This Thursday, the coalition government went from once again on the brink to a grandiose celebration of a vital parliamentary victory to consolidate Pedro Sánchez’s Parliament. As negotiations raced against the clock to balance the numbers on a key tax reform for budgets, the national court’s declaration of the leader of the “Koldo case” reached Congress as a political bombshell. Businessman Víctor Aldama, imprisoned for corruption, accused the leadership of the PSOE and senior officials of the Executive of collecting black money. Alberto Núñez Feijóo therefore came out to solemnly request the support of PSOE members for a motion of censure. Barely an hour later, all these partners seamlessly supported the Sánchez government.
“I would like to thank the parliamentary groups for their efforts in negotiating this very important tax reform to have strong public services,” celebrated the president in front of the press at the exit of the hemicycle, where many socialist deputies l ‘welcomed with applause. Previously, the entire PSOE bench gave a warm ovation to María Jesús Montero, the first vice president and Minister of Finance who led these conversations and who manages to achieve the next goal of moving forward with the general state budgets.
The plenary vote on the tax package culminated at that time with another real stress test successfully passed by Pedro Sánchez and his government. Because after having succeeded in obtaining the most heterogeneous investiture majority imaginable just a year ago and having crossed the threshold of the application of the amnesty law, the PSOE and Sumar find themselves this week confronted with their real legislative touchstone: bringing together the partners of the left, the right, nationalists and separatists. in the tax policy that the Executive will deploy.
All the sources consulted among the parliamentary groups which support the Government agree that a failure of Thursday’s vote would have pushed Parliament into an impasse. And moving it forward, with 178 yes and 171 no, now leads to an acceleration of the general state budgets with a negotiation that seems less twisted.
Feijóo implores your support
Aldama’s statement before the judge was one of the most anticipated steps of the PP. Those of Feijóo have designed an opposition strategy which, among other things, consists of delegitimizing the origin of Sánchez’s arrival at Moncloa: the fight against corruption. The president presented a motion of censure in 2018 following the judgment condemning Mariano Rajoy’s PP for profiting from the Gürtel plot.
The outbreak of the “Koldo affair” gave the PP the necessary ammunition not only to attack the PSOE, but also to influence the weak parliamentary majority on which the current coalition government is based. Almost since the start of Sánchez’s third term, late last year, Feijóo has tempted the president’s parliamentary allies with laws or motions to break the inauguration logjam.
Sometimes it worked. But never in the capital votes, those which could have overthrown the government. This is why the PP ended up publicly criticizing them, notably Junts and the PNV. After the elections of June 23, 2023, Feijóo dreamed of the support of the Catalan and/or Basque right for his inauguration. This failed, and since then the level of confrontation with them has increased. The parliamentary spokespersons of the PP and PNV, Miguel Tellado and Aitor Esteban, usually report on their social networks about their terrible relationship.
This Thursday, in time for the midday news, Feijóo appeared before the cameras in one of the rooms of the noble Congress building, the Palace where the plenary hall is located. Another “declaration” without questions from the opposition leader in which he implored the rest of the parliamentary groups to appoint him president of the government shortly before the regrouping of the investiture bloc.
“I do not have the votes to change the government, but if one of the partners wants to put an end to it, they must know that I am available to open a new stage,” Feijóo emphasized in his statement. The leader of the PP did not mention the “motion of censure”, but it was not necessary.
Feijóo accused Sánchez of having “engaged” in “political, economic and moral corruption.” “We are faced with the ‘Sanchez case’ and it is time to act,” he added. “The government stinks of corruption,” he said. The opposition leader spoke of “bribes, cash commissions, companies benefiting in exchange for money”, the “Venezuelan vice president on Spanish soil”, “the president’s wife”, and attributed the “silence” to members of the government. in particular the vice-presidents María Jesús Montero, Yolanda Díaz and Teresa Ribera.
He had specific words about the next vice-president of the European Commission. Far from reducing the pressure on Ribera in Brussels, he asked her to “withdraw her candidacy for the European Union because it would taint her”, after Aldama said he had also met her.
Feijóo acknowledged that at present no member of the government or the PSOE is accused. “It is justice which will determine the degree of corruption” of the Executive, he conceded. “But we Spaniards are not going to endure this agony for long,” he concluded.
The leader of the PP wanted to put a mirror in front of the Sánchez of 2018 and paraphrased his speech in the motion of censure against Rajoy. “What anyone with a modicum of decency would do is resign, leave and leave the Spanish people in peace,” he said, explaining: “I’m not saying it, he said it himself- even”.
Essential to overthrowing Rajoy was the help of the PNV, which went from supporting that year’s budget to supporting the motion in just a few days. A scenario which, at the national headquarters of the PP, rue Génova in Madrid, considers plausible that it could be repeated. “Why are partners protecting him?” he asked.
Shortly after, its secretary general, Cuca Gamarra, challenged the partners again: “They have the ball in their court, let them speak”. But Feijóo’s proposal fell on deaf ears. The majority groups of the nomination did not respond to the leader of the PP. Neither “yes” nor “no”. Just silence.
Pedro Sánchez answered questions from the press. By leaving Congress, and questioned by this motion of censure slipped by Feijóo, the president wanted to show his respect to the parliamentary groups and even encouraged the PP to take the plunge. “The motion is a constitutional instrument, therefore with the greatest respect, the parliamentary groups are free and autonomous. It would even be a good opportunity for Feijóo to propose an alternative which is not known, because parliamentary weakness belongs to those who are not capable of gathering majorities”, he declared after describing the accusations as Aldama of “invented” and just before getting into the presidential car with the parliamentary majority which supports him in the government more linked than ever.
