The news came as a surprise even to political insiders on Wednesday evening: In an open letter on the short message service X and to selected employees, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that he would be taking a break until Monday and was considering resigning.
“I am forced to ask myself whether it is worth it, despite the quagmire into which the right and the extreme right are trying to turn politics. Whether I should continue to lead the government or step down from this high honor,” writes Sanchez. The reason is “unbearable attacks” against him and now also his family. The right and ultra-right had crossed borders by also making his wife the target of the attacks.
With the latter, he was referring to news that emerged on Wednesday morning, according to which a Madrid court, inspired by a complaint from the lobby group “Manos limpias” (Clean Hands), had opened an investigation against Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez. In recent weeks there have been repeated suggestions that Gómez and her company had maintained contacts with the airline Air Europa during the pandemic.
“Manos Limpias” is a private lobby group that has been attacking left-wing officials in Spain for years. She accuses Gómez, 49, of exploiting her position as the head of government’s wife to do business. The court did not provide any further information and stated that the investigation was closed.
These are entirely false and baseless accusations, several ministers and officials of the socialist party declared unanimously and with verve on Wednesday. Sánchez himself reacted cautiously in parliament on Wednesday morning: “On a day like today and after the news that came to my attention, despite everything, I continue to believe in the justice system in my country,” he asserted. Immediately after the debate, however, he retreated to his government headquarters in northeast Madrid to consult with his family.
Lines with a mixture of anger, resignation and self-pity
This is probably where the letter published in the evening came from. In it he speaks of a months-long strategy of threats from the right. He uses the term “right-wing and ultra-right” 14 times in the three-and-a-half-page letter. The tone and content of the letter read like a mixture of outburst of anger, resignation and self-pity.
They are personal and human lines, unpolished and sometimes written in a colloquial tone. Everything suggests that the letter did not go through the editing process by speechwriters and press offices that is common in politics. The timing also suggests a spontaneous action, as the campaign for the parliamentary elections in Catalonia is starting these days. Sánchez would have to support his party there.
That raises questions. Is an otherwise deeply strategic politician suddenly showing unfiltered emotions? Why does he write this letter before the reflection period that he announces in it, instead of the other way around? Has he perhaps already made a decision? Or completely different, private reasons?
The speculation in Spain’s political sphere goes in a variety of directions, but nothing is based on real findings. “It’s all very strange, none of it seems to make much sense,” comments a well-known political scientist. What is certain is that since the parliamentary elections last summer, Pedro Sánchez has had to contend with a very difficult distribution of seats in Congress and a never-ending flood of hot spots and conflicts.
The parliamentary majority of seven parties that confirmed the Socialists as head of government in the fall was bought at a high price and is also fragile. Some of the benefits to the many coalition partners of his “progressive alliance” have still not been provided – above all the amnesty law for the Catalan separatist Carles Puigdemont and his colleagues.
Sánchez has shown stamina time and time again
An important parliamentary vote in January had Puigdemont’s party collapse almost at the last minute. Added to this is the constant fire from the opposition, which never tires of attacking Sánchez at every opportunity. In all these crises and headwinds, Sánchez showed enormous stamina – just as he had in difficult situations in previous years. The resistance This is also confirmed by his opponents, including his own party colleague and predecessor Felipe González, Spain’s Prime Minister from 1982 to 1996.
Outwardly confident, certainly seasoned with a dose of arrogance, Sánchez seemed to let any adversity roll off of him in the past – a powerful man of the elegant sort who can also dish it out well. But now his usual sovereignty has slipped away. The whole of Spain has been speculating about the reason for this since last night.
If Sánchez were to call new elections, which is currently only one of several possible scenarios, he would have to wait until another month. According to Spanish electoral law, this is only possible from May 29th. After the dissolution of Parliament is signed, 54 days must pass until the following elections. The first possible election day would therefore be July 21st. Almost exactly a year after last year’s elections.