Sánchez faces the ‘Pegasus case’ with the challenge of settling the crisis with ERC

taketonews

  • The president appears this Thursday in Congress to account for the espionage of the independence movement, in a moment of tension with your partners

  • The socialist leader could announce action and transparency measures within the CNI and an acceleration of reform of the law of official secrets

Pedro Sánchez returns to face a folder that he would like to have “closed as soon as possible“. Pegasus. Espionage on independence leaders and activists. More than 60, according to the Citizen Lab think tank. 18 with court approval, as confirmed in Congress by Paz Esteban, the former director of the National Intelligence Center (CNI). The computer tool, also, that infected the telephone of the president and the ministers of Defense and Interior and that an attempt was made to sneak into the mobile of the person in charge of Agriculture. The head of the Executive appears this Thursday in Congress to give an account, therefore, of the surveillance with this invasive Israeli manufacturing program, with the aim of settle the crisis with ERC, key partner of legislature. The question is whether this will be aided by an account of the events —that is, a reiteration of what has already been expressed by the Government, without major news— or whether it will announce New measures who seek to calm the Republicans. The socialist leader’s team eloquently summed up the previous sensations: “We are at the moment of passing a bitter drink“Because this plenary session is not easy for Sánchez, and less so at the gates of the Andalusian elections, with relations with his partners eroded and a new PP anointed by the polls.

La Moncloa refused this Wednesday to anticipate anything. The “political decision” was not to advance brushstrokes of the president’s speech on the rostrum. On the table are two outputs. On the one hand, speed up official secrets law enforcement. On the other hand, introducing new measures of control in the CNI. This last path opens up different alternatives: from a change in the law, which could run into a lack of parliamentary support, to initiatives directly promoted by the Executive, which only depend on him for their deployment. The contraindication of a speech with novelties is that the case could revive, just now that the Government and the PSOE consider that the issue is “practically amortized” and in the background of the political and media debate.

The danger of a reform of the regulations that regulates the CNI lies, indicates a minister, in the possible lack of support, since neither the right nor the partners would support it

The GNP was the first to propose modifying the regulations governing the CNIfrom 2002, to change its mode of operation and strengthen judicial control. Sánchez himself, in response to the ‘jeltzale’ spokesman in the control session in Congress on May 18, was “willing to listen to as many proposals as necessary for the reinforcement of judicial guarantees of the CNI in order to improve trust, which, of course, the Government does not question”. Just that same day the Ombudsman, an institution led by the former socialist minister Ángel Gabilondo, released its conclusions after examining the actions of the intelligence services: he supported the legality of espionage on 18 independence leaders and also asked to open a “reflection” on the adequacy or insufficiency of the judicial control of the CNI provided for in the law.

The Executive, therefore, has been preparing the ground. Sánchez could announce, therefore, the impulse of the reform of the laws of 2002 that define the functioning of the secret services. But, as a minister warned this Wednesday, the danger It is that this initiative might not have enough support, because the right would not support it, but neither would the partners (beyond the PNV), so the government would be exposed to failure. It is the opinion shared by the leadership of the PSOE in the lower house. Hence, an intermediate way out, pointed out by socialist sources to this newspaper, is the announcement of transparency and action measures within the CNI whose implementation depends only on the Executive.

“ERC is now as it is”

The reform of the official secrets law —pre-constitutional rule, of 1968, although tepidly modified in 1978—is an old aspiration of the PNV. The Government promised to draft a new law and it was already included, in fact, in its Annual Regulatory Plan (PAN) of 2022. The president could anticipate the acceleration of work, so that it arrives as soon as possible at the Chambers for processing. But, again, it is a sensitive rule, of the State, for which I would also like to have the endorsement of the PP. Another path, the ex officio declassification of the judicial authorizations that endorsed the monitoring of the twenty sovereignist leaders, seems abandoned: it will only be done if there is a request from the Justice.

The Government and the PSOE consider this case “practically amortized” and in the background of the political and media debate

A few hours before the plenary session began in Congress, the hermeticism prevailed in the Moncloa. But the impression that spread, with all the precautions, is that the president would be very tempted before announcing new measures, as summed up by a minister: “I don’t think he’s going to make much headway because this topic is already very low and announcing changes in the CNI law would be risky because we do not have a majority and ERC is now as it is”.

Other indications point along the same lines, such as the fact that the meeting with Pere Aragonès has not been set, which of course will no longer be immediate —the Andalusian PSOE received the guarantee from the Executive that there will be a dialogue table until they pass the June 19 elections—and the evidence that the Executive is trying to focus on the economy. But in Sanchez there is always the ‘surprise effect’. And the crisis with ERC is far from over, no matter how much the Executive and Ferraz consider that the controversy is already “paid off”. The ‘president’ continues to ask for clarifications, purging of responsibilities and guarantees that espionage against the independence movement will not be repeated. As if that were not enough, the Supreme Court rectified itself and will now review the pardons of the ‘procés’. Moncloa defends the “legality” and “usefulness” of the clemency measure, and in the Cabinet they hope that this will serve as a warning to the ERC, so that it “realizes” that if it leaves the PSOE abandoned, it has “a PP and Vox”.

Related news

The last moment of tension with ERC was experienced this Wednesday in Congress, when the Republican deputy Carolina Telechea charged against the PSOE for how it has acted before the first visit to Spain by Juan Carlos I almost two years after his expatriation. It is proven, he said, that “the problem is not the sewers of the State, the State is the sewer.” Words that he directed to the head of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, and that deserved the disapproval of the president of the Chamber, Meritxell Batet, who urged the parliamentarian to speak “with all due parliamentary respect“. She herself spoke of the former head of state as an “abusive, corrupt and lying king”. The minister responded with the arguments put forward by the Government in recent weeks: that one thing is the personal behavior (of the emeritus) and another is the institutions ( the crown).

Sánchez could take advantage of his appearance, as the Executive pointed out, to attack the PP, precisely now, when compromising audios of the commissioner emerge Jose Manuel Villarejo with popular leaders. The president could develop the accusation of him to the conservatives of “mangantas”. Contrast the change of time. Because those “thugs”, he launched Cuca Gamarra a week ago, “are no longer in government.”



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