Spanish Socialists Unite Behind Sánchez To ‘Resist’ Right, Far-Right

By Fernando Heller

(EurActiv) — The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE/S&D) showed its determination to ‘resist’ in the face of renewed right-wing and far-right attacks against Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who was re-elected leader of the progressive party by a large majority at a party meeting in Seville.

Sánchez’s PSOE closed its 41st federal congress with a strong message of unity following the repeated attacks on Sánchez by the main opposition force and the third-largest force in parliament, Partido Popular (EPP) and the far-right Vox (Patriots for Europe).

Speaking at the opening of the party conference, Sánchez was optimistic about his term in office, which will end in 2027 unless early elections are called.

“The best is yet to come. We have to keep moving forward, out of responsibility and out of hope. FOR THE LEFT”, the Spanish prime minister said on Saturday.

Despite Sanchez’s optimism, the left-wing government faces a serious obstacle to maintaining its precarious stability: it must convince the right-wing Catalan separatist JxCatparty of former regional president Carles Puigdemont, to vote in favour of the 2025 national budget, among other challenges related to the issue of Catalonia.

In a speech on Saturday, Spanish Finance Minister María Jesús Montero slammed the right-wing camp and Vox for their aggressive stance against the Spanish prime minister.

“We are going to come out of this congress new, committed, reinforced, as always. And we are going to stop this right-wing and far-right in their sexist, xenophobic discourse, (and their) de-legitimation of politics,” Montero stressed.

Sánchez, a leader with extreme political endurance

Sánchez, who was ousted by some of his party colleagues – seen as the more orthodox ‘old guard’ – in October 2017, returned to the post of PSOE secretary general just eight months after winning militants’ support in an internal vote.

The head of government, who recently wrote an autobiographical book describing himself as a ‘resister,’ was re-elected leader of his party on Sunday by the majority of its members (90%). A PSOE source told EFE that the party’s congress was marked by one word: ‘resistance’ against reactionary forces (Partido Popular, Vox).

Sánchez’s defiance contrasted with the harsh words of Partido Popular leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who – ironically alluding to Sánchez’s ‘resilience’ – warned him on Sunday that the PSOE would eventually be defeated.

“Hold on, Pedro, don’t resign because you don’t deserve to leave with a minimum of honour; we are going to kick you out the Spaniards freely and democratically,” said the right-wing leader.

The PSOE currently has around 153,000 card-carrying members, in addition to thousands of supporters who are not formal party members. The progressive formation has 120 MPs in the national parliament and 20 MEPs in Strasbourg.

In a show of unity and to maintain the party’s strategic continuity in the face of the right-wing camp, the PSOE revalidated the ‘hard core’ of the formation, including Montero-Sánchez’s right-hand man and Santos Cerdán, the party’s organisational secretary, while retaining many of the current ministers.

Stopping reactionary forces

The PSOE, which governs in coalition with the left-wing Sumar platform, has been the target of harsh criticism from the PP and Vox, particularly since the entry into force of a controversial amnesty law pardoning several Catalan separatist leaders, including Puigdemont, who is currently in self-imposed exile in Belgium.

Sánchez has also been the subject of fierce political attacks from both right-wing parties over an ongoing investigation into the prime minister’s wife, Begoña Gómez, for alleged corruption and influence peddling.

The case, led by the civil servants’ union Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), linked to the extreme right in the Iberian country, prompted Sánchez to consider resigning at the end of April.

Another sensitive dossier affecting the Spanish prime minister is the so-called ‘Koldo case’, a corruption affair involving millions in illegal commissions for the purchase of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, which directly implicates former transport minister José Luis Ábalos (PSOE), Sanchez’s former collaborator.

Adding to the controversy surrounding the left-wing party, last week, the leader of the PSOE in the Madrid region, Juan Lobato, resigned following the revelation of confidential information relating to a tax fraud case involving the boyfriend of the controversial president of the Comunidad de Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso (Partido Popular).