By Jorge Liboreiro
Spanish politics feel like a fever dream these days. There’s an almost suffocating tension permeating the political and media discourse. Everybody is anxious, exasperated, full of rage, as if an unknown catastrophe was about to befall the country and wipe it off the map.
Needless to say, nothing of the sort is about to happen. There’s no Armageddon or cataclysm in the works (unless we count the climate crisis that mercilessly marches on).
The shockwaves being felt across Spain stem from the latest high-risk gamble of Pedro Sánchez. The socialist prime minister has a well-documented penchant for making audacious bets and pulling them off against all odds. His rise to power in 2018 was the result of a no-confidence vote on the then-ruling Conservative party that only he seemed certain it would succeed. Since then, Sánchez has repeatedly defied political arithmetic to approve a wide range of progressive legislation, fending off along the way the opposition’s efforts to bring his government down. Neither the pandemic, nor the war, nor gas prices, nor inflation has pushed him off the chair.
Still, his latest gamble is a whole different story.
In order to get the necessary majority to be re-elected, Sánchez agreed to table a draft law to grant amnesty for the crimes committed by Catalan separatists in their unilateral pursuit of independence between 2012 and 2023. The law, which the PM had opposed in the past, will benefit nearly 400 people, potentially including Carles Puigdemont, who has been living in Waterloo, Belgium, since 2017 to avoid being prosecuted on charges of disobedience and embezzlement.
The major concession to Junts and ECR, the two Catalan parties that together hold 14 seats in Congress, has infuriated the opposition. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the right-wing Partido Popular (PP), has accused Sánchez of “having no shame” for endangering social coexistence and “humiliating” the Spanish people. “Taking decisions against the general interest in exchange of personal benefits is political corruption,” Feijóo said during the investiture debate.
Santiago Abascal, the head of the far-right Vox party, went further and compared Sánchez to Adolf Hilter, warning his re-election was “the first step of a coup d’etat” and “the start of a tyranny.” His incendiary comments prompted a rebuke from the Speaker, who urged him to respect the dignity of Congress. “This country knows perfectly well what a dictatorship is,” the Speaker said.
In the meantime, Madrid is burning. For the past week, protesters have taken to the streets to denounce Sánchez’s proposed amnesty law. But the demonstrations, which were supposed to be political, quickly spiralled and adopted an explicitly racist, homophobic and misogynistic nature. On Tuesday night, protesters showed up in front of the socialist headquarters with grotesque blow-up dolls which, in their view, represented the female ministers of the left-wing coalition. “This is not a headquarters, it’s a whorehouse!” they chanted.
The ugly scenes play directly into Sánchez’s hands. The prime minister has used the prospect of the far-right coming into power as an instrument to convince voters to give his progressive government a second chance. The strategy paid off in the July elections, when his party performed better than expected. The images of fringe protesters shouting “Spain is Christian, not Muslim” and giving the fascist salute add a new veneer of credibility to Sánchez’s warnings.
However, it remains to be seen if the determination to keep the far-right away from the central government will be enough to maintain Sánchez’s coalition over the next four years. The Catalan parties have already said their support would have to be earned on a case-by-case basis, rather than taken for granted. This means that Sánchez’s fragile majority (179 against 171) could collapse overnight if Puidgemont decides so. More concessions will be made, further emboldening the opposition.
All suggests the incoming legislature will be the most fractious and hostile in Spanish history. Núñez Feijóo will jump on any available opportunity to remind Sánchez that his socialist party actually came second in the elections and therefore lacks the authority to lead the country. Sánchez will battle on, insisting that whoever garners more votes, regardless of how these are secured, is entitled to govern.
“This debate concludes with a vote that decides a legitimate, democratic and constitutional government, whose power is limited by the law and the temporary mandate,” Sánchez said at the end of the two-day investiture debate. “When citizens decide their vote, at the same time they are choosing the government and the opposition. Both have the same source of legitimacy and deserve the same respect.” |
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The ugly scenes play directly into Sánchez’s hands
