(CN) — Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday said he would remain in office, ending five days of speculation after he hinted he might resign following the opening of a corruption investigation against his wife.
Sánchez, the leader of the center-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, called the charges against his wife false and said they were part of a mudslinging campaign against him and his progressive political agenda.
In denying the accusations, Sánchez issued a furious letter last Wednesday in which he announced he would take five days to ponder whether he wanted to stay on as prime minister in the face of attacks from his right-wing opponents. He canceled his public agenda during the period of reflection.
Last week, news reports revealed a Madrid court had opened a probe into influence peddling and corruption against his wife, Begoña Gómez.
For months, Gómez was the focus of investigations by right-wing news outlets examining her ties with businesses that received public funds, including Air Europa, a Spanish airline that got a 475 million euro ($509 million) bailout during the coronavirus pandemic.
The criminal probe was sparked by a complaint filed by Manos Limpias (“Clean Hands”), an organization that presents itself as anti-corruption fighters. But the group is linked to far-right causes and has become notorious for filing politically motivated lawsuits. In bringing its suit against Gómez, it relied on a peculiar Spanish legal procedure that allows people and organizations to lodge criminal complaints even when they are not directly harmed.
In a televised address on Monday, Sánchez said he would stay on and fight “even harder.”
He lashed out at his opponents, calling them part of a “global reactionary movement” that was leading to a “degradation of public life.”
“Let’s show the world how we defend democracy. Let’s put an end to this mud in the only possible way: through a collective rejection that is calm and democratic, and which goes beyond parties and ideologies. It is something I firmly commit to leading as the prime minister of Spain,” he said.
“Today, I’m asking Spanish society once again to set an example for a convulsed and wounded world,” he said, as reported by the Guardian newspaper. “Because the evils that afflict us are far from exclusive to Spain. They are part of a global reactionary movement that wants to impose its retrograde agenda through defamation and falsehoods, through hatred and through stirring up fears and threats that have nothing to do with science or reason.”
Last week, he accused the Popular Party and Vox, his center-right and far-right rivals, of being “collaborators with a far-right digital galaxy and the Manos Limpias organization” in the attack on his wife. He said Spanish conservatives were conducting a relentless campaign against him to derail his government's “progressive political” agenda.
After Monday's speech, the opposition parties accused him of engaging in political theater and vowed to keep up their pressure on him.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the Popular Party, called Sánchez's actions over the past five days “ridiculous.”
“Where he sought respect, he has found ridicule,” Feijóo said, as reported by El País, a Spanish newspaper.
“Spanish society is not going to be fooled,” he said. “After his theatrics, reality has not changed one bit.”
He accused Sánchez of asking “Spaniards to resign from democracy” and characterized him as a selfish politician unwilling to allow room for the opposition and the justice system.
“He only loves himself,” he said. “What has moved him these days has been fear.”
Santiago Abascal, the Vox leader, called Sánchez's five days of reflection a “crude, outrageous” show of victimhood that had been an “international embarrassment” for Spain.
Sánchez “has no other goal than to bury criticism, guarantee impunity for their crimes and lies and fuel social confrontation,” Abascal said.
Sánchez is vulnerable politically because his center-left Socialists are in a minority coalition with the far-left Sumar and rely on the votes of small pro-independence Basque and Catalan parties to pass legislation, including a new national budget.
Spanish parliamentary elections last July saw the Socialists lose support and come in second to the center-right Popular Party, their longtime rivals. But with the Popular Party unwilling to enter a coalition with the far-right Vox, Sánchez was able to remain at the helm.
Spanish politics has become particularly polarized and toxic since Sánchez took over in June 2018 following the collapse of a corruption-riddled Popular Party government.
Sánchez inspires a lot of animosity among his foes on the right because they see him dismantling Spain's traditional order.
He is Spain's first openly atheist prime minister and has enraged conservatives by forming coalition governments with far-left progressive parties and passing leftist economic and social policies, such as raising the minimum wage and strengthening abortion and transgender rights.
He's also angered conservatives by taking a soft approach toward Catalonia's drive toward independence.
For example, in 2021, he pardoned Catalan separatists convicted of leading an illegal independence referendum in 2017.
The prime minister caused even more anger after he backed an amnesty bill for Catalan separatists facing prosecution, most prominently self-exiled former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont.
Sánchez was forced into supporting amnesty after last July's elections forced him to rely on the support of small Catalan parties to form a government. He said during the election campaign that he opposed Catalan amnesty.
He's also stoked animosity among Spanish nationalists, such as the supporters of Vox, by removing the remains of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco from a massive mausoleum outside Madrid.
After Monday's announcement, Spanish politics and the future of Sánchez's government will, at least in the short term, be driven by the outcome of Catalan regional elections on May 12 and European elections in early June.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
Follow @cainburdeau
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