The role of Pedro Sánchez's partners in corruption and the troubles that await us

The indictment of former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is causing a political earthquake in Spanish socialism.

The moral posturing of a left that swallowed things even worse than the Zapatero case
Socialist corruption in Spain briefly explained to people from other countries

This political earthquake is causing unease among Pedro Sánchez's parliamentary partners. Currently, the only ones who seem indifferent to everything that is happening are the communists of Sumar, since they are coalition partners of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), and therefore the scandals of that party seem to slide off them like soap. The other partners are staging performances or feigning action to avoid being tainted by all the socialist corruption.

To be honest, it's a bit late for that. Sánchez and his entourage have done whatever they wanted because they had the support of their parliamentary partners. A symbiotic relationship developed between them and the government: the Socialists looted the State and devoured it, turning it into a placement agency for party members, their friends, and even their prostitutes (one of the most shameful aspects of these scandals), and meanwhile, Sánchez's partners profited from their relationship with the government, helping him to breaking national unity and solidarity among Spaniards (in the case of the separatists) and imposing their most radical ideological agendas through the Official State Gazette (in the case of Sumar and Podemos).

Eight years ago, those same partners cited the Popular Party's corruption cases as a reason to bring Sánchez to power through a vote of no confidence. In 2023, those same partners facilitated Sánchez's reelection even after some of those corruption scandals had already come to light. Sánchez's communist and separatist allies helped him silence these scandals by attacking the media and the judges investigating them, in a strategy that seemed perfectly coordinated —it's hard to believe it wasn't— to dismantle democratic checks and balances and grant impunity to the socialists. The Socialists and their parliamentary partners have been complicit in a strategy that has contributed to an unprecedented degradation of democratic institutions, which was the ideal breeding ground for political corruption.

Ahora mismo, están circulando hipótesis sobre un posible apoyo de algunos de esos socios del gobierno a una moción de censura contra Sánchez, o al menos una abstención que facilite el desalojo del actual gobierno de coalición de socialistas y comunistas y la convocatoria de unas elecciones generales anticipadas. Obviamente, los aliados de Sánchez no tienen nada que ganar con eso y sí mucho que perder. El gobierno de coalición de socialistas y comunistas está siendo para ellos como una especie de cuerno de la abundancia. Sólo apoyarán una moción de censura si son capaces de sacar tajada de ella de alguna forma, y la forma más probable, teniendo en cuenta la experiencia de estos últimos años en España, es obtener del Partido Popular algún pago por su apoyo, porque Vox no se ha planteado nunca ni por asomo ningún tipo de cesión hacia los comunistas y los separatistas.

Right now, hypotheses are circulating about the possibility of some of Sánchez's government partners supporting a no-confidence vote, or at least abstaining, which would facilitate the removal of the current coalition government of socialists and communists and the calling of early general elections. Obviously, Sánchez's allies have nothing to gain from this and much to lose. The socialist-communist coalition government is proving to be a kind of cornucopia for them. They will only support a no-confidence vote if they can somehow gain something from it, and the most likely way, given the experience of recent years in Spain, is to obtain some kind of payment from the Popular Party for their support, because Vox has never even remotely considered making any kind of concessions to the communists and separatists.

The risk at this point is that the PP might be willing to accept some kind of payment for that support, whether publicly or secretly. The parasites that have thrived under Sánchez's government could continue to feed off the next government, however short-lived. The good relationship between the PP and the separatists of the PNV and Junts for years could lead to the perpetuation of a political cancer that in Spain already threatens to metastasize. Seeing a prominent PP leader longing for pacts with the PSOE in the midst of a wave of socialist corruption only serves to highlight the disappointments many Spaniards may feel when we thought socialism was already in its death throes in Spain.

The alternative will be for Sánchez to continue dragging his partners through the mud until 2027, forcing them to swallow all the adverse effects of being implicated in the PSOE scandals. This will significantly increase Sánchez's rent at La Moncloa. The government could be forced to make previously unthinkable concessions simply to complete its term without calling early elections, even if the result is the destruction of the rule of law and national unity —something Sánchez seems to care very little about.

There could be a third possibility, but it is very remote: an internal rebellion within the PSOE, given the possibility that Sánchez will end up destroying his own party with his eagerness to cling to power at any cost. It seems unlikely that those who have supported Sánchez in all his misdeeds will abandon him now, and even less so by shortening the time they can continue exploiting the state for their personal and partisan gain. Within the PSOE, they probably believe that a defeat in 2027 will be quickly overcome with a massive mobilization of the left against a possible PP-Vox coalition government. That is why the Socialist ranks remain closed around Sánchez, with very few exceptions.

What will be the role of the rest of the Spanish people at this moment? Well, it depends on us. Our biggest mistake would be to stand idly by as mere spectators. Now, citizen mobilization will be more necessary than ever. It is time to raise our voices to denounce socialist corruption and its accomplices, and not allow them to go unpunished after all they have done.

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Photo: La Moncloa. Pedro Sánchez at the Moncloa Palace with Gabriel Rufián, spokesperson for the ERC parliamentary group in the Congress of Deputies, on March 13, 2025.