In an era when international politics is at the forefront, Spanish leaders seek godfathers abroad to strengthen themselves internally and try to win the electoral game. The Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, is the one who has the most blatant strategy in this regard, by establishing himself as one of the leaders of the world left this weekend in Barcelona, but also the rest of the political spaces go beyond borders to seek references. These days, the PP and Vox have made a demonstration with the reception of María Corina Machado – whom they use to attack the Spanish government – and a few days ago it was Viktor Orbán's defeat in Hungary that marked Spanish politics.

While Pedro Sánchez received Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, with military honors in Barcelona, at the PP headquarters in Madrid an alternative reception with honors was held for the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. Dozens of popular affiliates, party officials, other anti-Chavista activists, and Alberto Núñez Feijóo himself gathered at the entrance of the headquarters on Génova street to applaud Machado's arrival. The new Nobel Peace laureate, in full European tour, has allowed herself to be courted by the PP – in the afternoon she also has a meeting with the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal – while turning her back on the Spanish government, with whom she has preferred not to meet.

Adamantly defending Spain's traditional alliances while the military and dialectical escalation of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu increases puts the PP in a complicated situation. Alberto Núñez Feijóo has so far avoided confrontation with the United States and Israel even when they have attacked one of the pillars of Spanish conservatives, such as Catholicism. The Popular Party remained on the sidelines when the Israeli government vetoed Palm Sunday mass in the Holy Land, and now that the President of the USA has targeted Pope Leo XIV, Feijóo has been caught between the two.

Political life in Madrid is currently unfolding between two scenarios. Firstly, the courts, due to the start of the trials for corruption cases involving the PP and the PSOE. And secondly, in the realm of international relations, concerning everything related to the situation in the Middle East, after a precarious two-week truce was announced, with very uncertain results. These are very diverse issues, which obviously have nothing to do with each other, but which, if followed closely, give a fairly accurate idea of the point at which political forces stand, particularly those of the Popular Party and the Socialists. The start of the trial of the Ábalos-Koldo-Aldama case scheme was, and will continue to be in the coming weeks, a great opportunity for the PP to take advantage of the exhibition of the reprehensible procedures employed by the former Minister of Public Works and former organization secretary of the PSOE, his advisor, and the businessman who did business with them, in relation to public contracts to acquire sanitary material, allegedly violating the law in a tragic context, that of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo have not seen each other, but they have been two of the protagonists in the meeting of numerous political leaders this Friday in Barcelona. They have not shared a stage, but the clash between the two Spanish leaders has once again become evident. While the Spanish president has argued that "the European Union must suspend the association agreement with Israel" after "flagrant violations of international law", the leader of the opposition in the State has clashed head-on, reproaching him for having "betrayed" allies in a staunch defense of NATO with criticism of Spain's approach to China.At the European Pulse Forum, organized by Politico and BeBartlet, Sánchez has argued that Europe must be "firm in the defense of a rules-based order": "We cannot be content with lamenting, we only have to look at Gaza to see the consequences of the violation of international order. Let us not allow a new Gaza in Lebanon", he warned, to defend the total veto of Israel. Precisely, he has presented Europe as a "hope for peace", especially in "times of wars in Gaza, the West Bank, Iran and Lebanon", all of them provoked by Israel and the United States, with whom he maintains a tough confrontation. With the will to guarantee European "autonomy" and not depend on Donald Trump –whom he did not name–, he has insisted on the idea of forming a European army "tomorrow", as well as a "common" foreign policy. But he has also defended ties with China that the PP criticizes and some signed trade agreements: "The government of Spain supports the Mercosur agreements", he said, and also "strengthening ties" with India, the US, and China, which he will visit again. "Sanchista" Europeanismsanchista has permeated his speech with the defense of the "capacity to dream" in European integration and he was encouraged by a phrase in English: "It feels good to be European" [Being European makes you feel good]. As an ally, he had already found the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, who said before his speech that "Sánchez's government will survive" and defended his "clear international leadership".Criticism from the PP

In turn, Feijóo has made a wholesale amendment to Sánchez's government and its international alliances. The PP leader has fully defended NATO, despite the twists and turns and the multiple conflicts initiated by the US president, Donald Trump. He even used the word "traitor" when reviewing Spain's position in Europe. "I know that many are worried that Spain has abandoned allies," he said, and warned that he has opted for "new allies" in recent conflicts that have clashed with traditional ones. "The European Union is not just a market, it is a commitment that is respected in good times and bad. As a minister told me, when one abandons Europe, one becomes a traitor to Europe," he snapped. In fact, he had specifically mentioned "technological alliances that contradict the principles of the EU," in reference to China. Is Pedro Sánchez the "traitor" Feijóo is talking about?

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The day before the trial of the Kitchen case began at the National Court, the PP announced that its strategy was to create a firewall. "Feijóo is not the Kitchen," party sources proclaimed. This has been the popular party's approach throughout the first and second days of the oral hearing. The argument that current PP leaders repeat both in public and in private is that it is a matter related to the past, which has absolutely nothing to do with Alberto Núñez Feijóo and the current popular president's team. The person in charge of verbalizing this on Tuesday was Alicia García, spokesperson in the Senate, in a press conference focused on attacking Pedro Sánchez for the alleged corruption surrounding him. "We are talking about a case from more than ten or fifteen years ago, but today a case from fifteen minutes ago from the PSOE is being judged. And those that remain," she defended.

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In the war for the digital narrative, the tug-of-war between the Spanish government and the PP has moved to the vertical format. The two main Spanish politicians opened accounts on TikTok almost simultaneously, although the impact they have is quite different. Alberto Núñez Feijóo was the first to land there in September 2025, just two days before the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, did. It is the socialist leader, however, who has gotten the most out of it: Sánchez already has 764,400 followers and over nine million likes. The most striking data from the comparison is that the total number of followers of the popular leader is approximately equivalent to the volume of new users that the Spanish prime minister gains in just one week. A gap that becomes even more evident in the impact of the content: Sánchez's last ten videos have an average of 1.1 million views, thirty-six times more than Feijóo's 31,200.

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Alberto Núñez Feijóo's frustration at not being able to govern this legislature is palpable in the Senate. Given the impossibility of implementing his program, in the last two years the popular leader has used the upper house as a kind of showcase for what Spain governed by him would be like. Although the PP's absolute majority there is sterile because Congress blocks legislative initiatives, far from standing still and throwing in the towel, the popular parliamentary group has approved about forty laws in the upper house. For now, they cannot be applied, but from the Senate, the popular party members media-wise claim them as the alternative to Pedro Sánchez and propose the work done on these draft laws as a basis from which to start working when Feijóo arrives at Moncloa. A scenario in which they are confident from 2027 onwards. This is a portrait of what an eventual Spain governed by the PP would be like according to the initiatives they have proposed in the Senate:

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The course of events during the last weeks reinforces the idea that we still have a long way to go in the current legislature. It has been some time since the media spotlight has no longer been on negative judicial decisions for the government each day. Furthermore, Sánchez continues to gain traction with his policy of direct criticism of the actions of the United States and Israel, which has led to the burning of the Middle East. The changes in the Council of Ministers have also once again provided the socialists with a respite, with attention focused on Carlos Cuerpo, the new first vice-president, who has become a symbol for his calm and dialoguing nature. It's like saying that another type of political practice, different from what we are used to, is possible.

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When Pedro Sánchez dusted off the slogan “No to war”, he knew perfectly well what he was doing. The confusion it has caused in the PP is such that the best response Feijóo's spin doctors could come up with in Wednesday's session was: “No to war and no to you”.

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This morning something very interesting happened, a new strategic move by Pedro Sánchez in his long and well-known struggle to resist, to resist everything: his collaborators in prison, the indictment of his wife and brother, his party defeated in every election in Extremadura, Aragon, and Castile and León. This morning Sánchez went to Congress to explain the social measures to alleviate the cost of the war in Iran. And he went on the attack. Seeing that Europe is no longer leaving him alone with the "No to war" movement, he said that the 2026 war in Iran is like the 2003 Iraq War, which had disastrous consequences in Iraq, in the world, and on our streets with Islamist terrorism. That if that war was illegal, this one is too. And that the People's Party (PP) was complicit. But to say that Iran is like Iraq, to ​​once again use the trump card of the "No to war" movement of 2003, is déjà vu. And then, Sánchez personalized it with a tremendous attack against José María Aznar. He said that Aznar, in 2003, wanted to feel important, that he supported a war in exchange for ego, for the power to influence George Bush. He recalled that the Madrid bombings were the fault of that war. And he recalled that Aznar shows no remorse. He even went so far as to question his morality.

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Alberto Núñez Feijóo clings to the good results for the PP in Castile and León to try to corner Vox. In an interview this Tuesday on EsRadio, the Popular Party leader called on the far right to abandon its "political myopia" and "read the ballot boxes correctly." Feijóo accused Santiago Abascal's party of taking an "adolescent approach" to negotiations with the Popular Party in Extremadura, Aragon, and Castile and León and demanded they finalize a pact now. "If the PP has twice as many votes as you, and in some regions, three times as many, it is undemocratic to prevent this party from governing," he went so far as to say.

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The big news from the elections in Castile and León is that, for the first time in a long time, the expectations predicting a surge for Vox have not materialized. Polls forecasting a drop for the People's Party (PP) and a Vox surge to 19 seats and over 20% of the vote have instead led to a scenario that reinforces the two-party system, with both the PP and the Socialists gaining more seats (+2) than Vox (+1). Therefore, it is legitimate to ask whether the far-right wave is reaching its peak, especially considering that the campaign coincided with Donald Trump's escalating involvement in the Iran-Contra affair. However, two points need to be clarified. Vox's rise hasn't been as significant because it was already starting from a strong position in 2022, when it obtained 17.6% of the vote and 13 seats. The electoral system, especially in a territory with many constituencies, benefits the two major parties and disadvantages third parties, as has been the case. The second point is that, while the far right is not growing as much, the hegemony of the right is consolidating.

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Pedro Sánchez has reaffirmed his "No to war" stance, which positions him as the antithesis of Donald Trump within the European Union, and has intensified his confrontation with the President of the United States. the publication of an article in 'The Economist' this FridayIn it, the Spanish Prime Minister explains the position that has led to his clash with the Trump administration and argues that he owes "blind obedience" to the US in the "reckless path" it has embarked upon in Iran, however much it may be an allied country. Sánchez insisted on this point in his appearance following the Spanish-Portuguese summit held in Huelva. "Among allied countries, it is good to help when one is right and also to point out when one is wrong or is making a mistake," he said.

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This week no relevant secrets about the 23-F coup d'état have been revealed, but it has left us with the hilarious phone conversations of Antonio Tejero's wife and a new strategic blunder by Alberto Núñez Feijóo for history. Carmen Díaz Pereira, Tejero's wife, discovered on the night of February 23rd what it feels like to be on the losing side. While half of Spain waits with bated breath to see if they will be rounded up like in 1936, this woman, sensing that the coup was failing, moved heaven and earth to try to get her husband out of the mess he had gotten into for being “a fool” and “an idiot”. “If they've left him like a cigarette butt. For God's sake. It's undignified”, she complains to General Fajardo. It's clear that she considers her husband an idealistic dreamer who has been tricked by some cowardly generals. “So good and so honest. Always with the homeland up, down [...] and all he wants is to end terrorism so that people live comfortably and in peace”, she tells a friend. “Have you seen what a disgusting army?”, she tells another. The friends she speaks to, presumably also military wives, try to encourage her by telling her that her husband is a “hero”, but she is suspicious. She knows, long before her husband does, how it will all end and that he will be a scapegoat. “A wretch” who has been “deceived”. Seen through these conversations, February 23rd becomes a sad Valle-Inclanesque farce. Of course, a farce that could have cost many lives.

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The declassification of the February 23rd documents confirms what we already suspected at the time: that Tejero's rashness, the impetuous coup plotter, was a stroke of luck. He raised the curtain prematurely, indignant at the indecisiveness of his fellow conspirators. Too many would-be dictators. Only Milans del Bosch followed suit, leaving the others in a strange limbo that had the effect of dissolving alliances and generating a certain disarray among those who had long been mobilizing and pressuring for a hardening of the regime: they were seeking a drawing-room coup, with the king as a Spaniard, and instead found themselves facing an onslaught. And so, the situation suddenly changed.

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Pedro Sánchez takes the lead, and Alberto Núñez Feijóo delivers the final blow: Juan Carlos I should return. After everything we've read about the king's role during this intensive course on February 23rd that we've just been given, what importance can the emeritus king's tax and romantic scandals possibly have? How can the king who brought democracy and saved it continue to live punished in exile? The fact that crucial conversations from that day and the days before aren't recorded anywhere is no longer important. And those with connections get amnesty.

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The declassification of the February 23rd documents supports the official version And it reinforces the idea that it was the emeritus king who stopped the coup. This narrative has led the People's Party (PP) to defend Juan Carlos I the very day after this documentation was made public. "I think it would be desirable for the emeritus king to return to Spain," stated Alberto Núñez Feijóo in a message on X. Sources at La Moncloa (the Prime Minister's residence) consulted by ARA (the newspaper) are passing the buck to the Royal Household. "The emeritus king can return whenever he wants. No one has denied him entry to Spain. It's up to him to return. It's a matter for the Royal Household, not the government or the leader of the opposition," sources from the Spanish government assert. Meanwhile, sources at the Royal Household have sidestepped the uncomfortable question about a possible return from Abu Dhabi, claiming it is a "personal decision" of the former monarch. The PP is clear that he should be encouraged to return. According to the leader of the People's Party, the information revealed this Wednesday should lead to a "reconciliation" of Spaniards "with the man who stopped the coup." "He himself has acknowledged undeniable errors in his career, but someone who contributed to upholding our democracy and our freedoms at a crucial moment should spend the final stage of his life with dignity and in his own country," he argued. Isabel Díaz Ayuso also defended the return of the former king. "What Mr. Feijóo has said is what the vast majority of Spaniards think," the president of the Community of Madrid asserted.

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The dispute between the People's Party (PP) and Vox is a hot topic with the regional election cycle, in which the far right is gaining ground on Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party. But Santiago Abascal's party's rise has been noticeable in the polls for some time now, including at the national level. In recent months, according to the Center for Sociological Research (CIS), the Vox leader has already surpassed Feijóo in the polls for the position of Prime Minister of Spain. Neither has come close to Pedro Sánchez—who has twice as many supporters—but there has been a substantial shift in the trend over the past year. From the elections of July 23, 2023, until April 2024, the PP leader led the Vox leader by more than ten points as the preferred candidate to occupy the Moncloa Palace (the Prime Minister's official residence). The gap continued to narrow until it reached two points in November 2024, after Vox withdrew from all regional governments and lost all governmental responsibilities. And in 2025 the 'overtaking' occurred, which is still in the latest barometer.

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In his desperate search for the day's headline, Alberto Núñez Feijóo has said he wants to come to power to return Spain "to the First World." The phrase is meant to be clever and provocative, but coming from Feijóo, it falls flat and limp. The more he indulges in hyperbole—and the more time he spends suffering the wear and tear of public exposure—the less Feijóo resembles a presidential hopeful and the more he resembles a pathetic, lost soul. He has the curious ability to make his adversaries (Ayuso, Vox) grow in stature while he himself diminishes. This even happens with Pedro Sánchez: many citizens, without feeling any particular sympathy for Sánchez, have ended up valuing him in contrast to the attacks—fanciful, exaggerated, and rude—that he receives from the leader of the opposition. Feijóo has a chilling effect.

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