Spain’s Sánchez to appear before parliament to explain his wife’s business dealings

4 months ago 18

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (PSOE/S&D) will appear before the parliament on 22 May to explain details of his wife Begoña Gómez’s business dealings, and respond to recent accusations by the Partido Popular (PP/EPP), the main opposition force in parliament, of a possible case of conflict of interest, Euractiv’s partner EFE reported.

“We have nothing to hide and the prime minister even less,” the PSOE spokesman Patxi López told the parliament.

The PP has repeatedly demanded that the Sánchez give explanations for Begoña Gómez‘s business dealings with the Spanish tourism group Globalia and her possible connection to the public bailout of the Spanish airline Air Europa.

Sánchez surprised the whole of Spain and his party colleagues on 24 April when he announced in a “letter to the citizens” on X that he would be taking five days off to reflect on his continued leadership of the PSOE-Sumar coalition government.

Despite talk in Madrid of a possible resignation or early elections, the prime minister announced on 29 April that he would remain in office to contribute to the “regeneration” of Spanish politics.

Meanwhile, PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, on Tuesday, called on the activists in his formation to engage fully in the campaign for the European elections in June to “send a message (to the EU) against the excesses” of Sánchez.

“We must show in these European elections that Spain is tired of a government that is hostage to independence (Catalan separatists), of a government that does not care about the majority of Spaniards and of a government that continues to be surrounded by increasingly serious alleged corruption scandals,” Feijóo stressed, referring to the so-called Koldo case.

On the other hand, the PP leader expressed his satisfaction with his party’s good result in last Sunday’s Catalan elections, in which it increased its number of seats to 15, compared to the previous elections in 2021, and stressed that the PP is the best alternative to the separatist parties, which have lost their majority in the Catalan parliament after almost 40 years of hegemony.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)