After a few sentences of introduction, Pedro Sánchez said the three words on Monday morning that must have surprised quite a few people in Spain: “He decidido seguir.” This is how Spain’s Prime Minister put it shortly after eleven in the morning with a serious expression to the cameras on the steps in front of his magnificent official residence in Moncloa – translated: “I have decided to carry on.”
The socialist Sánchez remains head of government after all, and he is ending a five-day state of emergency that the country will likely remember for some time to come. Last Wednesday evening, in a letter to the population, he let it be known that he was considering resigning: “I have to stop and think.” Right-wing and ultra-right tried to turn the country’s politics into a “swamp”, Sánchez had criticized; “I’m forced to ask myself whether it’s worth it.”
The Prime Minister’s wife is accused of corruption
Reason for the unusually personal letter, which the Prime Minister had distributed on the Internet platform X, was a complaint against his wife Begoña Gómez; she is accused of corruption. Some observers in Spain consider such allegations per se to be valid, which may also have something to do with the fact that the country has a wealth of experience with political scandals. Others consider it a cheap, baseless attack against the Prime Minister.
Sánchez has ruled the country since 2018 and has experience with the harsh political climate in which the parties publicly attack each other. This is one of the reasons why his move last Wednesday surprised many, including his closest circle of advisors.
The Prime Minister had canceled all public appointments and announced that he would comment on his future the following Monday. Spanish media reported that not even party friends and coalition partners had access to him during this time; The only exception to this was his head of cabinet, Oscar López, with whom Sánchez settled urgent matters. Otherwise, he was alone with his family and occasionally played sports.
The head of the conservative Partido Popular speaks of a “theater”
Some interpret the five-day standstill as a tactical maneuver; The head of the conservative Spanish People’s Party Partido Popular spoke of a “theater”, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Sánchez has caused great damage to the country and must now make way for new elections. Others are convinced that the allegations against his wife actually affected the Prime Minister deeply.
So far, there is no clear evidence of possible misconduct by Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez. The sheer number of sometimes speculative suggestions about the mistakes made by Gómez and her consulting company raises doubts about the weight of the complaint against them. Begoña Gómez and her company are accused of receiving an annual fee of 40,000 euros for consulting services from the Globalia Group, to which the airline Air Europa belongs. This happened while the government, led by her husband, saved the airline from the Corona bankruptcy with more than 600 million euros.
What is ignored is that the Globalia contract was concluded in January 2020, when the corona pandemic hardly played a role and subsidies for the private sector were not part of the political agenda. In addition, the lobby group “Manos Limpias” admitted that its ad was based on media reports that could possibly be false.
Sánchez called for a change in the country’s political culture
With his statement after the five-day reflection period, the ailing Prime Minister is now trying to get back on the offensive. At the weekend, more than 10,000 people demonstrated near the headquarters of the socialist party PSOE on Madrid’s Calle de Ferraz for the Prime Minister to stay. “Quédate!”, “Stay!”, the crowd had chanted, as well as “no pasarán,” “they won’t get through,” which was the battle cry against Franco’s fascists during the civil war.
At the same time, the Socialist Party Council met inside the PSOE headquarters; The leadership there had spoken out vehemently in favor of Sánchez. “Begoña, comrade, we stand with you,” is how Finance Minister María Jesús Montero put it. Montero’s support for the head of government was highly symbolic, as she would have been the natural successor if Sánchez had actually resigned. The demonstrators on Calle Ferraz, who followed the speech via live stream, applauded Montero frenetically.
The demonstrations for his stay influenced his decision, Sánchez said in his statement on Monday morning. He called for the country’s political culture to fundamentally change. The “social majority” must now stand up for decency and the common good. People have watched for too long how extreme forces have poisoned political life; Their methods were “unimaginable just a few years ago.”
It remains to be seen whether Sánchez can convince a majority of Spaniards with his speech. At least the Prime Minister does not have to worry about being voted out quickly; the next parliamentary elections will not take place for another three years. What is likely to be more important is what happens next with the allegations against his wife after the complaint has been made; this is still unclear.
The question of whether his coalition of seven parties will continue to hold is also of utmost importance; it is expensive and fragile. Some considerations for the many coalition partners of his “progressive alliance” have not yet been provided – above all the amnesty law for the Catalan separatist Carles Puigdemont and his colleagues. Only one thing seems clear: calm is unlikely to return to Spanish politics any time soon.