After the investigation involving his wife – accused of influence peddling – and a long reflection lasting five days, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, announced that he had “decided to continue with all his strength at the helm of the government of Spain”. The Spanish leader, in a press conference, said that this is a “step that I take for a personal reason but in which everyone can see themselves”, “it is not an ideological question, but of respect, of dignity that goes beyond political opinions”.
What convinced the prime minister not to resign, as he himself reported, was the strong support of the population and of his party, the PSOE: “Thanks to this mobilization, I have decided to continue leading the presidency”.
Sánchez dissolves his reservations by announcing that he will not resign
The prime minister himself, in an attempt to relaunch his government action, then added: “We must decide what type of society we want to be. Our country needs this reflection”, because “we have let mud contaminate our public life for too long”. “My wife and I know that this smear campaign will not stop, have we been suffering from it for 10 years? We can manage it”, he added, explaining that what he decided to do is a “step that I take for a personal reason but in which everyone can see themselves”.
“It is not an ideological question, but of respect, of dignity that goes beyond political opinions”. The Spanish Prime Minister, concluding his speech, then urged the country to show “to the world how democracy is defended”.
Sánchez’s decision criticized by the opposition
What Sánchez implemented was a scene of “theatre”, which responds to a “political strategy, or judicial strategy, or both” but “he cannot hide the truth”, namely that “his project is finished”. This is what was stated by the opposition leader, the People’s Party Alberto Núñez Feijóoin a comment on the prime minister’s decision not to resign.
“This will not be Sánchez’s last stunt, nor even his most brilliant one,” Feijóo added. “He will continue with his agony as long as he deems it appropriate, but sooner or later he will have to listen to the majority of Spaniards, even if he doesn’t want it.”
