Sánchez and the PP stage a chaotic appearance in the Senate: "This is a circus"

MadridThe People's Party (PP) wanted to subject Pedro Sánchez to questioning in the Senate's Koldo/Ábalos case committee, but on occasions like these, it knows how to frustrate the conservative party until chaos reigns. The Spanish president donned his PSOE leadership hat to confront the right-wing corruption accusations, and the discussion devolved into another chapter of the "you too" rivalry between the two major parties in the country. "I think this is a circus," Sánchez declared from the outset. The spectacle reached its peak at the end, during the tense questioning by PP Senator Alejo Miranda de Larra, who was powerless in the face of the Spanish president's responses, some evasive and others direct. "There was a black money circuit on Génova Street, not on Ferraz Street," said Sánchez, who left the committee "very satisfied."

As an aside, the head of the state executive surprised everyone by wearing glasses he hadn't publicly displayed until Thursday. Sánchez put them on when he had to consult a stack of papers, confirming that his team had thoroughly prepared for the appearance. One of his tactics was to play with time, letting him run through the questions with lengthy answers, even when the question was very specific, as when the People's Party (PP) asked if his wife had influenced the Air Europa bailout, and Sánchez launched into a discussion about the pandemic's impact on businesses. "I give up on the question," Miranda resignedly declared, having mixed multiple topics and even demanding that Sánchez state whether he supports Nicolás Maduro's regime in Venezuela. The PP senator did manage to expose the Spanish president when he refused to answer whether his brother resided in Portugal while supposedly working in Spain.

On other occasions, Sánchez has opted for sarcasm. When Senator María Mar Caballero of the Navarrese People's Union asked him "who was in the Peugeot [the car Sánchez used during the 2017 PSOE primary campaign, accompanied by, among others, Santos Cerdán, Ábalos, and Koldo]," the Spanish president laughed. "It depends on the day!" he replied. The most indignant with the witness's attitude was the committee chairman, Eloy Suárez of the People's Party, who accused him of "disrespect" in the Senate. This was especially true when Sánchez insisted on referring to the working group investigating the alleged corruption within the PSOE as the "defamation committee."

Throughout, Sánchez's strategy has been to deflect responsibility for the alleged corruption of his former collaborators—Santos Cerdán and José Luis Ábalos—and instead point to the PP's history of corruption. He referred to the corruption during the administrations of José María Aznar and Mariano Rajoy, proven in court, but also delved into the situation of Isabel Díaz Ayuso's partner and Pablo Casado's fall from grace within the PP to denounce the commissions allegedly received by the Madrid president's brother during the pandemic. "There are no under-the-table payments in the PSOE. Other parties have these undeclared, off-the-books payments," he emphasized. Suárez even demanded that Sánchez stop talking about the Gürtel case if he refused to answer questions not directly related to the Ábalos case. In any case, Sánchez reiterated that the cash payments to the PSOE were made to settle expenses incurred in advance by party leaders in connection with their positions—travel, accommodation, or per diems—and always with the presentation of receipts. He even claimed to have received cash payments himself for duties as Socialist Secretary General, although he clarified that it was never more than €1,000 at a time.

Moncloa had already warned that Sánchez would not provide any new information. Indeed, he has not changed his story regarding Ábalos's dismissal in the summer of 2021. Did he have any suspicions about his use of prostitutes? And about the alleged receipt of irregular commissions? "How long will he pretend he knew nothing?" Caballero asked him. The Spanish president insisted that the dismissal of the former Minister of Transport and former number three of the PSOE was due to the end of the pandemic, the beginning of the de-escalation phase, and the need for a "boost" to the executive branch, but not to cover it up.

Together, in the opposition?

The same The day that Junts members must decide on breaking with the PSOESánchez downplayed the decision of Carles Puigdemont's party, taking advantage of the exchange with Senator Eduard Pujol. "When you say you've moved into opposition, I don't quite understand it, because you've always said you were already there," he said mockingly. Sánchez didn't appreciate Pujol's tone and ended by suggesting he "not be so condescending." "Paternalism is quite a conservative habit in this country, and I see that it's not only prevalent in Spanish conservatism," he told him. Among other things, the Junts senator asked him if he "would vouch for Pedro Sánchez" and criticized him for a certain naiveté regarding the dirty war waged by the state's clandestine operations against the PP's adversaries, whether the PSOE or the Catalan independence movement, during the time of Operation Catalonia. "One might think, 'Poor Pedro Sánchez, they used to steal his sandwich at school,'" Pujol remarked.

During the hearing, Sánchez found allies such as ERC Senator Joan Queralt, who spoke of an "inquisitorial" commission; Compromís Senator Enric Morera, who was eventually expelled from the room; and EH Bildu spokesperson Gorka Elejabarrieta, who urged him to go further. lawfare. The pro-independence senator subscribed to the defense's argument that Cerdán is imprisoned for being the interlocutor of the parties that support the Spanish government, but Sánchez merely confirmed that there are legal cases that have a "political impetus" behind them – without specifying which ones – as a consequence of the "morning".