A boomerang toured the Congressional chamber this Wednesday and rushed towards Pedro Sánchez. Flying through the air were the words that the current President of the Government dedicated in his day to the corruption of the PP and the plea in defense of cleanliness in politics with which the recently convicted José Luis Ábalos had justified the motion of censure against Mariano Rajoy on behalf of the PSOE. Those phrases were now revived in other very different mouths, those of Santiago Abascal, to place the president in the mirror of the judicial cases that besiege him. The long-awaited exposed the increasing weakness of his Government and continued to dig a little deeper into the chasm into which the Spanish political debate has sunk.
The worst thing for Sánchez was not that the leaders of the PP and Vox evoked the ethical banner with which the socialist came to power. The most discouraging thing came from his partners, who also reminded him of those commitments to bluntly express their disappointment. Spokespersons like Gabriel Rufián, from ERC, and Maribel Vaquero, from the PNV, left a very clear message: it is no longer worth appealing to them that what is in front of them, the right-wing bloc, is worse. The disagreement ended up creating an unprecedented scene throughout the legislature: Sánchez and his partners exchanging reproaches, some of which were quite acidic.
The opposition appeared willing to take its offensive to the most personal level. Feijóo excelled in that aspect. The PP leader even mentioned the deceased father of the socialist spokesperson, Patxi López, to insinuate that he would be ashamed of his son; He recommended Sánchez go to a psychologist; He blurted out that “they have even deceived him at home,” referring to his wife, and referred to her father, also deceased, to call him a “prostitution magnate.” At a time when the president said he felt ashamed, someone from the right bench shouted: “You don’t feel anything!” In the same way as when he referred to the personal damage that the accusations against his family have caused him, a murmur in a mocking tone arose from the PP bench.
Abascal did not forget Begoña Gómez either and asked the socialist if he planned to accompany her to the court to hand over her passport. Although the Vox leader’s thickest ammunition took other paths of much greater political gravity: he accused the president—without nuance, without raising an eyebrow and without offering any more evidence than the process so that grandchildren of Spaniards who have emigrated to America can be nationalized—of being preparing an electoral coup. “It seems that he is putting on the bandage before the wound of defeat,” the Chief Executive replied sarcastically.
The biggest ovation from the socialist bench for Sánchez in his initial speech came when he very expressively reiterated that he does not intend to give in: “How can we not continue!” Then, in the replies, and in the face of the objections of his partners, who in the best of cases asked him for specifics about the plans to complete the legislature, he insisted: “Governing is not resisting, but neither is giving up.” The difficulties in being able to fulfill that purpose become greater after this debate. Junts did not ask for elections again, but its spokesperson, Miriam Nogueras, proposed what was dubbed the “Starmer solution”, in reference to the resigned British Prime Minister: that he leave La Moncloa and the PSOE propose another candidate to succeed him. Ione Belarra, from Podemos, certified the “end of the cycle” for Sánchez and even literally reproduced one of the favorite phrases of the PP argument: “You knew it and you covered it up.” Cristina Valido, from the Canarian Coalition, another regular supporter of the Government, asked him to “put an end to the discredit of the democratic system.”
We had to wait for the replies to hear Sánchez, in passing and with little emphasis, ask for forgiveness. In his initial intervention, the president took pains to distinguish this case from those – in whom he insisted that he continues to trust – and his wife and his brother. The idea was to dismantle the image that we are facing widespread corruption and, as he would repeat in the speech with which he closed the session, almost six hours later, denounce that the different issues are being used to open “a general case for the PSOE.” There was no direct criticism of any judge, although there was an issue that I would return to a lot: that Feijóo has privileged information about the courts.
The leader of the PP did not wait a few seconds from the beginning of his speech to demand elections. Before the minute, he had already called Sánchez’s partners “indecent.” The rest was the usual line about corruption cases, recited at full speed. And with the open insinuation that Sánchez is waiting to be charged: “What do we have to wait for? For a request to arrive from PS?” After disqualifying the Government’s allies, he ended up again offering them an “instrumental motion of censure” only for the purpose of calling elections. Abascal had a difficult time overcoming the attack, but he managed to do so by surrendering to the theory of a conspiracy underway to steal the next elections and for Sánchez to “remain in power.”
Sumar, the government partner, tried to be appeasing. Its spokesperson, Verónica Barbero, began by denouncing that justice does not treat left and right alike and ended up demanding more explanations and, above all, with great vehemence, more determination to delve deeper into social policies. Other parliamentary partners moved along that line between demanding and understanding. “Not everything is profitableand not everything is corruption,” stated Mertxe Aizpurua, from EH Bildu, a phrase that Àgueda Micó, from Compromís, would repeat. Aizpurua admitted that “very serious” cases are being heard, but also denounced the actions of judges and police to warn Sánchez: “Do you think they will not dare to accuse you?” Néstor Rego, from the BNG, both rejected Feijóo’s “lessons” and demanded from the president “more explanations and fewer statements.”
It had been a long time since a Ruffian had been seen so hard on the Government. He addressed Sánchez in a questioning tone: “Look me in the eyes… Did you know anything? Have you stolen?” Then he recalled that he once held negotiations with Ábalos and commented: “His word was the word of God. And God was Pedro Sánchez.” More velvety in form, the Peneuvista Maribel Vaquero also left harsh phrases. He said that the Government is “entrenched” and told the president: “The grass may no longer grow behind you.”
Always condescending to the partners until now, Sánchez showed them this time some of the flashes of the knife that he usually reserves for the opposition. “We cannot be perfect; if you are, congratulations,” he told Rufián. And he poked around a little more. And where it hurts the most: “It is not governed from Twitter.” He reminded the PNV that it depends on the support of the socialists in Euskadi. He invited Junts to present a motion of censure with PP and Vox. And to Belarra, a single phrase, pure contempt: “The fat bitch for you.”
Sánchez’s anger with his partners revealed another symptom of weakness. Which does not mean that the panorama is going to change much at the moment. Vaquero also made it clear to Feijóo: “If no one moves towards you, the one who has to make them look is you, not us.”
