The PSOE is holding its breath three days before Pedro Sánchez, sequestered in the Palace of the Moncloa, announces what he will do: resign or continue as President of the Government. The feeling among ministers and high-ranking officials of the Executive and in the socialist leadership is that the second option is a very real possibility, as the leader of the PSOE made clear on Wednesday when he announced that he was taking a few days to think about his future due to the unprecedented attacks from the right and the far-right against his wife. “I want to concentrate all my efforts so that on Monday, when he communicates his decision, it is to work [and] that he has the strength to continue,” expressed María Jesús Montero, the First Vice President of the Executive and Deputy Secretary General of the PSOE. “I hope it concludes with a decision in which he continues his project. Honestly, I don’t know what will happen,” said Óscar Puente, Minister of Transport. “We are not in any scenario other than the president, after this reflection, continuing with his work as President of the Government,” stated Félix Bolaños.
The PSOE Federal Committee, the highest decision-making body between congresses, will be broadcast openly for the first time. Screens will be set up on Ferraz Street, where thousands of mobilized party members and supporters from all over Spain are expected to gather. The uncertainty is such that Ferraz has decided to postpone the federal list commission, which was scheduled for this Friday, until Tuesday, and must approve the other names that will accompany Teresa Ribera on the socialist list for the European elections. Sánchez will not attend the Federal Committee — another exceptional event — but will be able to follow it live from La Moncloa, because the party has decided that, unlike usual, the meeting of the party’s highest body will be broadcast openly and in its entirety. It is with the goal of transmitting the support of the party’s main organic leaders to the President of the Government. At the same time, a crowd is expected to gather outside.
This will be an unprecedented show of support, with buses chartered from Galicia, Andalusia, Valencia, Asturias, Castilla y León… even from the Community of Madrid. “The Federal Committee is going to send a message to this country: that the socialists are not willing to accept this strategy of lies, mudslinging, noise, defamation, and the absolute void of the right and the far-right. And that by defending Pedro Sánchez, we are defending democracy,” stated Patxi López. “I am convinced that we will not only have the support of socialists, but also of many more. Millions of socialist, progressive, and good people who will be supporting this decision of the socialists to stand by Pedro Sánchez and to stand by all of us who believe that politics should solve problems and not surrender to dark powers,” added the socialist spokesperson in Congress.
The situation is so extraordinary that Sánchez’s continuity has gained global interest. And even more so for a left lacking references: Sánchez is the Prime Minister or President of a social democratic country with the longest mandate in Europe (2018), ahead of the Danish Mette Frederiksen (2019), German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (2021), and Romanian Marcel Ciolacu (2023). The precedent of António Costa, elected in 2015 and who resigned as Portuguese Prime Minister at the end of last year due to a judicial investigation that came to nothing, is very present: the socialists lost the Government in the early elections.
The reaction to prevent his resignation goes beyond the PSOE and the support received from the left in Spain. The mobilization, as part of the operation to keep Sánchez from leaving, has become international. Progressive presidents of Latin America such as the Brazilian Lula da Silva or the Colombian Gustavo Petro, leaders of European social democracy, and organizations like the Socialist International have expressed their affection and denounced the far-right campaign against his family. The President of Brazil has spoken with his Spanish counterpart and recognized “his leadership and role for a more just, prosperous, and humane democratic Spain.” “His strength and role are important for his country, for Europe, and for the world,” Lula affirmed on social media. “The ‘mud machine’ driven by the Spanish far-right has sought to destroy Pedro Sánchez’s family to stop progressive policies. The right’s policy is to destroy people. My solidarity is with the President of Spain and his family,” Petro stated.
