Yesterday, with the Prime Minister at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Spanish politics experienced another grotesque day. In the Congress of Deputies, the government saw its initiative to delegate immigration powers to Catalonia fail. This was one of the many concessions the PSOE has been forced to make to try to maintain the support of Junts, a “traditionally right-wing” party that offered its support to Sánchez so he could become prime minister after losing the elections. The price was enormous: amnesty for coup plotters, recognition of Catalan as an official EU language, privileged funding for Catalonia (promoted by the other Catalan separatist party, ERC), delegation of immigration powers…
However, the agreement between the PSOE and Junts for the delegation of these immigration powers has once again fractured the so-called “investiture bloc.” In addition to the expected rejection from the four Podemos deputies—enough to scuttle the bill—two Sumar deputies also defected. They, too, saw “racist” overtones in the bill’s explanatory statement and in the explanations of the Junts spokesperson, who spoke of a Catalonia “overwhelmed” by “uncontrolled” immigration. These ideas and words were unacceptable to the far-left parties supporting the government.
At the same time as he was suffering another defeat in Congress, the Prime Minister and the entire country learned that the four judges of the Provincial Court of Badajoz had decided to send his brother to trial, along with the secretary-general of the PSOE in Extremadura and half a dozen other people, for influence peddling and perversion of justice. According to the investigation by Judge Biezma, there are indications that, while he was secretary-general of the PSOE in 2017, Sánchez mentioned to the head of the PSOE in Extremadura that he had a musician brother, which allegedly led the latter to create a “coordinator” position for the two music conservatories in the region. Everything seems to suggest that the position was pre-assigned, and the explanations given by Sánchez’s brother to the judge—which all of Spain could see—ultimately led him directly to the defendant’s bench. To cap off the absurdity, Sánchez’s brother—who holds a public-sector job in Spain—claimed to be a resident of Portugal—with its lower tax burden—and, by leveraging his influence, he managed to get a friend of his, who came directly from the Moncloa Palace, hired as his assistant… In short, all very edifying.
