Sánchez avoids explanations for Pegasus and does not convince his partners

taketonews

Pedro Sánchez arrived at Congress this Thursday with some announcements under his arm with which to calm his partners for the ‘Pegasus case’. Basically, two: reform the regulations governing the National Intelligence Center (CNI) and speed up the processing of a new official secrets law. But he did not achieve his goal of lowering the tension because his silence weighed more heavily. The vast majority of the groups considered that the chief executive evaded giving explanations about the intervention of the cell phones of 18 pro-independence leaders carried out by the CNI with judicial approval. After five hours of debate, ERC came out warning that “the crisis is not resolved & rdquor; and EH Bildu lamented that Sánchez continues without daring to “clean the sewers of the State & rdquor ;. On the contrary, the main opposition party, the PP, denounced the lack of clarification and sees Sánchez “kneeling & rdquor; and “asking for forgiveness” to the independentistas for the “legal” actions & rdquor; of the secret services.

The president categorically disassociated himself from the monitoring of sovereignty: in the “framework of the intelligence directive” —the last one, approved in 2019—, it was the CNI that adopted the operational decisions that he did not know, the one that determined the wiretaps always under the protection of the judge in charge of the Supreme Court. In other words, legality has always been respected, as the Ombudsman also endorsed in his report last week, he argued. Spain, he reiterated, is a State even “more guarantee” than others around us, but more can still be done to protect the individual rights of citizens.

In Moncloa they stressed that the important thing was the “political will” expressed by Sánchez with his two announcements, beyond how and when the processing of both initiatives ends

This goal explains the two main initiatives that the Executive will promote. On the one hand, the approval of a classified information law (to replace the 1968 official secrets law) and, on the other, the reform of the organic law of the CNI, to reinforce judicial control. He did not advance dates, although in the Executive they believe that they could have the first one ready before the holidays. Moncloa sources pointed out that the important thing was the “political will“, the “decision” expressed by Sánchez, although the “legal specification” is lacking and “technical work” is required first. In other words, what was relevant was the gesture, beyond the fact that the processing is then completed. Because for the second norm an absolute majority is required, given its organic nature, and it is not at all clear that the Government has the necessary support. At least to this day. In fact, there are members of the Cabinet and the PSOE who doubt that the new regulation of the CNI will see the light in this legislature.

The socialist leader defended the “transparency” of his Cabinet, the “enormous source of concern for national security” that caused the sabotage and the fire in the streets of Catalonia that followed the sentence of the ‘procés’ and that justified the wiretapping of the CNI. That is to say, that the The Government and he himself did “what they should” in that context. What he did not clarify is whether the surveillance lasted until the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, when the PSOE negotiated the investiture of its leader with the ERC. The president was willing to proceed with “all requests for declassification” of documents linked to espionage, “with the greatest speed”, but only if requested by the judge.

“Spain smells closed”

Sánchez regretted that the ‘Catalangate’ has undermined trust with the Government and with the ERC, but insisted that he is willing to rebuild it, because dialogue is his “bet“Personal and political. The meeting with the ‘president’, Pere Aragonès, and also a new meeting of the dialogue table are still pending, and they want it to be “as soon as possible” to resume work that has borne “fruit But, again, there are no dates, and in the PSOE it is assumed that there will not be one until the Andalusian elections of June 19 are over.

Sánchez revalidates his commitment to the reunion and the agreement, and insists that he is ready for his meeting with Aragonès, still without a date, and a new dialogue table, which must be convened “as soon as possible”

“What have you come here to do??”, the Republican spokesman, Gabriel Rufián, started as soon as he took the podium. That whiplash already showed how the appearance had proven useless for his party. “The essential questions remain unanswered”, “clear explanations and responsibilities” are lacking. , Aragonès protested on Twitter. “In a country where the main law is the law of silence, it is not a country, it is a mafia […]. Spain smells closed and is of a toxic patriotism that scares”, added Rufián.

But it wasn’t just CKD. The spokespersons for Más País, Bildu and PDECat, natural allies of the Executive, were also critical. Even more so were Junts and the CUP, who reproached Sánchez for the insufficiency of his explanations and for not assuming responsibility for what happened. United We Can, partners in the Executive of the PSOE, supported the increase in controls of the secret services and the reform of the law, but demanded Sánchez clean up the “Deep State”. An expression that the president rejected, because what there is, he insisted, is a State and its counterweights, and not “sewers”, as there were with the PP in the Government.

Was it Morocco?

In her speech, the general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, launched a string of questions that Sánchez had avoided specifying: “What other autonomic bodies use Pegasus?”, “does it seem normal to you to sit down to negotiate governability with those you know are being investigated because they are a threat to the integrity of the State?”, “did you pardon people who you knew were being investigated because they were a threat for the State?”.

“Does it seem normal to you to sit down to negotiate governance with those you know are being investigated because they are a threat?” Gamarra asks.

The PP spokeswoman also stressed the security breach that allowed the cell phones of Sánchez and ministers Margarita Robles (Defense) and Fernando Grande-Marlaska (Interior) to be tapped. The PP yesterday registered a request for the director of the CNI, hope casteleiro, go to the reserved expenses commission and specify what information they managed to steal from the members of the Executive, to find out if what was stolen “endangers the security of Spain & rdquor; and if Sánchez is a “president tied hand and foot”. Gamarra slipped that the radical turn of the Moncloa, by blessing the option that Western Sahara could become an autonomy from the kingdom of Morocco, could be due to the fact that Rabat is behind the espionage with Pegasus on the socialist leader and could be blackmailing him.

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The leaders of the PP were stung that in his initial speech Sánchez influenced the corruption scandals of the conservatives, especially when at the same time he is claiming sit down to negotiate the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and saved them this Thursday in the approval of the audiovisual law. “I will not go into his dirty game or his mud, because he is here to give explanations & rdquor ;, Gamarra snapped at Sánchez before reminding him that the PSOE has two party presidents convicted of corruption: José Antonio Griñán and Manuel Chaves. The Court of Seville punished the first for embezzlement and the second for prevarication in the ERE case.

The PNV applauded the reforms announced by Sánchez, but expressed his surprise at the Chief Executive’s statement that he was not aware of the interventions demanded by the CNI from the 18 leaders. “That the CNI is an autonomous cell that allows itself to choose objectives in a matter such as politics is very serious“, he warned.



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