The failure of the PP and Vox against Sánchez
MadridAt this point in his political career, and especially given how the current legislature is unfolding, there's no doubt that Pedro Sánchez is a lucky man. It's not just his resilience, but also how he knows how to seize the opportunities that chance presents him. In his appearance before the Senate on Thursday, the Socialist leader was fortunate to have a representative from the People's Party (PP) who could hardly have been less competent. Sánchez had been summoned to explain himself to the commission of inquiry into the Koldo case, which the PP launched as part of its strategy to undermine the PSOE-Sumar coalition government. The PP had given this a lot of thought, for over a year and a half. This initiative was approved in March 2024. But until now, they hadn't summoned the person they consider the main political figure responsible for the matter, which is no longer just the Koldo case—a mere advisor to a former minister, José Luis Ábalos—but also involves the former Minister of Public Works and Santos Cerdán, the latter two being former secretaries of organization for the PSOE. Sánchez's summons represented a significant qualitative leap: moving from preliminary proceedings to a full-blown raid.
The outcome was quite negative for both the PP and Vox. Neither the PP representative, Alejo Miranda, nor the Vox representative, Ángel Pelayo Gordillo, managed to unsettle Sánchez, whom they relentlessly pursued during questioning. On the contrary, the Socialist leader grew increasingly emboldened as the session progressed. He first labeled the body that had summoned him a "defamation committee" and, later, a "circus." Neither the presiding officer, Eloy Suárez (PP), nor the aforementioned spokespeople knew how, nor were they able, to restrain him. It reflects poorly on the Senate, but the experience demonstrated that the PP's initiative was imprudent. To place a prime minister in the symbolic dock of a political courtroom, one must have a solid understanding of the case's background and, above all, know how to conduct a thorough interrogation. Miranda and Gordillo, on the other hand, engaged in a series of rushed questions that led them nowhere.
The Senate's institutional failure lay not in the aforementioned spokespeople's inability to bring down Sánchez, but in the wasted time and energy of the five hours dedicated to this purpose in a far from exemplary manner. One cannot attend a committee of inquiry without a solid foundation of background information and supporting evidence. Relying solely on suspicions, or even circumstantial evidence, can be useful in a government oversight session, to level accusations and create an atmosphere of mistrust, if we assume that the leader of a party in which a corruption case has been uncovered must have known everything, because the contrary is inexplicable. But the purpose of an appearance like Sánchez's was logically more ambitious. It was about closely linking him to alleged illegal financing of the PSOE and making him appear as having knowledge of, and therefore being the main person involved in, the crimes attributed to Koldo, Ábalos, and Cerdán. But that objective, the opposition spokespeople, Miranda and Gordillo, did not achieve.
It is true, in any case, that Pedro Sánchez's account regarding his two former organizational secretaries—especially concerning former minister José Luis Ábalos—has weak points. The PSOE has explained to us that its fight against corruption is very determined and without cracks. But it has areas of uncertainty. An essential question would concern Ábalos's continued presence on the electoral lists after leaving the government in July 2021. It is true that his departure coincided with a major reshuffle that involved the replacement of a vice president—Carmen Calvo, now president of the Council of State—and six ministers. Even at that time, Ábalos's departure was surprising, and subsequent events have raised serious suspicions that he was removed from the government, but not from Congress, so as not to leave him in the lurch.
Late Decisions
Sánchez explained in the Senate that the change in the composition of the Council of Ministers was made to give new impetus to the executive branch's actions. Ábalos was suspended from party membership in February 2024, when the initial reports from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard were released regarding the scheme involving the receipt of illegal commissions during the pandemic. These reports led to the case being dubbed the Koldo case. However, the former minister was not expelled from the PSOE until last June, when new UCO reports had just been released that also implicated Santos Cerdán in the commission scheme. Ábalos's expulsion, therefore, came sixteen months after the aforementioned investigation was opened against him. The question is why the PSOE's decisive action against corruption was not swifter and more forceful from the outset.
On the other hand, it is logical that Sánchez responded to the commission with "I have no knowledge" when they asked him if he knew about the strange actions of the plumber and former Socialist Party member Leire Díez, who, according to the Prosecutor's Office, led a "criminal plan" to discredit Civil Guard commanders and anti-corruption prosecutors. However, why did the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) fail to detect the activities of this Leire—who was Director General of Philately and Institutional Relations at Correos (the Spanish postal service) between 2022 and 2024—until recordings surfaced in which she claimed to be acting on behalf of the Socialist Party? These questions are pertinent and could form part of the political criticism within the Socialist organization.
However, to attempt to link Sánchez to criminal liability, it is not enough that there are "unknowns" about the implications of the Koldo-Ábalos-Cerdán case. And it is in that word, unknownsThis is the basis for Judge Leopoldo Puente's latest ruling, which takes the case to the Supreme Court, to refer the investigation into cash payments from the PSOE to Ábalos and Koldo while they held power within the party to the National Court. Ultimately, the PP and Vox have failed in the Senate by attempting, with great ineptitude, to transform a parliamentary chamber into a judicial body. It takes much more than "unknowns" to bring down a government.