Sánchez rejects 'widespread corruption' claim, dares Junts to back a no-confidence vote

Sánchez speaks: 'No widespread corruption'

The prime minister used a parliamentary session he himself requested to push back against what he called a false impression of systemic graft.

“Certain political and media actors are trying to mix everything up, equate things and thus confuse people, creating a feeling of widespread corruption that, I tell you, ladies and gentlemen deputies, does not exist.”

He acknowledged a "flagrant and serious case of corruption" involving his former transport minister, José Luis Ábalos, but insisted he "never knew of any of these practices and would not have tolerated them." The Socialist leader said his party had expelled the accused, handed over all information to the courts and would push through new anti‑corruption legislation this summer.

The Ábalos sentencing and party fallout

Ábalos was sentenced this week to more than 24 years in prison for taking commissions on public contracts for masks and other medical supplies during the pandemic. The same investigation has since widened to Santos Cerdán, a former PSOE organisational chief described as another right‑hand man of Sánchez, and to party activist Leire Díez, who allegedly interfered with Guardia Civil inquiries.

Sánchez told deputies the PSOE does not finance itself illegally and that those who abused their position would face the courts. "When these cases were discovered, we did not step aside, we stepped forward," he said.

Family investigations and Sánchez's defense

Two days before the Ábalos conviction, a Madrid judge barred Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez, from leaving Spain and ordered her to surrender her passport, citing a flight risk. Gómez is under investigation for influence peddling. The prime minister called that measure "excessive," noting that both the public prosecutor and police reports had found no basis for charges. His brother David Sánchez is also awaiting trial for influence peddling, a case the prosecution has likewise declined to pursue. Sánchez insisted these proceedings are "built on unfounded accusations" and driven by far‑right‑linked campaigns to weaken his government.

Opposition demands elections, censure motion floated

Conservative PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo used the debate to demand Sánchez dissolve parliament and call a snap election.

“The only thing expected of you in this parliament is to dissolve it. Dissolve the chambers and let us vote.”

Vox leader Santiago Abascal joined the call.

“Do you not feel any shame?”

Feijóo went further, urging the parties that propped up Sánchez's minority government to back a no‑confidence motion immediately, saying he would support it "today." None of those parties, however, are willing to be seen aligning with the far‑right Vox, without whom the motion cannot pass.

Junts caught between pressure and political calculus

The Catalan pro‑independence party Junts, which enabled Sánchez's investiture, suggested a middle path: that the prime minister resign and let parliament choose a new head of government without an election. Sánchez dismissed the idea sharply.

“Don't make indefensible proposals just for show. If you want to file a motion of censure with the Popular Party and Vox, then file it, but don't resort to subterfuges.”

In Spain's constructive no‑confidence system, a successful motion would install the proposer as prime minister, not trigger automatic elections, a dynamic that makes Junts's position especially awkward.