Sánchez presents an anti-corruption plan with 15 measures to appease his partners.

"I'm here to account for myself, to give explanations, to assume my responsibility, but above all, I'm here to propose measures to ensure something like this doesn't happen again," Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez asserted this Wednesday when he appeared before the Congress of Deputies regarding the alleged corruption cases that have affected his party. Sánchez asserted that he does not plan to "throw in the towel" because he is a "clean politician" who leads "an exemplary party." He also presented a series of anti-corruption measures with which he seeks to please his parliamentary partners and save the legislature.

"It's clear that I was wrong to trust Santos Cerdán and José Luis Ábalos," said Sánchez during his appearance before Congress to address the alleged case of commissions received in exchange for the awarding of public works contracts involving the last two PSOE Organization Secretaries. Sánchez stated that he feels profound "disappointment" in himself and in the people he trusted to serve as his party's number three.

The Prime Minister has asserted that in recent weeks he had even considered abandoning the party and calling early elections, but that he ultimately decided to continue, "not throw in the towel," because he is a "clean politician" who leads "an exemplary party," and "the betrayal of a few cannot taint the rest."

"I'm here to regain the trust of the parliamentary groups that support the progressive coalition government's push for executive duties, to dispel any legitimate doubts citizens following this appearance may have, by sharing everything I know and explaining what we're going to do to overcome this crisis," Sánchez said.

The president has praised the anti-corruption measures his party and government have been promoting, but ultimately admitted that "it's not enough" and announced that he will go a step further.

The progressive coalition government, it has announced, is proposing to the Congress of Deputies the adoption of a State Plan to Combat Corruption, comprising 15 measures. This is a program "of significant scope that we have designed jointly with the OECD, with its anti-corruption division and integrated into the government," it explained.

"It will be the greatest boost to preventing, combating, and addressing corruption that our country has seen in recent decades, placing us at the forefront of the continent," the president asserted.

The first pillar of the plan, Sánchez explained, is risk prevention and strengthening anti-corruption controls, with six measures, including the creation of an independent public integrity agency that will oversee and prosecute corrupt practices.

The plan also includes conducting an audit of the use of European funds from the Next Generation program across the entire State Administration, with risk maps and vulnerability detection in critical procurement processes and budget management, leveraging Artificial Intelligence in the public sector procurement platform.

In addition, companies will be required to have anti-corruption compliance systems if they wish to enter into contracts with public authorities, under monitoring processes similar to those implemented in other countries. Annual asset audits will also be implemented for senior officials to ensure that no one obtains improper income.

Controls over political parties will also be increased, with external and independent audits for parties receiving more than €50,000. The threshold for detailing donations will be lowered to €2,500, and the deadline will be reduced to one month. Furthermore, the lobbying law will make the relationship between companies and public servants more transparent.

The second pillar is to provide guarantees and protection to those who report corruption. Although Spain already has Law 2/2023 on the protection of whistleblowers, the idea is that anyone who reports corruption will do so with full guarantees of confidentiality, protection, and legal support. Internal reporting channels will be required for companies, as well as for public administrations, city councils, regional governments, and national governments.

The third axis seeks to punish corruption with specialized judges, preferential and summary proceedings against public officials to avoid undue delays, and the implementation of specific sanctions.

Furthermore, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office will be strengthened, and the Criminal Procedure Law will be promoted so that prosecutors, not judges, can conduct investigations.

To pursue the corrupt, but also the corruptor, action will be taken against companies and businessmen who offer bribes. Penalties for companies and businessmen will be toughened, increasing statutes of limitations and increasing fines, not based on profits obtained but on their annual revenue; creating blacklists so that companies convicted of corruption cannot continue contracting with the public administration; toughening sanctions; and withdrawing public subsidies for those convicted of corruption.

Finally, measures will be promoted to control corruption, raise public awareness, promote reporting channels, and strengthen prevention training for public employees.

Finally, a monitoring and evaluation system has been agreed upon with the OECD at 12 and 24 months, with a public opinion.

"There is still much to be done," the president asserted, mentioning his aspiration to achieve full employment; improve workers' purchasing power; improve the education and healthcare systems; make decent housing available; expand the development of the autonomous model; and implement his plan against corruption.

Opposition reply

The Prime Minister's intervention was followed by a harsh rebuttal from the PP president and opposition leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who warned that Sánchez's only option is "to help recover the spoils and call elections; he has no other option." Feijóo called on the PSOE's parliamentary partners to withdraw their support, recalling that parties like the PNV supported Sánchez's rise to power in the vote of no confidence against Mariano Rajoy, due to the PP's corruption cases.

Vox leader Santiago Abascal and the party's 32 deputies decided to leave the Congressional chamber during the president's speech as a "gesture of contempt for the president." Abascal, however, eventually returned during the session to criticize Sánchez for both the corruption cases being investigated within his party and the fact that the legislature has been subject to pacts with Bildu and the pro-independence parties.

Díaz calls for a "change of course"

Thirdly, Yolanda Díaz, Second Vice President of the Government and Minister of Labor, spoke out. She expressed her differences with the Socialist wing of the Executive by sitting in the chair of the spokesperson for her party, Sumar, and leaving the Executive's bench in the Congress of Deputies that she normally occupies, just two seats behind Sánchez.

"Corruption is a national tragedy," Díaz denounced, asserting that the coalition government persists because it refuses to accept it and seeks to curb the "immense damage" caused by irregularities.

"Today, we at Sumar are asking you to change course," Díaz told Sánchez, reminding him of his unfulfilled promises. "Governing isn't about resisting, it's about transforming," he warned, calling for a "step forward to say that corruption in Spain is over." Nevertheless, Díaz noted that of the 15 anti-corruption measures proposed by Sumar, the president has adopted 10, for which he thanked him. Díaz then criticized Feijóo for not having presented a single anti-corruption measure.

Díaz, mourning the death yesterday of his father, the trade unionist Suso Díaz, concluded his speech by mentioning that he would never have wanted the right to govern, and therefore advocated for the continuity of the coalition government, provided that "a social shift is achieved in the legislature" with a focus on housing.

ERC: "The left cannot steal."

"Let's not fool ourselves, this isn't a debate about corruption, it's a debate about the continuity of the legislature," said ERC spokesperson Gabriel Rufián, criticizing the government for settling into a "you're more so" mode, mentioning the PP's corruption cases instead of focusing on responding to the scandals currently affecting the PSOE.

"The left can't steal," Rufián warned Sánchez, urging him to act on housing if he wants citizens to value the progressive government's measures. "How do you expect young people to value anything if they live in holes?" he asked.

"If this stays here, with three clever people who shared four bribes, you have to stay, because a government can't be brought down with what we have on the table," Rufián clarified to Sánchez, warning that "if this escalates, if they make us choose between the professionally corrupt and the shady ones, we're going to force them to let the people decide." "Because there will come a time when your permanence will not stand against the right and the far right, but will mean that once you come in, you'll stay forever," the ERC spokesperson hammered home.

Junts to Sánchez: "You are under extension."

For her part, Junts spokesperson Miriam Nogueras clarified that her seven seats are driven exclusively by the interests of Catalonia, and that she will not take sides with either the PSOE or the PP in the ongoing political battle. "We will continue to act as a dam against the centralist and interventionist greed of the Spanish left, and the right's drive against the independence movement."

"Today we are witnessing yet another episode of the collapse, caricature, and decadence that both of you, the PP and PSOE, have agreed to consolidate for decades, unable to unravel the seams of the transition," Nogueras criticized, criticizing Sánchez for having implemented an anti-corruption plan that the European Commission had already requested from him starting in 2024.

Nogueras emphasized the fact that the state "steals more than 22 billion euros each year" from Catalonia, which "does not pay what it owes," and the fact that the PP and PSOE have agreed to prevent Junts from governing Barcelona.

"We didn't come here to have a few beers, or to make friends, or to be liked" by the Socialist bloc. "We didn't come here to bring stability to any Spanish government. Our commitment is not to you but to the Catalans. We're not here to support this farce," Nogueras concluded, warning Sánchez that "you are under extension, and the extension doesn't last the entire term."

Bildu: "must clean up corruption"

From Bildu, spokesperson Mertxe Aizpurua warned Sánchez that "he must clean up corruption in his party and take measures to ensure that these schemes do not spread throughout his party or the government." Although the party welcomes the measures proposed by the president, they believe they should go further because "if corruption is structural, the solution must be structural."

For Bildu, the dilemma is whether we are heading toward a reactionary scenario or a period of decentralization. "Your government needs a new purpose," the Bildu spokesperson warned Sánchez, proposing that Sánchez promote a "popular and plurinational democratic project that structurally confronts corruption and promotes social majorities." "We are not going to try to bring down this government, nor to end this term," although "we will be very demanding of the PSOE and its government," Aizpurua clarified.