EU Socialists accuse EPP of supporting ‘fascist tactics’ to topple Sánchez

7 months ago 31

Political turmoil that started in Spain following Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s announcement he may step down has spread to Brussels, with the EU Socialists accusing the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) of supporting “fascist tactics” to discredit the opposition.

Sánchez on Wednesday announced he would step back from public duties for a week to assess whether he would remain in office after a court opened an investigation into his wife, Begoña Gómez, over allegations of corruption.

On Thursday, prosecutors in Madrid recommended that the judge dismiss the preliminary inquiry because there was no evidence.

Supporters of Sánchez have said the case, brought by far-right-linked anti-corruption campaigners Clean Hands, is politically motivated and not based on fact.

In 2021, the Clean Hands president was condemned to a four-year prison sentence for extortion and scam charges, but the decision was revoked in March by the Supreme Court.

In reaction to Sánchez’s announcement, EPP Secretary General Thanasis Bakolas told Euractiv: “What comes around, goes around. This is what happens when you disregard and ignore people’s will.”

His comments, which have angered the EU Socialists, echoed frustration after the centre-right Partido Popular (PP) and its leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo lost the government to Sánchez in November, as he managed to secure a majority by striking deals with Catalan and Basque nationalist parties.

“It is incredible that the EPP could justify what this far-right pressure group has done to Begoña Gómez, the wife of the Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez,” the Party of European Socialists (PES) Secretary General Giacomo Filibeck, told Euractiv.

“We must never forget how fascists discredited people because they could not compete on ideas […] to employ these same tactics today is an insult to the legacy of a day like today”, said Filibeck on Thursday from Lisbon, where he was celebrating Portugal’s national liberation day.

“The EPP must not fall for indecent political tricks. Voters deserve better,” Filibeck added, ahead of EU elections in June.

“It is highly shocking that comments like this would be made by a centre-right politician. I hoped it was a slip of the tongue. But it seems this is not the case. I must call this out because someone has to,” he concluded.

Clean Hands is known for exerting pressure on politicians by filing lawsuits, many of which fail.

The group issued a statement on Thursday accepting that the news used to build the case against Gómez could be fake, the media reported, arguing that it is now up to the judges to verify whether the information is true or false.

Battleground unleashes in Spain

The impact of Sánchez’s crisis at the EU level is the fruit of a tough battle in Spain between the Socialist Party (PSOE/PES) and the opposition centre-right Partido Popular (PP/EPP).

On one side, the Socialists have been quick to rally the troops in support of Sánchez, calling for nationwide mobilisations in a show of support for Sánchez, asking him to be ‘strong’ and resist the far-right to protect democracy.

“I ask supporters to mobilise in favour of democracy and respect, in favour of justice, and in favour of Pedro Sánchez’s work. We must support him,” said former Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero during an interview with SER radio.

On the centre-right’s side, PP officials have one after the other accused Sánchez of self-victimising, using the chance to accuse him of “neglecting his responsibilities.”

“He said he takes five days to think about himself, and in my opinion, he has been doing exactly the same thing for five years: thinking about himself”, said Feijóo during a press conference on Thursday, where he also demanded Sánchez to express “immediately on the cases of alleged corruption affecting his government, his party and his entourage,” he added.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]