Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced Wednesday to everyone’s surprise that he was “considering” a resignation after the opening of an investigation against his wife for influence peddling and corruption, the result according to him of a destabilization campaign orchestrated by the right-wing opposition. “I need to stop and think” in order to decide “if I should continue to be at the head of the government or if I should renounce this honor,” wrote the socialist leader in a letter published on the network . social
The head of the Spanish government, in power since 2018, specified that he would announce his decision on Monday to the press and that he would suspend his activities until then. This preliminary investigation, placed under the seal of “investigation secrecy”, targets his wife Begoña Gómez. It was opened on April 16 after a complaint from the “Manos limpias” (Clean Hands) association, the Madrid Superior Court of Justice announced on Wednesday. This collective, at the origin of several legal proceedings in recent years, is considered close to the extreme right.
In his letter, Pedro Sánchez denounces a complaint based on “non-existent” facts and a campaign of “harassment” against his wife, led by “ultraconservative” media and supported, according to him, by the right-wing and extreme opposition. . to the right. “I am aware of the fact that they are filing a complaint against Begoña, not because she did something illegal, because they know that is not true, but because she is my wife.”
Air Europa rescue plan
According to the online media El Confidencial, which revealed the information, this investigation concerns in particular the links established by Begoña Gómez with the tourism group Globalia, owner of the airline Air Europa, at the time when the latter was in talks with the government to obtain public aid during the Covid pandemic. At the time, Begoña Gomez headed IE Africa Center, a foundation linked to Madrid’s IE University business school, a position she left in 2022.
However, IE Africa Center had “signed a sponsorship agreement with Globalia in 2020”, writes El Confidencial, according to which Begoña Gomez would have participated in “a private meeting with its CEO Javier Hidalgo at the time when Globalia was negotiating its rescue plan” . This plan allowed Air Europa to receive, in November 2020, 475 million euros, issued from a 10 billion fund intended to support strategic companies in difficulty due to the health crisis. The Spanish company was the first company to benefit from this fund. But dozens of others followed, including several air carriers (Iberia, Vueling, Volotea, etc.).
“Trumpist practices”
After the publication of Pedro Sánchez’s letter, the Popular Party (PP, right), the main opposition party, called on the Prime Minister to “come forward urgently to give a serious explanation on the scandals surrounding his party, his government and his company”, “instead of disappearing for five days”. Mr. Sánchez “is banking on victimization and pity rather than responsibility and clarity”, insisted the conservative party, suggesting that his threat of resignation could be the result of a political poker move.
Those close to the Prime Minister, on the other hand, stepped up to defend him, like the number three in the government Teresa Ribera. “Not everything is possible in politics”: “neither he (Pedro Sánchez) nor his family deserve this, nor does Spain,” she wrote on X. Earlier today, the issue two of the government, Maria Jesus Montero, had declared the “Trumpist practices” of the PP, which she accused of “using a false accusation of an extreme right organization to defame and launch slander” against the Prime Minister.
Founded in 1995, the Manos limpias collective, at the origin of the investigation against Begoña Gómez, is considered close to the extreme right due to the personality of its founder Miguel Bernad, former leader of the Frente Nacional party, dissolved in 1993. Accused of being involved in an extortion network, the latter was sentenced to four years in prison in July 2021, but was finally acquitted on appeal last month, for lack of evidence according to the court.