The Pedro Sánchez that La Vanguardia found in the Moncloa palace on June 24, when he gave us the first interview of a long list that he would do later, was a leader who had turned several degrees to his left. Five days had passed since the defeat of the PSOE in Andalusia and the President of the Government appeared to us with a vindictive speech, aligned with the common people and hard against the factual powers. “This progressive coalition government is hit hard because we are an uncomfortable government, since we do not forget who we govern for, we govern for the working middle class and for the most vulnerable. An economic right is hitting us with its political and media terminals, ”he declared then.
Since that day, President Sánchez has not abandoned this mantra and yesterday he developed it with greater theatricality in the debate on the state of the nation. The measures that he announced in Congress left no room for doubt. On the one hand, taxes on banking entities, large electricity, gas and oil companies, and on the other, free transport subscriptions and scholarships for students. The ABC of any self-respecting progressive government.
Someone could say that in desperate situations Sánchez's leftist vein swells and turns redder than normal, as happened in October 2016 when he was removed from his post as general secretary of the PSOE by refusing to facilitate the investiture of Mariano Rajoy. In a subsequent interview with Jordi Évole on his program Salvados, the audience discovered a resistant Sánchez who criticized “economic powers” that had influenced the media to prevent him from coming to an understanding with Podemos and who came to recognize that he had been wrong to name populist to the formation of Pablo Iglesias. His most radical speech served him to win the PSOE primaries against the odds and then gain access to the Government through a motion of censure. It is clear: Sánchez has put on his overalls again. If in 2016 he went to regain power, now it is to maintain it. And for this, there is nothing better than turning left. It is a manual that has always worked for him... At least, until now.
