Direct and to the point, for the first time in a parliamentary setting, Pedro Sánchez responded this Wednesday in Congress to the accusations and suspicions of corruption that the right wing leveled at the professional activity of his wife, Begoña Gómez. Alberto Núñez Feijoo and Santiago Abascal, the President of the Government has assured, “they accuse my partner and me of alleged influence peddling.” “What they did not achieve at the polls, they intend to achieve through the back door with false complaints,” the Chief Executive has warned.
It is not new, Sánchez has alleged. “I have been leading the PSOE for ten years and we already know that they spied on my family from the first moment. Exactly the same as they did with many other left-wing and nationalist politicians, with the so-called patriotic police, who also suffered this infamous persecution,” he assured.
The president has warned that, on this occasion, the right has put under scrutiny the aid that the Spanish airline Air Europa received after the pandemic. “The judge investigating that case in the National Court has already said, on two occasions, that with a series of unverified hoaxes he cannot even summon my wife as a witness,” Sánchez refuted. Then, he has indicated that the case turned towards the alleged influence peddling of his wife for “signing, on behalf of an educational institution, a declaration of interest, which was not taken into account in the evaluation of a competition.” The Conflict of Interest Office has already responded to Feijoo and Abascal on two occasions, Sánchez highlighted. “But Abascal and Feijoo do what they do best: disqualify the institution that does not agree with them after having gone to it,” he lamented.
And now, the president added, a judge has opened preliminary proceedings based on the complaint of “two ultra organizations such as Manos Cleanas and Hazte Oír.” “I am sure that Justice will soon file these two false complaints from two ultra organizations, without further ado,” he confided. “Because the only thing there is is mud. A collection of hoaxes and defamations, manipulated information and veiled accusations that go no further,” he concluded.
“I’m not going to feed your mud machine. I’m not going to fall into the ‘and your more’, I don’t even expect them to stop the mud machine. I know they won’t do it, because they have nothing else to offer,” Sánchez warned. “But I do hope that someday, someone apologizes to innocent people for all the damage caused in an unjust and sterile way,” he demanded.
“I know they do it to try to break me. But I’m telling you, you’re ready. My wife is an honest, serious and responsible professional. And my Government is a clean government.
Those who carry out influence peddling are others, with envelopes with initials and wads of bills inside,” he replied. “We are not all the same,” Sánchez argued. And he has called on the PP: “If you don’t believe me, count the number of former popular ministers prosecuted and convicted of corruption. And count mine.”
Sánchez has proposed to the PP and Vox, in advance, to turn this Wednesday’s parliamentary session in Congress “into a turning point in the drift of tension that has taken over this Chamber.” “Let’s debate, disagree, criticize each other’s arguments, but let’s do it from parliamentary courtesy, not from lying and insulting other speakers. Let’s practice fair play, going for the ball, not for the players,” he demanded. But, immediately afterwards, the head of the Executive has accused the right of starting a “mud machine” to try to overthrow him.
The leader of the PSOE has criticized the attitude of Feijóo, at the head of “an increasingly far-right opposition.” “They are no longer distinguished either in their positions or in their statements,” he lamented. The PP and Vox, he assured, are “increasingly more radicalized,” trying to continue fueling “the territorial confrontation by talking about ETA or the independence process when the Basque Country and Catalonia have decided to open a new time of coexistence and reunion.” “A reactionary coalition devoid of ideas and arguments that only has one strategy left to come to power: the mud machine,” he denounced.
The purpose of this “mud machine”, he assured, is evident: “To cloud the public debate”, with a triple objective. Firstly, “they try to hide the true political project of Feijoo and Abascal.” “A political project for a privileged minority, not for the majority,” she assured. Secondly, “they try to hide all the successes of the Government, which are a success for the country.” “They try to create an artificial atmosphere in the face of the reality of a Spain in which employment and productivity are growing and where public accounts are consolidated while the welfare state is reinforced,” he stressed. “The success of a country based on data against the mud of the far-right opposition based on hoaxes and misinformation,” she criticized.
And the third objective of this “mud machine” of Feijoo and Abascal, he warned, “is to break me.” “But I’m telling you, be ready!” He replied. “I am very aware of why they attack me and my family. They attack me for presiding over a Government that raises the minimum wage, approves a tax on large fortunes, revalues ??pensions and reinforces public health in the face of its privatization desires,” he argued. “I understand that these policies bother a certain circle of power that is behind the digital tabloids, ultra organizations and right-wing and extreme right-wing parties,” Sánchez admitted. But he wanted to remind all of them that “his vote is worth the same as that of any other ordinary citizen.” “In democracy, it is the citizens who, with their vote, establish and remove governments. And this progressive coalition government has full political autonomy in the face of the servility of PP and Vox with these powers,” he assured.
