After tough weeks that were dominated by a large corruption scandal within his socialist party PSOE, the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez can carefully breathe again. With an ambitious plan against corruption, he tried to reassure his coalition partners on Wednesday, to take the opposition out of the sails and to strengthen his shaky position. That approach seems to work.
The storm started last month, when stressful sound recordings came out. In the excerpts, Koldo García, former right hand of former transport minister José Luis ábalos (PSOE), and party secretary Santos Cerdán openly speak about passing on large amounts of money. According to the recordings, millions of euros would have been channeled away and distributed among the three party members through government assignments to friendly companies. Among other things, it would include contracts for mouth caps during the coronacrisis. In addition, the recordings contain sexist and sexually tinted comments about women.
That put Sánchez, who came to power in 2018 by denouncing corruption within the Partido Popular, in a difficult position. Although he is not personally involved, the scandal takes place in the heart of his party and harms his image. Coalition partners distanced themselves from Sánchez, the opposition demanded new elections.
In addition, there is also a judicial investigation into his wife and brother – who deny any form of guilt. Yet Sánchez does not want to know anything about elections.
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Stubborn corruption
To save his position, Sánchez pulled everything out of the closet on Wednesday. He acknowledged that he made mistakes by naming certain politicians, openly apologized in parliament and introduced it Plan Estatal de Lucha Contra La Corrupción: a national anti-corruption plan with fifteen measures. A striking step, because the stubborn corruption in Spain is generally only combated with no -obligation promises.
This plan is different: it tackles both party financing and the supervision of public procurement. There will be an independent agency for public integrity and Sánchez promised faster procedures and more serious penalties for politicians who enrich themselves with public money. The transparency is also improved: part -time donations from 2,500 euros must be published. With that he tries to convince his coalitite partners, opposition parties and the Spanish voter in the middle of the crisis that the government itself is cleaning.
Yet the opposition did not just let itself be spawned. The right-wing conservative Partido Popular leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said that Sánchez is “a broken politician,” whose premiership is based on “corrupt deals.” The Ultrarrecht Vox leader Santiago Abascal refused to listen to Sánchez ‘plans. After he was the prime minister for a liar who “hostages the land,” he left the room. Both opposition parties, in which corruption cases also play, demand new elections. A motion of no confidence was not forthcoming. The two right -wing parties together have no majority and fear loss of face if a motion is rejected.
The right-wing conservative Partido Popular leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo called Sánchez “a broken politician”
In his speech during the presentation of the plans, Sánchez explicitly said that he had considered all the options, including retirement, but that he rejected that thought – also because he says he himself has “clean hands”. “The easiest way would be to get on. But the easiest way is not always the right way. Throwing in the towel is not an option,” he said. Sánchez’s coalition partners reacted carefully positively. They called the stricter rules a step in the right direction, but emphasized that acts outweigh words.
The prime minister knows that he cannot afford missteps. The anti-corruption plan gives him breathing space, but the trust remains thin. New revelations about the scandal or another affair such as the Koldo case are in all likelihood enough reason for Sánchez’s coalition partners to drop the government. And then Sánchez left little other than what he now opposed to and tooth: early elections and possibly the end of his political career.