The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that he had «decided to continue with all his strength at the helm of the government of Spain». «My wife and I – she continued – know that this campaign of discredit will not stop, we have been subjected to it for 10 years. She is Grave.” Sanchez then expressed appreciation for “the solidarity and empathy that has arrived from everywhere.”
Read – “Pedro, stay!”: in Madrid socialists call from the streets to ask Sánchez not to resign
Pedro Sanchez thanked for the expressions of solidarity received in recent days (those of 'reflection' spent at Moncloa together with his family, after the news that an investigation had been launched for suspected corruption against his wife) and added that « social mobilization weighed” on his decision to remain at the helm of the Spanish government (because on Wednesday the balance evidently weighed in favor of his resignation). «I have decided to continue, to continue with even more strength at the helm of the presidency of the government of Spain. This decision is a fixed point, I guarantee it,” he said in front of the cameras. «There is only one way to reverse this situation, that the social majority, as it has done in these five days, mobilizes in a firm commitment to dignity and common sense, putting an end to the politics of shame that we have been suffering for too long time”.
Sanchez shocked the country last week when he said he would take five days to think about his future after a court opened preliminary proceedings against his wife on corruption charges. The legal complaint against his wife Begoña Gómez was filed by a well-known far-right legal platform according to which the woman had exploited her position for business. Sanchez had spoken of a too personal attack on his family and that he needed time to decide his priorities.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has stood out for his tenacity and skill throughout his eventful political career. A resilience put to the test by the opening of a judicial investigation against his wife. “I learned to give my all until the referee blows the whistle for the end of the game,” assured the leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), a 52-year-old former amateur basketball player, in an autobiography published in 2019 (“Resistance Manual”).
“They are reporting Begona not because she has done something illegal, they know very well that is not true, but because she is my wife,” he assured in a letter. However, “we often forget that there are people behind political leaders,” she added.
Expert in “political survival”, a figure hated by the opposition, the socialist – nicknamed “El guapo” (“the beautiful boy”) at the beginning of his career for his Cary Grant physique, has nevertheless had to face numerous difficult situations since his entry into politics, building a reputation as an expert in political survival. Born on 29 February 1972 in Madrid to a mother who was a civil servant and a father who was an entrepreneur, this economist – accused of plagiarism in reference to his thesis, which he always denied – took the reins of the PSOE in 2014. But this first experience ended with a failure: the party then recorded the worst electoral results in its history.
While many announced the end of his political career, he nevertheless managed to regain the leadership of the PSOE just six months later, after having crossed Spain in his Peugeot 407 to meet the activists who gave him their support. This tenacity brought him to power in June 2018: by uniting the entire left and the Basque and Catalan parties around a motion of censure, he overthrew the conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, burdened by a corruption scandal, and won over his following . At the head of an unstable majority, Pedro Sa'nchez was then forced to call two consecutive legislative elections in 2019, which he won. To then accept at the beginning of 2020 a 'marriage' of convenience with his former enemy brothers of Podemos (radical left) to remain in power.
Governing in a minority, he managed, despite recurring tensions with his allies, to reform the labor market and pensions, to increase the minimum wage by 50% and to introduce a law to rehabilitate the memory of the victims of the Civil War (1936-1939 ) and the Franco dictatorship (1939-1975). Once again given up for dead politically after the left's debacle in the May 2023 local elections, he attempted a new gamble by calling early elections two months later, in which he came second, behind his conservative rival Alberto Nu'nez Feijo'o. After long negotiations, he managed to be brought back to power by Parliament, at the price of important concessions – including a controversial amnesty law for separatists involved in Catalonia's attempted secession in 2017, to which he had until then stood opposite to. A former member of the cabinet of the UN High Representative in Bosnia, he distinguished himself at the international level by increasing his criticism of the operation launched by Israel in Gaza in response to the attack against Hamas on 7 October and promising rapid recognition by the Spain of a Palestinian state.
#Spain #Prime #Minister #Sanchez #resigning #decided #continue #government