Feijóo raises his voice against Sánchez: "What brothels have you lived in?"

MadridAlberto Núñez Feijóo doesn't accept any of the anti-corruption measures announced by Pedro Sánchez. Even before hearing the Spanish Prime Minister's appearance, the PP leader warned that the only proposal he can get from the Spanish Prime Minister is for him to leave. "Be decent, leave, resign, call elections, and let the Spanish people speak," said Feijóo, whom the Socialists accuse of this destructive opposition. However, the PP Prime Minister has strengthened his strategy of indiscriminately attacking Sánchez when, during his second round of replies during this Wednesday's appearance in Congress, he raised his tone to the maximum. "What brothels have you lived in?" the PP leader asked Sánchez, accusing him of being "a lucrative participant in the abominable business of prostitution" due to the alleged dealings of his father-in-law, Begoña Gómez's father, who is believed to own the establishments he has claimed to be involved in. "And now he wants to outlaw his own biography," Feijóo insisted, putting his finger on the sore spot after the audio recordings between José Luis Ábalos and Koldo García about prostitutes.

Precisely "a lucrative participant" is what the National Court concluded the PP was in its 2018 ruling in the Gürtel case, which led to the vote of no confidence that ousted the Popular Party's Mariano Rajoy from Moncloa Palace. The PP does not present itself as a model of ethical and political integrity, given its history, and therefore does not propose measures against corruption. Instead, it strives to demonstrate that the PSOE cannot teach it lessons. This undermines much of the socialist narrative. Along these lines, Feijóo asked Sánchez if he is leading a patriotic police –the justice system is investigating the unit commanded by former PP Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz– and has blamed him for the role of Leire Díez, the former activist who sought to uncover dirt against the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard to torpedo judicial investigations.

Feijóo has criticized him for seeking to "cover up corruption and not fight it." To reverse the "institutional deterioration," the PP leader has called for strengthening the UCO; for the dismissal of the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz; for a halt to reforms to access to justice; and for a change in the composition of the Constitutional Court. Vox leader Santiago Abascal has argued that "the only plan that works is resignation," but he also attacked the PP. "They share manuals to cover up corruption," he said of the two major parties in Spain.

Tension with the PNV

At the same time, Feijóo clashed with the PNV (Basque Nationalist Party), which warned him that he would not come to power by "demonizing the adversary." The PP leader, who at this weekend's party congress opened the door to speaking with all parties except EH Bildu, was especially harsh with the Basque nationalists for their support for Sánchez. "Have you reviewed the reasons why you supported the motion of no confidence [against Rajoy, following the Gürtel case]?" Feijóo asked. "Whoever has seen them and whoever sees them," he added. "Neither pressure nor insults will move us one inch from our firm will," Maribel Vaquero (PNV) told the PP leader.

Vaquero, who criticized the PP's attempt to "tarnish" the PNV's name, accused them of using "manipulations" and "lies" and "assimilating the discourse of the far right" in an attempt to govern. "Do you think the PNV can support you like this?" she asked Feijóo. "You are in no position to give advice or lessons to anyone," she concluded. Vaquero was rightly the harshest of all Sánchez's parliamentary allies in her first speech, but the PP's attacks meant she spent the entire time of her second speech responding to Feijóo.

"The adversary's mistakes also help," Spanish government sources reflected on the fact that the PP's actions allowed them to avoid the PNV's criticism and eliminated the possibility of the party led by Aitor Esteban changing blocs. PP sources justify this attack on the PNV, with whom they have an increasingly deteriorating relationship, because in the Basque Country they govern in coalition with the Socialists, unlike other parties like Junts, with whom Feijóo has been more gentle. However, the PP is confirming that, for the moment, nothing has changed, and they are far from being able to convince any party in the plurinational majority to help them oust Sánchez.