The Spanish press that remains critical of the government is unanimous: “a farce”, “a grotesque”, “a joke”… But no one is fooled. When Pedro Sánchez refuses to explain his wife’s business dealings and says that these five days mark “a turning point”, speaks of “cleanliness, of “democratic regeneration” and that “we will show the world how democracy is defended”, he means that he is tired of seeking an agreement with the opposition to renew the leadership of the judiciary and of putting up with the news about the business dealings of his wife, his brother, his former second in the PSOE? “mudslinging” and “defamation”, he says.
So independent judges and critical press are deeply concerned. The possibility that the system of counter-powers that characterises a democracy could be dismantled from within power is clear and worrying.
Because today the charismatic leader of the PSOE governs his party with an iron fist, and the meagre parliamentary majority he has built up in exchange for an amnesty. So Pedro Sánchez dominates the executive, the legislative and goes after the judiciary (he already appoints the Attorney General of the State, already pardons, already amnesties… but he also wants to appoint the head of the judiciary) while threatening the critical press with the backing of another 4,000 journalists who have had no problem signing a manifesto in support of the “fucking boss”, as his Minister of Transport calls him… In short, the whole thing looks really bad
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