At first it was the adjective. Santiago Abascal, president of Vox, went up to the Congress rostrum and lit the spark: "Illegitimate government." January 7, 2020.
It was a difficult investiture. The deputy from Teruel Existe, Tomás Guitarte, arrived escorted to Congress as a result of the threats received upon learning that his vote would be in favor of Pedro Sánchez. The deputy of United We Can Aina Vidal, seriously ill, went to the chamber to avoid last minute surprises. Esquerra Republicana, whose vote was decisive, was under enormous pressure. The day before the start of the investiture session, the Central Electoral Board, with a great sense of opportunity, withdrew the status of deputy of the Parliament to Joaquim Torra, president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, with the consequent rise in tension. ERC was described as “traitorous” by the other pro-independence parties and by the feverish digital tide. That's how it all started, soon three years ago.
First it was the adjective and then came the epidemic. Two months later, on March 14, 2020, the first coalition government in Spain since the Second Republic decreed a state of alarm with very strict measures to confine 47 million people in order to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus and the consequent collapse of the health system. Something like that was never seen. The first opposition party was faced with a serious dilemma: support the government or harass it in this difficult circumstance.
At first it was the adjective and the Popular Party decided to attack, convinced that the Government would irretrievably collapse at the end of the year due to the serious damage that the confinement of the population in their homes was going to cause in the economy. The economic collapse, the disagreements within the PSOE-UP coalition and the contradictions within the heterogeneous parliamentary majority would lead to the calling of new elections or the formation of a national unity government, for which prominent media outlets advocated. .
At first it was the adjective, but the Government managed to approve its first budgets, on December 3, 2020, with the support of ERC and Bildu and all the other investiture parties. The economy resisted more than expected, thanks to the temporary employment regulation files and the first decisions of the European Commission, tending to relax the austerity policy. The Popular Party's antennas were failing in Brussels. Negotiations would soon begin to articulate a large recovery fund, especially oriented to the countries of southern Europe, with direct indebtedness from the European Commission. Germany feared the bankruptcy of the single market. At first it was the adjective, but then the first European verb came: to negotiate.
At first it was the adjective and then came another Spanish verb: empurar. Growing fatigue due to mobility restrictions, pain for the deceased, complaints in the courts for the chaotic management of nursing homes, especially in the Community of Madrid. An unbreathable political environment. The word dictatorship begins to circulate. The former magistrate of the Constitutional Court Manuel Aragón Reyes, a key figure in the ruling on the Statute, publishes an article in the newspaper El País in which he accuses the President of the Government of Caesarism, of exceeding the state of alarm and of promoting a "dictatorship constitutional". Former State Attorney General Consuelo Madrigal expresses herself along the same lines in El Mundo. (Months later, the TC will declare the two states of alarm unconstitutional). Vox is trying to organize a general mobilization against the Government at the end of May, which has no further path given the success of the European negotiation of recovery funds.
In September, the lieutenant prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Luis Navajas, publicly denounced that two relevant career colleagues have pressured him to change the report of the Prosecutor's Office on the complaints against the Government that are accumulating in the courts. The report rules out that the Prime Minister and ministers should be held accountable for the epidemic. At the time of making these statements, Mr. Navajas is six days away from retirement. He feels free.
The home of Pablo Iglesias and Irene Montero is under siege for months. The verb is still empurar. The judicial investigations into Podemos continue without pause. Twenty instructions, one after another, an unprecedented phenomenon in Spain. No prosecution for corruption to date. Two leaders disqualified – Isabel Serra and Alberto Rodríguez – for confronting the police in separate demonstrations. Rodríguez's amparo appeal before the TC to try to recover the seat has been admitted for processing, without haste. Without the constitutional rush of a few days ago.
Thanks to vaccinations, the epidemic subsides and immediately afterward the war in Ukraine begins. More problems for the economy: now inflation is galloping. The possibility of a recession is enthusiastically welcomed in Spain by those who dream of overthrowing the surviving government, which in three years has managed to pass three budgets and 192 laws and decrees. The recession does not arrive on schedule. Autumn has been mild and today we will have a warm Christmas. General Invierno is not going to cut off our gas.
These notes serve to better understand the scandal of December 2022. At first it was an adjective.
