from Borrell’s plan to the “Ábalos case”

The investiture of Salvador Illa as president of the Generalitat was a great political success for the PSOE, but it also shook the government’s political alliances. ERC will soon adopt the bill: the approval of the Catalonia economic agreement that almost all parties reject barons of the PSOE and this led him to revolt, even Joseph Borrell.

Before the summer, the Prime Minister left the pact for justice on track with the appointment of the new CGPJ (which failed to break the tie to elect the president who will decide the new majority). But he left one task unfinished: his plan for “democratic regeneration” for put an end to “pseudo-media” that spread “hoaxes”.

Sánchez launched the project following the publication of information about his wife, Begoña Gómez, which the judge is investigating. Juan Carlos Peinadowhich Moncloa is now trying to remove from the case with two complaints (filed by Sánchez and his wife).

But now another headache has been added: the internal audit of the Ministry of Transport indicates the involvement of the former minister and former organization secretary of the PSOE José Luis Ábalos in the irregular contracts of the Koldo case during the pandemic.

1. This is already the “Ábalos case”

The internal audit presented to the Senate on Friday by the Minister of Transport, Oscar Bridgedid the Koldo case becomes the Abalos caseThe corruption case that most shook the PSOE last year is no longer the case of a correveidile, the former ministerial advisor Koldo García.

The report states that former minister José Luis Ábalos gave in to the demands of the company for which Koldo acted as a commissioner, doubling, in just 38 minutes, the company’s order from 4 to 8 million masks. The contract then increased from 10 to 20 million euros.

And then, the state-owned company Adif awarded the same group another contract for 5 million masks, even though it had missed all delivery deadlines and its offer was the most expensive of the four available.

The audit also shows that the commissioner Víctor de Aldama had a “special pass” to access the ministry, where he negotiated alone with Ábalos and Koldo. All this raises the possibility that The Supreme Court takes up the case and requests the request for prosecution against Ábaloswhich is already threatening to withdraw its support for the government during the votes in Congress.

2. The Canary Islands are overflowing

During his meeting on Friday with the President of the Canary Islands Fernando Clavijo, Pedro Sánchez promised to reach, within 15 days, a consensus with the PP on the reform of the immigration law, in order to guarantee the mechanism for distributing immigrant minors among the different autonomous communities.

Since then, the pressure from the various ministers who accuse the PP of lack of “humanity” for refusing to welcome men who come to Spain in search of a better future.

The same strategy that the PSOE applied last July, when the attempt at negotiation was limited to sending several WhatsApp messages from Minister Ángel Víctor Torres. The result of this strategy was that the PP, Vox and Junts overturned the reform in Congress.

As the Minister of Social Protection of the Canary Islands, Candelaria Delgado, recently revealed in an interview with EL ESPAÑOL, the agreement was not possible because the government did not guarantee the necessary funds to the CCAA to welcome these immigrants.

Since last January, they have arrived in the Canary Islands more than 22,300 irregular immigrants by sea, which represents an increase of 126.1% compared to last year. But the problem also extends to the Balearic Islands, which have already received more undocumented migrants than in the whole of last year, and to the autonomous city of Ceuta.

The diplomatic tour that President Pedro Sänchez plans to undertake after Tuesday’s Council of Ministers aims to conclude agreements with Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia to contain the migratory avalanche.

3. An equal CGPJ

The new General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) is in the process of appointing the new president. The agreement is expected to be reached before September 5, when King Felipe VI will preside over the solemn opening ceremony of the new judicial year.

The 10 councilors appointed on the proposal of the PSOE demand that the new president be a woman. Specifically, the judge of the Supreme Court Pilar TesoFor their part, the 10 advisers proposed by the PP defend Pablo Lucas, judge of the Supreme Court in charge of the judicial control of the National Intelligence Center (CNI).

It was also he who authorized the CNI to intervene with the software Pegasus the communications of the former president of the Generalitat Pere Aragonés in the investigation of the CDR. An action that led the pro-independence parties to demand (and obtain) the dismissal of the former director of the CNI, Paz Esteban.

The new president of the CGPJ will break the current ten-way tie in this constitutional body. However, this does not mean that one majority will prevail over the other, since the new CGPJ will need a qualified majority, therefore a broad consensus, to agree on vacant appointments such as those of the chamber presidents of the Supreme Court, the High Courts of Justice (TSJ), the National Court and the Provincial Courts.

4. Borrell and the “barons”

The future of the legislative body may depend on Pedro Sánchez’s ability to fulfill one of the commitments he made with ERC: the economic agreement (vice-president María Jesús Montero does not call it that) so that the Generalitat can collect all the taxes it pays in Catalonia.

But this measure not only has the rejection of almost all the regional barons of the PSOE (from Adrián Barbón to Emiliano García-Page and Miguel Ángel Gallardo), but also of several partners of the investiture pact, such as Compromís and Coalificación Canaria.

The former socialist minister and still EU high representative Josep Borrell joined the rebellion, who corrected the finance minister on Friday and was direct: “I don’t want to come across as a liar, what happened in Catalonia is called a concert.”

Today, it is unlikely that the seven deputies of the Junts will approve the general state budgets for 2025. It is in their hands. But Sánchez seems determined, if necessary, to extend those of 2023 again to continue in Moncloa.

5. The “Begoña case”

Judge Juan Carlos Peinado continues the investigation into the professional activities of Begoña Gómez and has summoned representatives of two of the entities that financed the president of the Chair of Women of the Government before the University to testify this Monday, as witnesses: Complutense and Reale Seguros, the deputy director of the La Caixa Foundation.

On Friday and Saturday, UCO agents searched, at the request of Judge Peinado, the house and offices of Carlos Barrabés (linked to Begoña Gómez’s Master at Complutense) in a separate document in which they investigate whether he obtained favorable treatment in public contracts awarded to his companies.

Although in his “letter to citizens” Pedro Sánchez assured that he and Begoña were willing to collaborate with justice, both took advantage of their right not to testify when they were summoned before Judge Peinado.

On August 2, Begoña Gómez’s defense filed a complaint against the magistrate for the alleged crimes of continued prevarication and revelation of secrets, This could serve to distance the instructor from the cause.

6. Democratic “regeneration”

President Pedro Sánchez has decided to postpone the measures of his “democratic regeneration” plan announced until after the summer, in order to reach an agreement with his partners, which will not be easy.

In his appearance before Congress on July 17, he provided few details, beyond the intention to adapt the new European regulation on media, which requires companies in this sector to be more transparent with their shareholders and with the public funds they receive in the form of institutional advertising.

Previously, Sánchez had also announced that he wanted to reform the laws on the right to honor and rectification. The President of the Government explained, after his five-day retreat caused by his wife’s accusation, that the intention of all these measures is to stop the “mud machine” and the “pseudomedia” that publish “hoaxes.”

Some government partners are now also calling for measures to combat “hate crimes” and end anonymity on social media.

7. Puigdemont without amnesty

Since it came into force on June 11, more than a hundred people have already benefited from the amnesty law. Nearly half of them are agents reported for the accusations of Day 1-O and during other demonstrations. The rest are independence leaders and activists.

But Carles Puigdemont is still in the dark of Waterloo, which makes the government particularly nervous. The leader of Junts has already escaped the accusation of terrorism, because the judge of the National Court Manuel García-Castellón was forced to archive (due to formal defects in one of the extensions) the case of the Democratic tsunami.

But the accusation of treason for the Russian plot in the trial still haunts Puigdemont, who is being investigated by Judge Joaquín Aguirre as part of the Volkhov caseand that of embezzlement for the expenses of 1-O, since the doctrine of the Supreme Court determines that amnesty cannot be applied to this crime.

The EU Court of Justice will likely have the final say, which could delay the process by at least six months.

Furthermore, the PP has already confirmed that it will appeal the amnesty law before the Constitutional Court and will request the recusal of three of its judges (the president, Candido Count Pumpidothe former minister Juan Carlos Campo and the former general director of Moncloa Laura Diez) for his links with the PSOE.

It will not be easy to advance the challenge, which will have to be resolved by the plenary session of the TC itself, so the PP risks that a judgment in favor of the constitutionality of the amnesty law will weaken the damaging questions that other instances (such as the Court of Auditors) plan to present against the pardon measure before the CJEU.