Spanish PM considers quitting as corruption allegations against his wife emerge

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is contemplating resignation following a preliminary investigation launched by a judge against his wife, Begoña Gómez, over corruption allegations. As the leader of the Socialist party, Sánchez has decided to cancel his public duties temporarily and will unveil his decision regarding his political future on April 29.

In an extraordinary letter shared with the country, Sánchez expressed his doubts, stating, “At this point, the question I legitimately ask myself is: ‘Is it all worth it?’ I honestly don’t know.”

The judge, Juan Carlos Peinado, initiated the judicial proceedings against Begoña Gómez based on allegations that she received favors from private businesses that secured government tenders and received public funds for their projects. Shocked by the severity and unprecedented nature of this attack, Sánchez expressed his need to reflect on the situation and discuss it with his wife.

As a significant figure in the left-of-center political landscape of a European continent increasingly shifting to the right, Sánchez has been serving as the Prime Minister since 2018, following the downfall of a conservative Prime Minister due to corruption allegations. After an inconclusive general election later in 2018, he embarked on a new term by forming a coalition government with a fragile parliamentary majority.

The allegations against Gómez stemmed from a complaint filed by the Manos Limpias union. Manos Limpias accused Gómez of benefiting from executives of Air Europa and its parent company Globalia during her tenure as director of an Africa research center affiliated with the IE University in Madrid. The union linked her activities to a €475 million government bailout that the airline received in late 2020 amidst the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regarding these claims, Sánchez dismissed the stories as “spurious” output from “rightwing and ultra-rightwing media.” While Gómez has remained silent on these accusations in recent weeks, the university confirmed that it had received air tickets from Globalia in 2020 as part of an event sponsorship deal but denied receiving any monetary donations from the company or its Africa center.

Sánchez denounced the ongoing political toxicity prevailing in Spain, which has intensifed since last year’s elections. He implicated the leaders of the conservative People’s Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and the far-right Vox party, Santiago Abascal, in the targeted attack against his wife. According to Sánchez, they took advantage of the original media reports to further their stormy campaign.

He wrote, “In this outrage… both are necessary collaborators, together with an ultra-rightwing online galaxy and the organization Manos Limpias.” Labelling it as a concerted campaign to weaken him both politically and personally, Sánchez affirmed that his wife would cooperate with the justice authorities and defend her honor. He dismissed the allegations, stating that they revolved around events that were “non-existent.”

While addressing the matter, Feijóo, a senior Vox lawmaker, denied pushing for an investigation into Sánchez’s wife and criticized the Prime Minister for employing vocabulary unbecoming of his political position. Sánchez’s conservative opponents may differ from him in ideological stands concerning fiscal, labor, energy, and environmental policies. However, their primary resentment stems from Sánchez’s willingness to cooperate with separatist parties in Catalonia and the Basque country, which aim to break away from Spain.

One of Sánchez’s most contentious moves was the introduction of legislation to grant amnesty to Catalan separatists involved in a 2017 independence bid, which remains pending approval in parliament. This amnesty was a necessary compromise to obtain the parliamentary votes required for Sánchez to begin another term following the election.