If, as its critics say, Pedro Sanchez he is only interested in power and clings to it like a straw, which as a statement is still nonsense when there is more than a year and a half left in the legislature, he seems to be knowing his gall more than his honey, because his experience at the head of the Government is being more than eventful. The legislature began with a pandemic that, in addition to a long confinement, brought an economic, social and emotional crisis. When it seemed that the horizon was clearing and with the help of European funds the economy would rebound unstoppably, Putin invaded Ukraine and prices, which had already started to rise earlier, soared to extremes not seen in decades. Sánchez shares that with his European colleagues and with the United States.
But he has had problems of his own. To name a few, the transportation strike to which the Government did not know how to respond because it was convened by a minority association, but which collapsed the delivery of goods, for example, to supermarkets, generating a feeling of lack of supplies and great social unrest. Added to that was Sánchez’s change of position on the Saharawhich turned the entire parliamentary arch against him, starting with his government partners and his allies, and now the ‘Catalangate’. This history of espionage to the leaders of the independence movement supposes a democratic scandal and calls into question the continuity of the legislature. Unless the Executive is capable of giving clear and convincing explanations of who, with or without judicial consent, hacked the phones of more than 60 personalities and assigns responsibilities if any, as Minister Bolaños has promised.
Related news
Not only do the independence leaders need these explanations, they are required by the citizenry as a whole, who demand guarantees that the rules of the rule of law are respected. Of course, either because of the scant democratic culture or because of the ideological contamination of the extreme right, many people do not see badly this espionage of those who from the right were described as coup plotters for their attempt to declare the independence of Catalonia. It is not, therefore, a majority requirement, but the Government should not be confused by it. Giving explanations and clarifying responsibilities will help broaden that democratic consciousness and curb the speeches of those who believe that anything goes in the political battle.
The context doesn’t help either. Because all this happens with the PP of feijoo on the rise and while the coalition with United We Can It makes water day in and day out. As much as Vice President Yolanda Díaz supports Sánchez against Ione Belarra, the image is one of government mess. And it also happens during the long wait for the EU to authorize the Spanish-Portuguese plan to lower the electricity bill, something that is urgent but that the community’s slowness is delaying. The great unknown now is knowing how Sánchez will come out of this. A politician who always seems to be on the edge of the precipice, but who, until now, always saves himself.