JI decided to continue” at the head of the government, said the 52-year-old socialist leader, in power since 2018, in a solemn tone, in a solemn nine-minute speech held on the steps of the Moncloa Palace, the official seat of the Spanish government’s presidency.
Sánchez has remained silent since a Madrid court announced on Wednesday the opening of a preliminary investigation into “influence trading” and “corruption” against his wife, Begoña Gómez. Stunning the country, he wrote a four-page letter to the Spanish in which he explained that he was considering resigning to protect his family.
Denying that Monday acted in this way by “political calculation“, he called on the country to undertake “collective reflection” on the polarization of political life, in order to prevent “disinformation to guide political debate“. “Either we will say ‘enough’ or the degradation of public life will condition our future and condemn us as a country“, he added.
In an unprecedented move, Sánchez has suspended all public engagement since Wednesday, when he was due to campaign on Thursday night for Catalonia’s May 12 regional election, a nationwide vote in which his Socialist Party hopes to oust separatists from power.
Chanting “Pedro, stay!”, thousands of supporters gathered outside the Socialist Party headquarters in Madrid on Saturday to ask him not to leave his seat.
Investigation focused on Mrs. Sánchez
The investigation against the wife of Pedro Sánchez, placed under the seal of investigative secrecy, was opened after a complaint by the association “Manos limpias” (Clean hands), a collective close to the “extreme right”.
She especially wears, reports the internet media The Confidentialon the ties established by Begoña Gómez with the Globalia group, the sponsor of the foundation where she worked, at a time when Air Europa, an airline belonging to Globalia, was negotiating with the Sánchez government to receive public assistance.
This company actually received, in November 2020, 475 million euros from a fund of 10 billion intended to support strategic companies in difficulties due to the pandemic. But dozens of others then benefited from the bailout, including several of its competitors (Iberia, Vueling, Volotea, etc.).
On Thursday, the prosecution requested that this investigation be closed, while Manos Limpias admitted that his appeal was based solely on the articles in the press, but the judge presiding over the case has not yet revealed his intentions.
Sánchez wants to see in this appeal a new illustration of the campaign of destabilization he has waged against him “a coalition of right-wing and far-right interests“WHO”they do not accept the verdict of the ballot box“, he wrote in a lengthy letter posted online on the X social network on Wednesday.
Since he came to power six years ago, the socialist leader’s legitimacy has always been questioned by the right and the far right, who have never forgiven him for being brought to power by the far left and political parties as part of a bid to impeach his conservative predecessor Mariano Rajoy. , burdened by a corruption scandal.
The political context has become even more tense in recent months, when Pedro Sánchez, who came second in the July 23 election behind his conservative rival Alberto Núñez Feijó, managed to be returned to power by parliament in November thanks to the support of Catalan independence parties in exchange for the law on amnesty for separatists involved in the attempted secession of Catalonia in 2017. This law was adopted in the first reading by the deputies in March and should be definitively adopted at the end of May.
The right-wing opposition has been mocking Pedro Sanchez since Wednesday, accusing him of wanting to portray himself as a victim. “The leader of the government cannot make a spectacle of himself as a teenager so that everyone starts running after him begging him not to leave and not to get angry.“, said the leader of the People’s Party (right), Alberto Núñez Feijoo.
Related Posts
Bad news if you like avocados
Glez’s view of difficult cohabitation in Chad
