The political life and the jewels of Zapatero

MadridThis was supposed to be a "week horribilis" for the PSOE – another one – but the fact is that it has held up well. For now, the socialists demonstrate that they have an ironclad bad health. When they want to feel good, they start talking about the economy and the good progress of the indicators. It is their favorite mirror, before which they see themselves favored. It's like a psychological spring for emergency situations, for example in debates in Congress. There is a lot of parliamentary agitation around them – especially in the Senate, which is the PP's paradise, where it has a comfortable majority – but the socialists neither fall nor kneel.

The government and the PSOE know that their old partners can create all sorts of difficulties, they can propose votes to demonstrate the executive's weakness, but they will not allow it to fall, given that the prospect of the PP allied with Vox seems much worse to them. In fact, we have a scenario full of contradictions, which moves very little, but which is in permanent turmoil, with court cases, reports from the National Police or the Civil Guard, and judicial decisions. For some time now, the political agenda has not been set by the parties or political practice; it is now heavily influenced, and even conditioned, by the courts' calendar and their resolutions.

And it seems that we will continue like this for a few more months, perhaps even a whole year, which will feel long for the government, but also for the PP, which demands elections every day but does not manage to instill in the country the certainty of great expectation for change, perhaps because it does not seem imminent. The well-off Madrid, which governs the City Council and the Community, proclaims the PP's arrival at Moncloa when a vote can be held, but at the same time a reaction is taking place, materialized in initiatives of a progressive nature.

Socialist militants

There are now groups of militants and traditional voters of the PSOE who refuse to give up, gathering and walking through the city as the first Christians must have done in the times of Nero or Diocletian, willing to resist, driven by their faith. Obviously, in our times there is nothing similar to the repression exercised by those emperors, but there is the feeling of unjust persecution that fosters victimhood among these supporters and militants. They are depressed, no doubt, but they think they must revolt.

Even within the M-30 – the great ring road of the central districts of the capital – the slow and gradual growth of a climate favorable to resistance is noticeable, a "they shall not pass" in response to the right-wing offensive. This is probably because the polls reflect the effects of the sum of judicial proceedings against socialist leaders, of which the jewels found in Zapatero's safe have become a kind of symbol and essential fact. For many socialist militants, the appearance of these bracelets and necklaces — some quite flashy, certainly — has been a great setback, an incomprehensible and, above all, unacceptable and unjustifiable fact.

The truth is that the weight of this matter in the overall judicial proceedings initiated against the former president of the government and his two daughters may have little relevance. But the account of the police search in which the jewels were found and the lack of a quick explanation of their origin explains why they have had such a traumatic effect. Even the magistrate in charge of the case, José Luis Calama, asked about "the damned jewels" during the interrogation of the former president. And he said he did not want to talk about the matter. He clearly did so, advised by his lawyer, Víctor Moreno Catena, because at that moment he could not give a reasonable explanation. The defense, in fact, had requested a postponement of the statement regarding this part of the case. But a silence of this kind is one that harms, not only because it increases the impression of a will to conceal or an unconfessable origin of the jewels, but because it contradicts the values that the socialist former president has defended and proclaimed throughout his career.

Coherence between ideas and customs

It goes without saying that everyone, whether left-wing or right-wing, can have a taste for this kind of possessions, but what cannot be dispensed with is coherence between the ideas preached and the customs adopted, if credibility is to be maintained. On the other hand, from an ethical point of view, it is indeed exigible that whoever possesses such jewels be able to explain without delay, in the course of a judicial investigation, how they managed to increase their wealth. And, in this case, there was even an initial resistance to opening the safe in the official office of the former president, on the grounds that the keys were not available at the time.

In the end, the issue of these jewels can have several ways out – documentary proof of origin, demonstration of legitimate acquisition, or handover to the State's assets, if they were obtained as a gift while he was president of the government – but the serious effect for Zapatero is the loss of personal reputation and as a leader of the left. From a judicial point of view, the idea of involving his two daughters in activities that are now being investigated as constituting a set of economic crimes was more dangerous.

Sánchez, for his part, continues to say that he has no intention of calling general elections, insists on his confidence and empathy with former president Zapatero, defends his presumption of innocence, and even looks better than a few months ago, when judicial headaches intensified. The only nuance that has appeared in recent days is the reference to the possibility of calling elections if he does not manage to approve the next State budgets.

Presenting them will have a propagandistic purpose. The advantage of going to the general elections first would benefit territorial leaders. Mayors and regional leaders are asking for it. If the general elections are sooner, it will be the PSOE and Sánchez who run the risk of receiving the presumed protest vote. The president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, has been asking for it for a couple of years. But he is not the only one. We will see it in the PSOE federal committee on the 27th, where in any case there will be no upheaval.