“He is very touched, very much,” his early faithful say. The President of the Government, they warn, can do anything, and he has more than demonstrated this throughout his entire intense political career since he took over the reins of the PSOE almost ten years ago. But the fact that they attack his wife, his daughters or his family, they warn, is something that surpasses him. An impassable red line. After all, they argue, he is a human being. Although his capacity for resistance has covered him all these years with an impenetrable armor. Until this Wednesday.
Pedro Sánchez announced on Wednesday afternoon, in a public letter to citizens, that he is canceling his entire agenda until next Monday, to open a period of reflection in which to decide if “all this is worth it.” “If I should continue leading the Government or give up this high honor,” he acknowledged for the first time.
The surprising announcement by the Chief Executive is a consequence, as he explains in the letter, of the “operation of harassment and demolition” that he denounces that his wife, Begoña Gómez, is suffering, and of which he makes Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago “necessary collaborators.” Abascal, leaders of the Popular Party and Vox, to try to overthrow him. This Wednesday it was learned that an investigative court in Madrid opened preliminary proceedings against the president's wife, after the complaint filed by the “extreme right-wing organization” Clean Hands for the alleged crimes of influence peddling and corruption in business.
Sánchez's body language is usually clear and, once the news of the judicial proceedings opened against his wife was revealed, the president appeared early in the morning visibly serious and upset at the Government control session in Congress.
After the usual dialectical duel with Feijóo, in which Sánchez celebrated the results of the elections in Euskadi last Sunday – “we beat them 9 to 1,” he replied to the PP leader –, the ERC spokesperson, Gabriel Rufián, launched a question that hit the target: “Do you believe in justice?”
“On a day like today, and after the news I have learned, despite everything, I continue to believe in the justice of my country,” said Sánchez. “He is feeling the dirty war firsthand, so I understand him perfectly,” Rufián concluded.
The president left the chamber just as angry as he entered, while numerous members of the Government and the PSOE leadership came out in a rush to condemn “one more false complaint” against Begoña Gómez, and criticize the PP's “defamation” strategy to do harm. to Sanchez. But the PP redoubled its offensive, and demanded explanations from Sánchez not only in the case of alleged corruption of which they accuse his wife, but also expanded the shadow of suspicion against the president's father-in-law and brother.
Sánchez, however, later maintained his planned work agenda, with new telephone conversations with the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority and with the president of the United Arab Emirates, within his round of contacts to promote the recognition of the Palestinian State before the next July. But late in the afternoon, the president dropped the bomb, in the form of a public letter to the citizens, which caused an immediate political earthquake, due to the extent to which he contemplated his resignation.
“I'm not naive. I am aware that they are denouncing Begoña not because she has done something illegal, they know there is no case, but because she is my wife,” Sánchez points out in his letter. In which he once again wields “the mud machine” that Umberto Eco spoke about: “Trying to dehumanize and delegitimize the political adversary through complaints that are as scandalous as they are false.”
“At this point, the question I legitimately ask myself is: is all this worth it? Sincerely I dont know. This attack is unprecedented, it is so serious and so gross that I need to stop and reflect with my wife. Many times we forget that behind politicians there are people. And I, I am not ashamed to say it, am a man deeply in love with my wife, who lives helplessly with the mud that is spread on her day in and day out,” he admits.
“I need to stop and reflect. I urgently need to answer the question of whether it is worth it, despite the mud into which the right and the extreme right try to turn politics. Whether I should continue at the head of the Government or resign from this high honor. Despite the caricature that the right and the extreme right in politics and the media have tried to make of me, I have never been attached to the position. Yes, I have it in duty, political commitment and public service,” says Sánchez. And after announcing that he is canceling his public agenda – to begin with, his presence today at the start of the PSC electoral campaign in Sabadell – to “be able to reflect and decide which path to take”, he points out that next Monday he will appear to announce his decision.
Until this Wednesday, his followers categorically ruled out that Sánchez was considering, as has been speculated in political circles for some time, trying to make the leap to the presidency of the European Council after the European elections in June. “Pedro will only leave when they vote him out at the polls,” his intimates argued.
Everyone in Moncloa is waiting for his decision. Now early elections cannot be called because a year has not yet passed since the last ones. If Sánchez resigns, the Government would remain in office and the King would have to start a round of consultations and designate a new candidate for an investiture. There is no set calendar, but if an investiture debate is held and the candidate does not collect enough support, a two-month timer would be set in motion that would lead to the polls. He could also submit to a trust issue.
