Vox doesn't listen to Pedro Sánchez, but it does listen to Bildu.

MadridSantiago Abascal finds it "almost physical discomfort" to see Pedro Sánchez speak from the podium in Congress. As evidence of the visceral dislike the Vox leader claims to feel for the Spanish prime minister, not a single deputy from the far-right party occupied their seat during the forty-five minutes of Sánchez's first speech at this Wednesday's plenary session, convened to explain the Santos Cerdán case. For a moment, there seemed to be a wayward deputy ready to ignore Abascal's instructions. Javier Ortega Smith, who long ago lost the influence he initially held within the Vox leadership, entered the chamber with determination shortly after the head of the executive did. It was a false alarm because when Sánchez began to speak, his seat was also empty.

However, the demand to ignore the Spanish prime minister lasted only a moment. When Sánchez took his second seat at the lower house lectern to respond to the parliamentary groups' interventions, some Vox deputies remained seated. However, they wore indifferent and disinterested expressions. Abascal, for his part, was only seen in the plenary session for half an hour. He appeared for the first time to listen to Alberto Núñez Feijóo's intervention and stayed until he had given his own, immediately afterward, consuming all the available time in a single reply—spokespersons are allowed two for a total of fifteen minutes—so as to avoid having to return to the chamber. "I'm not going to respond to him," Sánchez stated in his absence. Some far-right deputies also stayed to listen to EH Bildu, which was not subjected to the type of partial cordon sanitaire that they decided only Sánchez deserved. And this, despite the fact that Abascal also asserted that he felt "disgusted" when he saw the Spanish government shaking hands with the Aberzales (Spanish nationalists) and that Feijóo had proclaimed that Bildu was the only party that deserves to experience vetoes.

The early absence of Vox deputies placed the entire responsibility for raising the decibels on the PP. Shouts of "corruption," ironic laughter when he announced anti-corruption measures, and whispers of disapproval were the soundtrack from the right-wing benches when Sánchez spoke. However, they were heard most frequently during Yolanda Díaz's speech, which forced her to pause several times. They gave her no respite despite the death of her father. The second vice president and public figure of Sumar (Sumar party) has been accused of being an "accomplice" and a "traitor." The tension reached the point where the Speaker of Congress, Francina Armengol, repeatedly called for silence and suggested the PP caucus leave the chamber when a PP deputy responded that they were not going to remain silent. "Those who don't want to listen are invited to leave," the Socialist reiterated. The PP also called Rufián a "coward" but maintained their composure when Míriam Nogueras, the spokesperson for Junts, intervened, with whom Feijóo now refuses to rule out a pact.

The only one who was completely absent from the session was José Luis Ábalos, one of the protagonists of the corruption scheme that forced Sánchez to appear and who is still a deputy in the mixed group. The former Minister of Transport, increasingly cornered, has not been seen in the corridors of the lower house for weeks.

Condolences to Díaz

The beginning of the session was marked by expressions of condolences to Yolanda Díaz for the death a few hours earlier of her father, the veteran Galician trade unionist Suso DíazHugs upon his arrival, dressed in white, and mentions of his father at the beginning of the speeches, including Feijóo's. Sánchez, the first, made Díaz cry. Visibly affected, she decided to sit in the Sumar bench instead of the government bench to receive the warmth of her parliamentary group. Nogueras, who did not follow protocol due to the Second Vice President's grief, took advantage of the beginning of her speech to express Junts' support for those affected by the fires in Catalonia and to thank the emergency services for their work. "To the UME," a Vox deputy called him. By the time the member of the regional government spoke, Díaz had already left for personal reasons. In the corridors of Congress, there was also some criticism for the Second Vice President's mentioning of her father to justify the continuation of the coalition government: "Today I am here in the name of my father, who would not want the right to govern," she proclaimed.