Pedro Sánchez will appear in Congress to give explanations about the PSOE judicial scandals

MadridAfter a week stunned by the Zapatero case and the investigation pointing to a plot within the PSOE, the socialists are counterattacking. The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has requested to appear before Congress to inform about "the political situation related to the latest known judicial investigations." That is to say, to talk about the scandals surrounding his party. This is reported by sources from the Spanish government, who assure that they have "nothing to hide" and no problem discussing, if the PP wishes, the cases affecting the PSOE and also those of the PP, such as Kitchen, which is on trial. The PSOE has vowed to resist at Moncloa. The appearance has no date yet, but it will be after June 19, when the next European Council will take place, which Sánchez also wants to account for.

hovers over the question of whether the Spanish president knew anythingThey also raised their voices this Thursday from Ferraz. The PSOE's organization secretary, Rebeca Torró, said that the party, contrary to what National High Court judge Santiago Pedraz points out, has not "endorsed or cooperated in any of the criminal conduct that can be inferred" from the ruling that points to the alleged existence of sewers within the PSOE. And she has committed to providing explanations on what is necessary when the secrecy of the investigation is lifted: "Meanwhile, absolute respect for justice and maximum collaboration". However, they complain that there was already an open proceeding concerning Leire Díez in an investigating court in Madrid, number 9, and that the party had already provided information: "It is not easy to understand that there are two proceedings on the same facts, but the PSOE has collaborated in all of them".

From the socialist leadership, the ground is already being prepared to create a firebreak, dissociating Sánchez from any instruction that could have been given within the hypothetical "criminal structure" to "obstruct" judicial proceedings that the judge points to. Although in Pedraz's ruling the question of whether the Spanish president knew anything hovers: according to the magistrate, the plot was set up during Sánchez's five-day reflection in 2024.

From Catalonia, the president, Salvador Illa, has also closed ranks with the head of the Spanish executive and has hinted at a campaign against the Spanish government. "We know how to distinguish what is a coincidence and what is not," he said about the fact that the UCO appeared at Ferraz headquarters on Wednesday at the same time that Sánchez was meeting with the Pope in the Vatican. "We are not naive either," added Illa, in his speech at the II Prensa Ibérica Forum on peace and security in Europe. The head of the executive defended that "the truth always ends up prevailing" and warned that if anyone thinks they will "break" the socialists, "they will not succeed." "When one is a socialist, one believes in dignity even if it is difficult, and in justice even if it costs," he sentenced.

The PNB raises its tone

Some parties of the plurinational majority also denounce that there is "media, judicial and police coup-mongering", in the words of Gabriel Rufián also this Thursday in Congress, but they reject that the PSOE should hide behind this. "There is a lot of desire [to overthrow the government], but if you make excuses, then what happens happens. You have to keep your house clean", stated the ERC spokesperson in the lower house, who has requested "detailed explanations" from the Spanish president after Judge Pedraz has indicted Santos Cerdán, Sánchez's former right-hand man. In fact, before Sánchez announced his appearance, Esquerra, along with BNG, Compromís and Podem had filed a request to the same effect.

Another thing is the PNB, which goes one step further and insists to the Spanish president that he not exhaust an "absolutely blocked legislature". In a press briefing, its president, Aitor Esteban, argued that "the general interest demands an election call this year", and contradicted Sánchez by accusing him of holding on until the end for "a particular partisan interest". "This leads nowhere", he reiterated, although he avoided putting himself in the scenario of supporting a motion of no confidence from the PP. The Basque nationalists, like critics of the PSOE such as the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, are not interested in next year's municipal elections coinciding with the general ones.

Meanwhile, the PP takes the opportunity to add pressure to the PSOE's investiture allies to agree to overthrow it if it continues to resist an "immediate election call". "The moment demands more than abstaining from the problem. Sánchez's partners must decide", stated Alberto Núñez Feijóo at a PP event in Leganés. The popular leader criticized "the absurd attempt [by the Spanish government] to resist at all costs", as did the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who in her case has called for either elections or a vote of confidence. The motion of no confidence, for the moment, is being avoided due to the impossibility of achieving the necessary support for it to prosper.