Pedro Sánchez counterattacks: "We continue with our roadmap. Until 2027 and beyond"

MadridUpon entering the UGT headquarters in Madrid, it was difficult to tell if it was the closing of the Congress of the Spanish Socialist Youth or a nightclub. The machine version of Pedro by Raffaella Carrà was playing at full blast while the cadres waited for the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, to enter the hall. A militant stood with a raised rose and two books by the PSOE leader in his hand —Manual de resistencia and Tierra firme—, which Sánchez dutifully signed when he walked past him amidst shouts and applause from the young cadres. It is the staging of what the PSOE wants to do after fifteen days of judicial earthquake, with the explosion of the Zapatero case and the Leire case: to counterattack. Minister Óscar Puente already started on Thursday warning of an attempt to overthrow the Spanish government by "undemocratic methods" and Sánchez continued this Sunday defending his project and sending a message to the right: "Socialists never give up a fight." "We continue with our roadmap. Until 2027 and beyond," he stated, also appealing to the possibility of being re-elected in the next elections if "Spaniards want it." That is to say, the manual of resistance again and at maximum power, as he has accused the opposition of being "liars" and of wanting to unseat him through "evil arts." For the PP, this attitude of the PSOE is an "offensive against the foundations of the State," a "danger to democracy," in the words of the general secretary of the Popular Party in Madrid, Alfonso Serrano.

Sánchez, during his speech at the socialist youth congress, which as usual in rallies he gave wearing a denim shirt with his sleeves rolled up, played with two concepts: "determination" and "time". Determination in the face of right-wing attacks and time that he assured the government and "democratic socialism" needs so that the transformations it is carrying out "take root" in society. At this point, he listed the policies of his executive with the plurinational parliamentary majority: Sánchez cited the right to euthanasia, the reform to protect the right to abortion promoted by the Spanish government, the cultural bonus or the reduction of youth unemployment and temporary contracts with the labor reform, in addition to regularization and the international progressive agenda. He did not explicitly mention the amnesty law — it has been two years since it was approved in Congress this weekend—, which put the right and the judicial world on alert as soon as the 2023 legislature began.

The Spanish president did refer to another anniversary: this Monday marks eight years since the motion of no confidence that ousted Mariano Rajoy following the corruption sentence in the Gürtel case and which brought him to Moncloa. The Spanish president proclaimed that much has been achieved since then and that it is necessary to continue "moving forward", as in his opinion "Spain is experiencing its best moment in 45 years". "We do not deny the problems, but we also cannot deny the results sheet," he proclaimed. Previously, the new president of the Socialist Youth, Aránzazu Figueroa, the first woman to lead this youth organization, closed ranks with Sánchez and considered him the "beacon" of global progressivism.

Early this Sunday, the PSOE's X account was already hinting at things: the socialists posted a video in which they claim their history, from the fight against Francoism to the achievement of public services or same-sex marriage, passing through the 'no to war' that Pedro Sánchez so recently invoked in the face of the war in Iran. This is the message that this week was also put on the table by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, who maintained that being a socialist was a way of being in the world, recalling that they do not have 140 days of history but 140 years, and warning that they would not "bend" in the face of what they consider an attempt to remove them from government at all costs.

Illa has returned this Sunday from the Festa de la Rosa in Tarragona, where he stood next to the Spanish president: "We respect justice. We are not afraid of justice [...]. We do not surrender and we do not bend." Not all socialists, however, see it the same way: this Sunday, the former Minister of the Presidency under Zapatero and historic leader of the PSOE, Ramón Jáuregui, has called for an "urgent" extraordinary congress to recover the party's internal debate. A party in which, according to various socialist sources, there is not much criticism for now to build an alternative to Sánchez.

The flag of 'if you don't go, they return'

Regarding judicial cases, Sánchez has also issued a warning: he has boasted, without explicitly naming them, about having taken measures when cases of alleged corruption have emerged, alluding to the two cases of former PSOE organization secretaries José Luis Ábalos and Santos Cerdán. But he has also said he will act with "forcefulness" against "lies": that is, they will react to cases they deem unfounded, such as that of his wife Begoña Gómez. He has not referred either to Zapatero's case, whom he continues to support, nor to Leire Díez's, for which PSOE manager Ana Fuentes has been charged this week.

What's more, he has compared his attitude towards alleged corruption cases with that of the PP, explicitly citing the author of the phrase that has caused the most sensation this legislature: José María Aznar and his "whoever can, let them do it". He has pointed to their economic policies of the nineties, which he considers to have led to corruption, especially in urban planning, and also their support for the United States in the Iraq War, in contrast to his opposition to Donald Trump. In fact, Sánchez has also played the comparison card to defend his continuity in Moncloa: he has recalled that it is him or the PP and the far-right Vox, with their "national priority" and "xenophobic" policies. A textbook "if you don't go, they return from the year" that served the PSC so well in Catalonia in 2008. Will it work again?