Spanish PP calls for elections as 'judicial calvary' engulfs Sánchez government: 'They've been caught'
Spain's opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo says the government has been 'caught' and demands Pedro Sánchez call elections as a week of court appearances by his wife and a former prime minister begins.
A week of judicial reckoning
The Spanish government faces what the opposition Partido Popular (PP) is calling a "horrible week" (semana horribilis) of court dates. On Monday, Begoña Gómez, wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, appeared for a preliminary hearing before Judge Juan Carlos Peinado. On Tuesday, the director general of the Guardia Civil, Mercedes González, testifies before the Senate’s interior committee about her contacts with Leire Díez, a former PSOE operative known as the party’s "plumber." Wednesday and Thursday see the unprecedented testimony of former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as a charged defendant before the National High Court, over the financing of the Plus Ultra airline rescue and undeclared jewels valued at €1.3 million. On Friday, Attorney General Teresa Peramato appears in the Senate to explain meetings between Díez and the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
- Begoña Gómez appears for preliminary hearing before Judge Peinado.
- Mercedes González testifies at Senate interior committee.
- Former PM Zapatero begins two-day testimony at Audiencia Nacional.
- Second day of Zapatero's testimony.
- Attorney General Peramato appears before Senate justice committee.
PP seizes on ‘oceanic hypocrisy’
Speaking after the party’s steering committee, PP national spokesman Borja Sémper accused the Socialist government of "the greatest exercise of political hypocrisy we have seen in democratic Spain." He said that for years, a sector of the left "lectured from the pulpit on how to live, how to speak and how to behave" while now being exposed as corrupt. Sémper used the image of a rotten tree: "It’s not a rotten apple, it’s a sick tree from the root." He declared: "The wall is cracking. We are convinced that Spain is witnessing the end of an era."
The wall is cracking. We are convinced that Spain is witnessing the end of an era.
Leire Díez and the ‘plumbing’ affair
A 107-page report by the Guardia Civil’s central operative unit (UCO) revealed that the PSOE paid for six trips for Leire Díez between March and August 2024. She reportedly briefed Santos Cerdán, the party’s former organisation secretary, on her activities. The UCO also found that Díez had a draft of a law on the right of rectification from the Ministry of Justice, raising questions about how the party’s internal "plumbing" operation obtained sensitive legislation. Sémper asked: "What the hell was Leire doing with a draft from the Ministry of Justice?" He called it "objectively terrifying" that the party’s "sewer" could be acting as a consultative body for the ministry.
What the hell was Leire doing with a draft from the Ministry of Justice?
Call to accept reality and hold elections
The PP demanded that Sánchez "accept reality" and call early elections. "They’ve been caught, they’ve been discovered," Sémper said. He added that each week that passes "is one week less of Sanchismo." Meanwhile, PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo plans to appear on the entertainment show El Hormiguero on Wednesday to "enjoy" himself while, in the party’s words, the PSOE "suffers in the courts." The PP leadership sees the judicial pressure as a turning point that will eventually force the government’s collapse.
They’ve been caught, they’ve been discovered. Each week that passes is one week less of Sanchismo.
