Sánchez's strategy to get people talking about what he wants

MadridAt the threshold of a year with elections in several autonomous communities—Castilla y León and Andalusia, and the question marks in Extremadura and Aragón—Pedro Sánchez appears to be stuck in a pre-campaign framework, although at the national level he insists that he will not bring forward the elections and will extend the legislature until 2027. He is trying to counter the alleged corruption surrounding him and his parliamentary fragility, now accentuated by Junts' threats to break off relations. Sánchez is trying to impose a narrative that benefits him, while Alberto Núñez Feijóo is working hard to portray an exhausted government that has no other option but to call the Spanish people to the polls.

The latest attempt to shift the spotlight has been to raise the debate on time change with the European Union. This Sunday morning, the clocks were set back one hour, and the Spanish president emphasized on Monday that this "alters biological rhythms" and, furthermore, has no impact on energy savings. For this reason, he called for the enforcement of a 2019 European Parliament vote that would have eliminated the need to change the clocks twice a year. In Spain, opposition groups have somewhat mocked Sánchez's approach because it has been interpreted as a minor issue.

Sánchez surprised with this issue, but weeks ago he had already tried to set the agenda, for example, with abortion. The Spanish government took advantage of a controversial vote by the People's Party (PP) in Madrid City Council on the false postpartum syndrome (POSS) to go into detail: it has formally demanded that all autonomous communities create a mandatory registry of conscientious objector doctors and initiated the process of trying to secure voluntary termination of pregnancy in the Constitution. Still on health matters, the PSOE is also trying to exploit the scandal surrounding cancer screenings in Andalusia.

Two weeks ago he also revived the controversy over private universities with the approval of a Royal decree that will limit the discretion of regional governments when it comes to approving the creation of new centers. The aim is to reverse the underfunding of public universities and avoid the consequences of the proliferation of private universities of dubious quality: standards suffer, and a crowding-out effect for well-off students occurs, which has a direct impact on housing prices.

Precisely, what was supposed to be one of Sánchez's main priorities for the new year, housing, has become a problem within the coalition this week. Sumar has raised its tone due to the PSOE's lack of ambition in this area—even suggesting that Minister Isabel Rodríguez step aside—and the head of the State's executive has been forced to negotiate with his governing partner to take some measure regarding rental contracts that will soon expire and which, in many of them the PP, could lead to an unviable price increase for many families.

Another of the latest unforeseen headaches has been the increase in self-employed contributions, which, despite being planned in the reform of the system approved by the PP in 2022, has caught the sector off guard. Minister Elma Saiz has had to back down and is already considering freezing them.

Contrast with Isla

Compared to Catalonia, Sánchez and the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, both face enormous difficulties in passing the 2026 budget, although their approach to this situation of weakness is quite different. Isla is not subject to the harshest attrition operation like the one the PSOE leader is undergoing because the pro-independence opposition is in a slump—and one part, ERC, is a partner in the government—while the Spanish right is emboldened on every possible front: in Congress, in the courts, and in the media. It doesn't matter that the Prosecutor's Office is investigating the cancer screening crisis in Andalusia or that Extremadura is heading for early elections due to the PP's inability to pass its budget—like Sánchez's—because in certain sectors of the media, the dirty war maneuvers of the Leire D'Ábalos/Koldo/Cerdán camp end up predominating.

Sánchez is due to appear before the Senate this Thursday before the commission of inquiry into this case, and he has already announced that he will answer. He will be the second sitting president to testify in a forum of this nature, the only precedent being José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at the commission of inquiry into the March 11 attacks on December 13, 2004. The People's Party (PP) will find a president in pre-campaign mode.