Spanish Prime Minister remains in office, does not want to bow to right-wing ‘smear campaign’ against his wife

Sánchez resigned from work last week and said he needed ‘five days of reflection’. This weekend, thousands of his supporters took to the streets in Madrid to call on Sánchez to stay in office. On Monday, the Social Democrat announced at a press conference that he would not resign after all. “Thanks to this support, I have decided to continue leading the government.” Sánchez also said he did not want to bow to what he called a “smear campaign” against him and his wife.

Sánchez used the entire affair to call for a reconsideration of current harsh (political) behavior. ‘We have to decide what type of society we want to be. Our country needs reflection,” he said. ‘We have allowed public life to be polluted with mud for too long.’

The contradictions between right and left increased further in Spain after the parliamentary elections in the summer of 2023. Then the conservative-right Partido Popular (PP) became the largest party, but it proved unable to form a majority government. Sánchez was given the initiative and was ultimately able to stay in office due to the tolerable support of regional parties in the national parliament.

Amnesty

To achieve this, he had to make far-reaching compromises with parties from Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia that advocate more regional autonomy. Right-wing parties such as PP are strongly opposed to greater independence for these regions. The agreed amnesty for the fled Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont is certainly angering right-wing Spain.

PP and the radical right Vox believe that Sánchez has wrongly remained prime minister. Their tone has become increasingly fierce in recent months and for the past month they have also targeted Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez. The accusations against her mainly come from right-wing media and politicians.

Gómez, with a foundation for which she worked, concluded a deal with the airline Air Europa just before the corona pandemic. The company would contribute 40 thousand euros to a project to create internships. When the pandemic broke out, Air Europa received hundreds of millions of euros in state aid from Sánchez’s government.

Headaches

That cost Sánchez political and judicial headaches. A Madrid judge is now investigating a complaint against Sánchez about a conflict of interest by a right-wing union that positions itself as a ‘corruption watchdog’. This while an earlier complaint from the PP to a reporting center for conflicts of interest had already been rejected. The Public Prosecution Service has asked the court to remand the Madrid judge.

Sánchez may have managed to close ranks by threatening to resign and using harsh words about a right-wing ‘smear campaign’. The tolerating regional parties have caused his government to falter several times in recent times by imposing new demands on their support for several bills. The threat of a right-wing government may deter them.