Paco Salazar denies the harassment accusations: "I have always respected all my female colleagues"

MadridWith more media attention than answers, three days before the elections in Aragon, Paco Salazar appeared for two hours before the Senate's Koldo case investigation committee. the former PSOE leader who had to resign from his positions on the party's executive committee and as institutional coordinator for the Spanish Prime Minister's Office after being internally denounced for alleged cases of sexual harassment and sexist behavior. Following the outbreak of the Santos Cerdán case, he was slated to be part of the new team in the organizational secretariat, but he was never appointed.

"I have always respected all the female colleagues I have worked with, both as professionals and as women," he stated fifteen minutes into his appearance. He justified his resignation from his responsibilities at Moncloa Palace and the PSOE headquarters by saying he was thinking "exclusively" of his family and because it was the "healthiest" thing to do. "I have been at the highest level for nine years, and I don't want my family to have to suffer so much pressure," he added. He also asserted that no one from the PSOE or Moncloa Palace asked him to back down and insisted that he made "absolutely no deals with anyone."

Sources within the Popular Party in the upper house acknowledged upon leaving that Salazar had been "sincere" and "elegant" and celebrated that he hadn't "dodged" the issue. However, Salazar did leave complaining—albeit quietly—that the accusations against him and his "private life" afterward weren't the subject of the committee's work, but the president, Eloy Suárez of the Popular Party, gave senators some flexibility to bring it up. And he responded. In fact, voices within the Popular Party admitted that they hadn't expected the accusations to have the prominence they ultimately did—it's important to remember that the purpose of the investigative committee is different—and celebrated that the Socialist senator, who had referred to her for more than five minutes, "handed it to him on a silver platter."

Lunch with Pilar Alegría

Paco Salazar also recounted that when he had lunch with Pilar Alegría, now the PSOE candidate for Aragon—a photo the PP is using as a weapon against the PSOE—the then-minister inquired about the well-being of his wife, children, and mother, and about his "future professional future." "It's only natural that someone with a modicum of human compassion would be interested in the family, nothing more," he argued. He denied that the Spanish government spokesperson's intention was to "buy" his silence. However, one of the most striking revelations came at the very end: in response to questions from Rocío Dívar, a PP senator, Salazar denied that Alegría had criticized his attitudes toward women—according to several complainants within the party. "That didn't happen," Paco Salazar clarified.

The appearance focused primarily on the PSOE primaries, his relationship with José Luis Ábalos, Koldo García, and Santos Cerdán, and his role as president of the Zarzuela racetrack. After the PP introduced him as "just another one of the Peugeot clan," Paco Salazar stated that he knew nothing about the car Sánchez used to travel across Spain to regain the PSOE leadership. "I haven't even seen it," he retorted. He also distanced himself from Ábalos, Koldo, and Cerdán, asserting that he saw "nothing inappropriate" in their behavior during the time they worked together. Regarding payments from the PSOE, he acknowledged receiving money both in cash and via bank transfers: small amounts paid against invoices for his travel expenses. He also stated that he had no knowledge of whether Pedro Sánchez's father-in-law made financial contributions to the primaries.

The "pain" and "outrage" of the PSOE

Speaking on behalf of the PSOE, María del Lirio Martín condemned Paco Salazar's "intolerable sexism" and reproached him for conduct "incompatible" with PSOE membership: "I spoke with the pain and indignation I can feel as a socialist and feminist, standing up for these women," she lamented. "This type of behavior shames us. He did not behave appropriately toward his female party colleagues, and I must reproach him for that, and I deeply regret it," she added. Finally, she denounced that the PP and Vox have "never had" a "real commitment" to women. She was unable to continue speaking because the committee chair cut her off for straying from the committee's topic. Her intervention, in fact, is what gave the PP the impetus to later delve into the accusations against Salazar.