This morning, the president of the Spanish government appeared before a Senate inquiry committee.<\/p>\n
That commission is investigating corruption cases affecting the government and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)<\/a>, of which Pedro S\u00e1nchez is the general secretary<\/strong>. The session lasted more than 5 hours and can be viewed in full here<\/a>. During his interventions, the socialist leader displayed a disrespectful attitude towards the Senate commission itself<\/strong>, calling it a \"circus\" and attacking its president.<\/p>\n Furthermore, S\u00e1nchez has resorted to his usual tactics in Congress: not answering questions and attacking the opposition, the media, and the judges to evade his duty to be accountable<\/strong>. All of this seasoned with evasiveness and claims denying knowledge of facts he clearly knows, a clear trick to avoid being taken to court for lying before the committee<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Beyond the content of his answers, S\u00e1nchez's behavior in the Senate today should be a cause for outrage in a democratic country<\/strong>. Unlike dictatorships, where political power is unlimited or has very vague limits, in a democracy, those in power have a duty to be accountable to the people<\/strong>, represented in Spain's case by the Congress and the Senate.<\/p>\n In a democracy, political power must have clear limits and checks and balances<\/strong> through a separation of powers that guarantees an independent judiciary and legislative bodies whose functions include overseeing government action<\/strong>, exposing and curbing abuses. A government is democratic not only if it is elected every four years, but also if it has limits on its actions and accepts them.<\/p>\n A year ago, Pedro S\u00e1nchez stated his intention to govern without legislative power<\/a>, simply because he lost the last elections (the PSOE was the second most voted party) and it is becoming increasingly difficult for him to obtain the support of his parliamentary partners. So far, S\u00e1nchez's government has approved more decrees than any other Spanish government in the last three decades<\/a>, by a wide margin, systematically resorting to a mechanism limited by Article 86 of the Constitution to cases of \"extraordinary and urgent need\"<\/strong>. A purely authoritarian form of governance.<\/p>\n Today in the Senate, S\u00e1nchez displayed one of his worst vices with his deplorable attitude: he doesn't like to be held accountable.<\/strong> Submitting to parliamentary oversight seems odious to him, and he doesn't even try to hide it. This attitude demonstrates that the socialist leader believes himself to be above the Spanish people and has no obligation to explain anything<\/strong>, which also explains why this government has broken records for opacity<\/a>, denying 372 requests for information that it is obligated to provide, all while boasting about implementing a \"democratic action plan.\" A ruler with that attitude is making it clear that he is a would-be dictator<\/strong>, that he dislikes democracy, and that he will do everything possible to circumvent the limits imposed by the rule of law. A ruler like this is a threat to a democratic country.<\/strong><\/p>\n ---<\/p>\n
\n