manos Limpias admitted that his complaint was based solely on press articles, but the judge in charge of the case has not yet revealed his intentions.
Very polarized, the political context has also become very tense in recent months in Spain due to the fierce opposition of the right to an amnesty law for separatists involved in the attempted secession of Catalonia in 2017. Concession very controversial from the Prime Minister to the Catalan separatists, in exchange for their support for his renewal for a new mandate in November, this law was voted on at first reading by the deputies in March and should be definitively adopted at the end of May.