The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, said on Wednesday that he would withdraw from his public duties “for a few days” to decide whether he wants to continue leading the government after a court launched a corporate corruption investigation into his private businesses. wife.
Sánchez, who last year won another term for his Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) as leader of a minority coalition government, said he would announce his decision on Monday, April 29.
“I need to pause and think,” he wrote in a letter shared on his X account. “At this point I have to ask myself: is it worth it? “Honestly, I don’t know… whether I should continue to lead the government or give up this honor.”
“I will cancel my public agenda for a few days to reflect and decide which path to take.”
The shock announcement came after a Spanish court said on Wednesday it was launching a preliminary investigation into allegations of influence peddling and corruption leveled at Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez.
The court investigating Gómez did not provide further details as the case is sealed and in its early stages, saying only that it followed a complaint filed by the anti-corruption campaign group Clean Hands, whose leader has links to the extreme right.
Clean Hands has accused Gómez of receiving favors from the airline Air Europa and its Spanish holding company Globalia during her time as director of an African research center at the IE business school in Madrid until 2022, according to a seven-page document published by the radio station Cadena Ser on its website.
IE said in a statement that it had never received any financial support from Globalia or its entities. Globalia did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on Wednesday.
Sánchez said the severity of the attacks against him and his wife deserved a measured response. He said his wife had done nothing wrong and would cooperate with the investigation and defend her innocence. Gomez has not commented.
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In the letter, Sánchez also targeted opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, of the Popular Party (PP), and Santiago Abascal, of the far-right Vox party, saying they had “collaborated” with those who circulated accusations against his wife.
Feijoo said Sánchez was seeking to blame opposition parties for the judges’ activities. “The prime minister has a judicial problem. He is running away from his responsibilities. What he should have done is explain himself. If you have nothing to fear, why not? “If his wife has nothing to fear, she should go to court and make her innocence clear,” he said.
Several members of Sánchez’s cabinet were seen arriving at his residence on Wednesday night.
His ministers have backed him, and Yolanda Díaz, labor minister and leader of Sumar, the government’s left-wing coalition partner, said Sánchez had their “full support.”
“The right-wing offensive cannot have its way,” he wrote in X. “We must defend democracy, the progressive bloc and the legitimacy of the coalition government that has improved people’s lives so much.”
The announcement is in line with Sánchez’s idea of keeping the Spanish alert. The 52-year-old, known as “El Guapo,” is a known risk-taker who has frequently defied the odds to secure or maintain power.
Last year, he called early elections after his party, the PSOE, performed poorly in regional elections. After the PP won the most seats but fell short of a majority in July’s national election, it forged a controversial deal with smaller regional parties to govern that included an amnesty for Catalans who participated in a 2017 independence bid. .
That decision has further soured an already polarized political atmosphere and led to repeated attacks on him and his party not only from opposition leaders but also from the judiciary.
When he announced the early elections, Sánchez said there were very few members of his inner circle, surprising most. On Wednesday, Sánchez had only told his family and close friends and had drafted the letter himself without consulting his assistants, sources told Reuters.
If Sánchez were to resign, Parliament could elect another prime minister, but given its fractured nature it seemed unlikely that anyone would prevail, said Lluís Orriols, a political science professor at Madrid’s Carlos III University. Another general election would most likely be held, Orriols said.
Abascal, the leader of Vox, said in response to Sánchez’s letter that Sánchez should have “shown up in the hot seat a long time ago” over the Catalan separatist amnesty deal.
“We don’t know if this is another of his propaganda maneuvers to present himself as a poor victim,” he said.
Some on the street were also skeptical, saying the threat to resign seemed like a ploy by Sánchez.
“I think it’s a way to draw attention and get pressure to react, but the reality is that he’s not going to resign,” said Cristina, 24, a consultant in Madrid, without wanting to give a second name.
Corruption scandals have dogged politics in the Iberian Peninsula in recent years.
Sánchez himself took power after successfully leading a no-confidence motion in 2018 against the PP’s Mariano Rajoy after a court found party officials were guilty of operating a slush fund.
In neighboring Portugal, socialist Antonio Costa resigned last year amid accusations of corruption in hydrogen and lithium projects involving his government.
Sánchez was scheduled to open the socialist campaign on Thursday for the regional elections in Catalonia, where his party seeks to seize power from the separatist parties that have led the region since 2015.
Spanish Socialists are expected to be the strongest force in a weakened group of Socialists and Democrats in June’s European Parliament elections.