The obligatory adjustment made by Pedro Sánchez in the Council of Ministers due to the departure of Teresa Ribera could not have been more surgical. The replacement for the third vice-president and Minister of Ecological Transition is her right-hand woman, the current Secretary of State for Energy, Sara Aagesen. And the president hasn’t made any additional changes.
The political moral that Moncloa tries to convey is a message of confidence and continuity on the part of the head of the Executive towards a coalition government born just a year ago and which has just rebuilt fundamental parliamentary support to lead to well the general budgets of the State. An apparent stability threatened, however, by legal problems after the declaration of the alleged ringleader of the Koldo affair and the seat of the state attorney general.
The feeling that runs through the PSOE these days is, in fact, that of a certain anxiety in the middle of the countdown to the Federal Congress that the party will hold this weekend in Seville. The event was conceived at the time as a style celebration around the leadership of Pedro Sánchez and also as a demonstration of unity within a leading government party for European social democracy. But the events of recent weeks have lowered expectations for the conclave in every way.
The DANA tragedy in Valencia has already changed the plans of the congress organizing committee, which deactivated the most festive part of the event conceived at the time as a sign of respect for the victims. But troubled waters will also arise with some proper nouns. The last, that of the leader of the Madrid Socialists (PSM) Juan Lobato, cited as a witness in the case that keeps the state attorney general indicted for allegedly revealing secrets in the case of tax fraud involving Isabel Díaz’s partner Ayuso. And Lobato will have to testify next Friday, the same day the PSOE congress begins.
That of the PSM leader will probably be the most important inland waterway by which the socialists will reach Seville. Because Lobato will testify before the Supreme Court summoned by Judge Ángel Hurtado to explain the information published this Monday by the newspaper ABC, according to which he left messages with other members of the PSOE at a notary about the alleged leak of emails exchanged between the prosecution and the lawyer of Alberto González Amador, in his case of double taxation fraud. As this newspaper announces, that of the Madrid socialist is one of the baronies questioned by Ferraz, where names of replacements are being considered, among which the current Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Service, Óscar López, stands out.
We are also trying to digest within the party the barrage of accusations launched in court by the businessman accused of being the real leader of the corruption plot born within the Ministry of Transport and who accused the former Minister José Luis Ábalos and his right-hand man, advisor Koldo García. In this statement, Víctor Aldama named the secretary of the Socialist Organization, Santos Cerdán, as recipient of an envelope of 15,000 euros in cash, and the chief of staff of María Jesús Montero, Carlos Moreno, as also recipient of 25 000 additional euros. , in addition to shooting against ministers like Teresa Ribera – replaced this Monday – or Ángel Víctor Torres.
The reaction of the PSOE and the President of the Government meant in this case a closing of ranks with the colleagues accused without proof by Aldama. “The statements of an alleged criminal who is in prison deserve the credit they get: none. My government is a clean government. And for the PSOE and myself, everything is false because their defense strategy is lies. He does it to divert attention, sow doubt and conceal the alleged cases of corruption with which he is accused,” Pedro Sánchez told Congress last Thursday, just hours after the businessman’s statement.
Unusual parliamentary stability
Everyone takes it for granted in the party that among the changes that Sánchez will bring to the PSOE during the Seville congress, there will be neither the “number two” nor the “number three” of Ferraz, María Jesús Montero and Santos Cerdán , respectively, since the opposite would be interpreted as a sign of credibility and reliability of a procedural strategy of Aldama of which no one knows very well how far it can go.
These two open fronts, both the situation of the state attorney general and the judicial future of the Koldo affair, threaten to exhaust the government and serve as inexhaustible ammunition for the opposition in the middle of a parliamentary oasis of the ‘executive. Because the unrest before the courts contrasts with a stability in Congress that is almost unprecedented since the start of the legislature.
After last week’s agreement on the tax reform of the Ministry of Finance, all of Pedro Sánchez’s parliamentary partners agree that the approval of the General State Budget at the beginning of 2025 is more than plausible. If it is carried out, the Executive would complement the real legislature. step that would bring real stability to the current mandate until 2027. With an eye, of course, outside Congress, where the government is trying to emerge alive from several ambushes. that Moncloa worries much more than the parliamentary opposition.
