Feijóo is exploring a vote of no confidence with Sánchez's associates (and some are already turning their backs on him).

BarcelonaAlberto Núñez Feijóo has seen in Santos Cerdán's imprisonment a crack to explore again the possibility of a vote of no confidence. Hours after the former number three of the PSOE crossed the doors of Soto del Real, the leader of the PP has announced the beginning of a round of contacts with Pedro Sánchez's partners to check if they maintain their support. But the movement, clearly focused on gauging support to overthrow the Spanish president, has already received the first rejections from the allies of the coalition government and, also, the misgivings of the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who does not see a clear maneuver.

"His number two has slept in prison but Sánchez intends to continue. It is unsustainable," Feijóo denounced this morning in a message on the social network X, from where he pointed to the parties that support the socialists as "the only obstacle to Spaniards talking and being able to repair." This is how he justified his request to the PP spokesperson in Congress, Miguel Tellado, to call all parliamentary groups—with the exception of EH Bildu—"to say whether their support for the PSOE remains intact."

In a midday press conference, Tellado himself clarified that the contacts with Sánchez's allies are to "listen" to their position and not to ask them for anything, but he urged them to decide whether "they want to endorse corruption or repair the damage" and whether "they are willing to maintain this government."

However, Feijóo's intentions have met with mostly closed doors, and have even provoked criticism within his own ranks. Ayuso has warned him in statements to the media that presenting a motion of no confidence could end up giving Sánchez wings. "We cannot take false steps to strengthen him even further," she said, convinced that none of the PSOE partners are willing to "break up the fight."

Those first questioned by Tellado, in fact, have already closed the door to joining a Popular Party initiative to oust Sánchez, starting with ERC. "Tellado has just written to us. The spokesperson [Gabriel Rufián] has told him that there is really little to discuss [...]. If this escalates, it should be the people who decide the future of the country, and not a party that has had, has, and will continue to have cases of corruption," say Republican sources, who also emphasize that they will not participate in any.

Podemos has expressed similar views, calling the PP a "rotten party" and accusing it of being the "most corrupt in Europe," in the words of Podemos leader Ione Belarra. The BNG will not support a hypothetical motion of censure either: "We will not support, under any circumstances, a motion of censure promoted by the far right and the ultra-right," the Galician party says.

Tellado rules out a meeting in Waterloo.

A different reaction, on the other hand, has been that of Junts, which has responded to the PP by counterattacking with a challenge: if Feijóo wants to address the future of the legislature, he must meet with former president Carles Puigdemont in exile. Sources within the party argue that the PP "already know the mechanisms" for holding cross-party talks, "they know who to do it with, with the president and the secretary general" of the party, and they also know "the place": "Outside the state for well-known reasons," they add. Specifically, in Belgium, either in Brussels or Waterloo, they specify.

Junts makes it clear that, if necessary, they will be "no less demanding" of the PP than of the PSOE when it comes to meeting, but the PP has already ruled out this scenario. In his press conference, Tellado closed the door to a meeting with the former president in Belgium. "The one who went to meet with Puigdemont is Zapatero. We are not going to do what we have criticized others for; we are not like the PSOE. No one will find us there," he said. However, he did not respond to the question of whether he would be willing to hold a video call meeting with the Junts leader.

And here he has once again received criticism from Ayuso, who has rejected the idea of reaching an agreement with the Junts party, since, in her opinion, it would give "a romantic role to the independence movement." Vox also ruled out participating in any operation with Junts: "If Vox did not exist, Mr. Feijóo would already be on his way to Waterloo," said the far-right party.

The PSOE and Sumar evaluate the coalition agreement

In parallel, the PSOE and Sumar will meet tomorrow as the coalition's monitoring committee to assess the situation following the outbreak of the Cerdán case. The meeting, requested by Sumar, will take place at 10:00 a.m. in Congress. and measures to combat scandals like this

In an appearance from the UN summit in Seville, the second vice president of the Spanish government, Yolanda Díaz, said that the party is "very angry" and that seeing Cerdán go to prison__B