Breath of fresh air for Sánchez
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez emerged alive from the Congress of Deputies on Wednesday. None of the investiture partners, not even Podemos, the most critical party, has asked him to call elections. Beyond their confidence in the package of measures presented to combat corruption, none of the partners are now advocating for an election that would pave the way for a PP-Vox government. Thus, they are granting him a margin of trust. However, they all demand that this debate be a turning point and that he accelerate the fulfillment of the commitments made.
Facing Sánchez, Alberto Núñez Feijóo continued to struggle to find the right tone and once again went too far, accusing the Spanish Prime Minister of living in "brothels" instead of focusing on the Cerdán case. Feijóo went further and leveled accusations at the PNV (Basque Nationalist Party), which was outraged by the PP leader. Once again, it has become clear that the PP's only possible partner is Vox, despite Feijóo's commitment, not yet verbalized, not to form a government with them.
Sánchez, then, gains a lifeline at a critical moment, but his credibility is severely damaged. The Spanish prime minister has accustomed us to grand announcements that later come to nothing, such as the regeneration plan he announced after last year's five-day holiday. If he truly wants to survive, his government must get its act together and break the current impasse by delivering on its promises. In the Catalan case, some examples can be given: on the one hand, the transfer of immigration powers agreed with Junts must be completed, and efforts must be redoubled to advance the official status of Catalan in Europe. On the other hand, the details of the new financing system must be presented now, and progress must be made so that the Catalan Tax Agency can collect personal income tax.
And in parallel, we must launch a major regenerative agenda that serves not only to fight corruption, but to improve democracy and the functioning of political parties precisely at a time when there is a global wave of reaction. We urgently need to regain citizens' trust in institutions if we do not want to fall into the hands of populists like Trump.
It is not an easy task, and in recent years we have seen that many interests are aligned to ensure the Spanish right returns to power and aborts any attempt at profound reform of the State. We see this these days with the unprecedented strike by judges and prosecutors, especially annoyed with a reform that seeks to prevent the judiciary from being a stronghold of conservatives and with the actions of a specific judge. Therefore, if Sánchez intends to survive, it is not enough for him to compromise with those who, as José María Aznar made clear, want to see him in prison. It's time to go on the offensive and show everyone who gave you confidence in 2023 that, despite all the mistakes, they weren't wrong.
