Black Tuesday?

Next week, Sánchez will become the second ever Spanish prime minister to appear as a witness in court

Mark Nayler

Malaga

Friday, 26 July 2024, 13:41

Pedro Sánchez called Wednesday 26 July 2017 a "black day for democracy". Why? Because "for the first time, a [Spanish] prime minister has had to ... sit down and testify about corruption in his party". That same day, he urged Mariano Rajoy to make an "honourable exit" and resign, after the PP leader had appeared as a witness in the so-called Gurtel corruption case.

Next Tuesday, Sánchez will become the second ever Spanish prime minister to appear as a witness in court. He has been summoned to testify in the investigation into allegations of influence peddling against his wife, Begoña Gómez - a case that even the plaintiff admits is based on media reports that might be false. Nevertheless, PP leader Alberto Feijóo is relishing the historical symmetry and has asked Sánchez to follow the advice that he gave to Rajoy in 2017.

There are similarities between the two situations. Just as Rajoy was not himself suspected of wrongdoing when he appeared as a witness in the Gurtel trial, Sánchez is not under suspicion in the Gómez case. Rajoy said he knew nothing about illegal financial activities within the PP during the period under question, when he was the party's vice-secretary general. He maintained complete ignorance and claimed the corruption allegations were "absolutely false" (although whether these two claims are compatible was questionable).

Sánchez not only denies that there is any truth to the allegations against Gómez, which were brought to court by a small anti-corruption organisation called Manos Limpias. He has also said that the investigation into his wife is a right-wing conspiracy designed to force him out of power. Gómez herself went before a judge last Friday but refused to answer any questions: a valid response to a case that, as yet, seems completely baseless. Sánchez may well employ the same tactic next Tuesday.

But there are also important differences between the Gómez and Gurtel affairs. On the basis of much more substantial evidence than has been presented against Sánchez's wife, the Gurtel case put Rajoy's entire party under suspicion of corruption. Rajoy himself was doomed, even if he hadn't personally been involved: his plea of ignorance, if genuine, hardly showed him to be a man in control of his party. How could he be trusted to eradicate corrupt practices within the PP if he had no idea they even existed? Gurtel fatally weakened the PP, long before it was actually found guilty, as a whole, of fraud; and as head of that party, Rajoy's position was also critically undermined.

If evidence against Gómez does come to light, then of course Sánchez's position will become untenable. But as things stand, he is not in the same position as Rajoy was in July 2017. Next Tuesday won't exactly be a fantastic day for Spanish democracy, but neither will it be 'black'.

Este contenido es exclusivo para suscriptores

Top 50

Esta funcionalidad es exclusiva para registrados.

Reporta un error en esta noticia