Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday that he would remain in office. The socialist leader indicated last week that he was thinking about his political future after the opening of a judicial investigation against his wife.
Pedro Sánchez declared that he would remain at the head of the country despite the “campaign of discredit” carried out in his eyes by the right-wing opposition. The latest illustration was, according to him, the opening of the preliminary investigation against his wife, Begoña Gómez, suspected of corruption and influence peddling.
“I decided to continue,” underlined the 52-year-old socialist leader, in power since 2018.
>> Reread: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says he is considering resignation
A statement that stunned
Accustomed to outbursts and poker moves, Pedro Sánchez stunned Spain by putting his resignation in the balance on Wednesday after the announcement by a Madrid court of the proceedings against his wife. He had written a four-page letter to the Spanish in which he explained that he was considering leaving office to protect his family.
Denying on Monday having acted in this way out of “political calculation”, he called on the country to undertake “collective reflection” on the polarization of political life, in order to prevent “disinformation from directing the political debate”.
“Either we say ‘enough’ or the degradation of public life will condition our future and doom us as a country,” he added.
>> Details from 12:30 p.m.: Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will not resign despite pressure / 12:30 p.m. / 2 min. / yesterday at 12:33
Show of support
Absolutely unprecedented, Pedro Sánchez had suspended all his public activities on Wednesday, while he was notably due to launch on Thursday evening the regional campaign on May 12 in Catalonia, a vote of national scope where his Socialist Party hopes to oust the separatists from power.
Chanting “Pedro, stay!” Thousands of supporters gathered in front of the Socialist Party headquarters in Madrid on Saturday to ask the Prime Minister not to leave his post.
Supporters gathered in the capital on Saturday to demand that Pedro Sánchez remain at the head of the Spanish government. [KEYSTONE – FERNANDO ALVARADO]
Complaint from a group close to the extreme right
The investigation against Pedro Sánchez’s wife, placed under the seal of investigative secrecy, was opened following a complaint from the association “Manos limpias” (Clean Hands), a collective close to the ‘far right.
It relates in particular, according to the online media El Confidencial, to 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 government Sánchez obtaining public aid.
This company actually received, in November 2020, 475 million euros, from a 10 billion fund intended to support strategic companies in difficulty due to the pandemic. But dozens of others then benefited from aid, including several of its competitors (Iberia, Vueling, Volotea, etc.).
The classification of the investigation requested
Since his arrival in power six years ago, the legitimacy of the socialist leader has always been questioned by the right and the far right, who have never forgiven him for having been brought to power by the far left and the political parties. Basques and Catalans as part of a motion of censure against his conservative predecessor Mariano Rajoy, weighed down by a corruption scandal.
>> Listen to the debate on the Forum show: The big debate – What is the political future of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez? / Forum / 20 min. / yesterday at 6:00 p.m.
friend with agencies