Prime Minister of Spain says he is considering resigning after judicial investigation against his wife | World

The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Wednesday (24) that he will take a “break” from his duties as head of government after the courts opened an investigation against his wife on suspicion of corruption –-and that he is considering resigning from his position.

The investigation against the first lady, Begoña Gómez, stemmed from a complaint filed by the Manos Limpias collective, a civil collective linked to the country’s far right. The Madrid Superior Court of Justice accepted the complaint and opened a preliminary investigation against Gómez for suspicions of influence peddling and corruption.

He argued that the reflection is to protect his wife from the intense persecution that, according to the prime minister, she has been suffering by extreme right-wing parties and groups in the country.

“I need to stop and reflect. I need to answer the question of whether it’s worth it (to remain in government), despite the mud into which the right and the ultra-right intend to convert politics. Whether I should continue leading the government or renounce this great horror. Honestly, I don’t know,” Sánchez wrote.

In a statement, the Madrid court stated that the investigation was opened last week and said the process would be carried out in secrecy. Asked this Wednesday in the Congress of Deputies about the investigation, Sánchez replied that he trusts the Justice system.

The court’s decision was announced just hours after the Spanish news website “El Confidencial” reported on the judicial investigation against the first lady. According to the newspaper, Investigators are examining Gómez’s alleged ties to private companies, such as the airline Air Europa, which ended up receiving funds and public contracts from the government.

Also according to the newspaper, the business center for Africa that Gómez ran at the time, linked to an economics school in Spain, signed a sponsorship agreement in 2020 with Globalia, owner of Air Europa at the same time that The airline, in crisis, was also negotiating a million-dollar aid plan from the Spanish government.

In the same year, Sánchez’s government offered a credit line of 475 million euros (around R$2.7 billion at the time) to Air Europa. The Spanish company was the first to benefit from this type of government aid due to the pandemic.

The Popular Party, the conservative party that leads the opposition to Sánchez, demanded that the prime minister give explanations.

Spanish parliament elects Pedro Sánchez as prime minister

Leader of the Socialist Party, Sánchez is currently serving his second term as prime minister.

He was re-elected in November 2023, in an early election that Sánchez himself called in April last year, after his party suffered major losses in regional elections.

Pedro Sánchez finished second in the elections, behind the PP conservatives. However, the PP was unable to form alliances to obtain the minimum number of seats to govern. Sánchez, on the other hand, risked a controversial pact with separatists in Catalonia, who are widely rejected among socialists in the rest of the country.

He first came to power in 2018, when he led a motion of no confidence against the then prime minister, conservative Mariano Rajoy, which ousted him. In these cases, according to the country’s legislation, it is the leader of the opposition who takes over.

In April this year, he dissolved Parliament and called for a new vote after poor results for his party in regional elections that month.

At the time, Sánchez’s party, the Socialist Party, lost most of the municipalities it governed. In parallel, the conservatives of the Popular Party, a rival party to the socialists, captured more local governments, and the far-right Vox advanced in regional parliaments.