Will Sánchez's excuses for Zapatero also apply to the newlyweds?

One of the pillars of democracy is equality before the law. If the law is not equal for everyone, democracy crumbles.

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The scandals surrounding the government of Pedro Sánchez and the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) are focusing this week on former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, after the indictment of his daughters in the Plus Ultra case, in which Justice is investigating the irregular rescue of an airline by the government and Zapatero's intervention in favor of that company. During the search of the former president's office, in a Zapatero safe the Police found jewelry that has been valued at 1,323,915 euros. As a consequence of this finding, the National Court has opened a separate piece in which Zapatero is accused of an alleged tax crime and another smuggling crime.

As is his custom, yesterday Sánchez interfered in this judicial investigation by expressing his support for Zapatero and his daughters, yet another instance of pressure that he and his government have been exerting on the judges investigating the Socialist scandals. One of the excuses Sánchez has used to support Zapatero is that others also received gifts: "All presidents have received gifts, me too, and some I don't know what they are."

Sánchez's argument is as false as defending a driver fined for speeding by saying that many of us have driven a car at some point. Zapatero is not being investigated for receiving gifts, as Sánchez suggests: the charges against him are for failing to declare those gifts and for bringing them into Spain illegally.

Yesterday's statements by the Prime Minister are yet another insult to the Spanish people. Under Sánchez's government, newlyweds are required to declare their wedding gifts to the tax authorities if they exceed €3,000, including those purchased with €500 bills. Likewise, Spaniards are required to declare to the Tax Agency both birthday gifts and birth gifts if they have a significant amount ("for example, income exceeding 10,000 or 20,000 euros", according to the law firm Olmedo y Velasco).

Given these facts, the question is obvious: Will Sánchez's excuses for Zapatero also apply to newlyweds and all those who receive substantial gifts? Or perhaps the law in Spain now applies to all Spaniards except those with a PSOE membership card, and the Tax Office turns a blind eye to them?

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Photo: PSOE. Pedro Sánchez and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero talking at a PSOE event in Barcelona on May 26, 2023.