Spain’s current government is once again facing a fresh corruption crisis, adding to the growing list of scandals that have plagued Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s administration. Around 70 thousand protesters gathered in Madrid, holding “Sanchez is a traitor” and “Government resign” placards. Opposition leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo proclaimed the slogan “mafia or democracy” calling for a snap election in order to oust Sanchez’s PSOE (Workers’ Socialist Party) from power.
Over the past year, there have been a number of corruption scandals around Spain’s Prime Minister’s inner circle, including his wife Begoña Gómez, his brother David Sánchez, as well as senior PSOE officials, such as Spain’s transport minister José Luis Ábalos and finance minister Nadia Calviño. Last month, the European People’s Party – a Europe-wide political grouping, which includes Spain’s opposition People’s Party (PP) – called for an investigation into Sánchez’s possible misuse of post-COVID recovery funds contributing to a controversial 475-million-euro bailout of Spanish airline Air Europa. What gives this scandal even more controversy is the involvement of Nadia Calviño, Spain’s former economy minister and now Chairperson of the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The decision to bailout Air Europe was made at the height of the pandemic during a severe health crisis, which overwhelmed Spain’s healthcare system. Spain was one of the hardest-hit nations in Europe, with hospitals across the country stretching to their limit, ICU beds filling up rapidly and shortages of medical supplies becoming critical issues. Sánchez’s decision to use recovery funds allocated by the European Union not to tackle this devastating crisis, but to bailout the airline, which was struggling because of travel regulations across Europe and the world, has been just another manifestation of the government’s lack of awareness and responsibility before its citizens.
A few days ago, The Madrid High Court of Justice accepted the complaint filed by the opposition People’s Party and decided to launch an investigation into Pedro Sánchez and his closest allies in this scandal. Allegedly, Begoña Gómez played a crucial role in the affair. Leaked WhatsApp messages show that Sánchez was discussing the bailout with several former ministers and Gómez then met with the airline chairman’s son, Javier Hidalgo, to discuss the details of the arrangement.
Begoña Gómez has been under investigation for several months already for other scandals, including influence peddling. Allegedly, she has used her position as the wife of the Prime Minister to secure sponsors for a university master’s degree course that she ran. Sánchez has tried to downplay the scandal as “an ugly fit-up driven by the far-right groups behind the complaint”, but the number and scale of these scandals have been drastically ramped up lately, which raises eyebrows of many Spaniards and puts into question Sánchez’s future in politics.
However, it should be said that the other side of Spain’s two-party bureaucracy is not that innocent and pure either. A number of corruption details have emerged after Valencia – a region that the People’s Party governs – was hit by a massive deadly flood last year. Carlos Mazón, Valencian regional government president, has been under immense scrutiny for his handling of the event and the preparatory measures that have not been taken by his administration. Despite it being common knowledge that Valencia is prone to massive floods, the administration seems to have not been properly prepared, which resulted in hundreds of casualties and massive destruction of the city’s infrastructure.
Additionally, a number of corruption allegations surround one of PP’s most prominent leaders – Madrid governor Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who is widely expected to take control of the PP after Feijóo. She is facing continuous scrutiny over her government’s COVID protocols, with Madrid being one of the most drastically hit cities in Europe and more that 7 thousand people dead in the early stages in the pandemic. What is more, her relationship with Alberto González Amador is put under pressure because of the latter’s shady business dealings. Amador has been accused of tax fraud and document forgery with relation to several contracts on masks imports during the pandemic.
All in all, it seems that Spain is on its way to become the most corrupt nation in Europe, with the number and scale of corruption scandals on both sides of the political spectrum rising sharply in recent years. A culture of favoritism and illicit dealings has been propelled by years of instability, which makes political upheaval inevitable. The PSOE and PP are getting continuously pressured by anti-establishment PODEMOS and VOX political parties, with the population becoming more and more politically polarized and fragmented.
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