The PP fails to capitalize on the discontent of its investiture allies

The Popular Party (PP) attempted to take advantage of the political climate of distrust and tension between the government and its parliamentary partners yesterday, ultimately leading to another row in Congress. This time, it attempted to have the Prime Minister's appearance regarding the corruption scandal that has erupted within the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) reduced from urgent to immediate. Specifically, it was scheduled for tomorrow, not July 9, the date proposed by the executive branch. But the tone and manner employed by its parliamentary spokesperson, Miguel Tellado, effectively scuppered the agreement in principle that had been looming at times during the day.

Using to his advantage the distance that some of the Executive's allies—such as ERC, Junts, and Podemos—have begun to mark over the handling of the scandal, and to whom the three-week deadline seems excessive, Tellado interrupted the start of the plenary session to request that the aforementioned change of dates be put to a vote.

Amid cries of "hands up, this is a robbery" and "shameless" from his fellow party members, the Popular Party spokesperson invoked Article 68.1 of the regulations, according to which the agenda can be altered "by agreement of the party, at the proposal of the speaker, or at the request of two parliamentary groups or one-fifth of the members of the chamber." But Francina Armengol halted his attack.

The Speaker of Congress referred the Popular Party (PP) to the committee of spokespersons as a forum to resolve these issues. This was interpreted by the PP as a new institutional clash, which increased the level of its complaints.

The PNV warns the president that there are limits: "There's not enough room for everything to keep the right out."

Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party championed a parliamentary majority that favored bringing forward Sánchez's appearance, which would include disparate parties such as Vox, Junts, Sumar, Podemos, the PNV, ERC, and the BNG, among others. But it backfired.

What's happening is that the Popular Party (PP) assumed—in a "self-serving" manner, given the complaints and subsequent clarifications from some of those affected—that all groups were willing to move up the appearance to this Thursday, when what virtually all the investiture partners are proposing is an intermediate solution. "Not in 48 hours, but not in three weeks either," parliamentary sources summarized.

But by then, the PP's protest had already been a success, and many of its deputies tweeted it from their seats.

The government argues that the PP's proposed deadlines are impossible to meet. Sánchez is immersed this week in a round of contacts with all groups, and next week he must attend the NATO summit in The Hague (June 24 and 25), as well as the European Council (June 26 and 27). In this context, they maintain, the first "realistic" date is July 9.

The Commons do not rule out leaving the Government if new cases of corruption arise.

This explanation partially convinced parties such as Sumar, PNV, and EH Bildu, who accepted the immediate impossibility but rejected postponing the appearance for three weeks, believing it would fuel the Executive's exhaustion.

But it didn't convince ERC, which, through its spokesperson, Gabriel Rufián, stated that the government "says the president can no longer appear because he has to fulfill his international agenda. But they should understand that, to continue fulfilling that agenda, he must remain president."

And it did even less to persuade the PP, which, determined to bring forward the appearance as much as possible, doubled its bet by proposing an extraordinary meeting of the board of spokespersons so that, at the end of the plenary session—presumably tomorrow at noon—another one would automatically follow to debate the Santos Cerdán case.

Aside from the final date for Sánchez's appearance, the debate over the explanations the Prime Minister is expected to give in Parliament highlighted the cautious distance some of his investiture partners have been adopting.

Podemos emphasizes that "Sánchez cannot be part of the solution because the PSOE is part of the problem."

This is the case with Podemos, which emphasized that "Sánchez cannot be part of the solution because the PSOE is part of the problem." This is also the case with the Comuns, who, following the lead set the day before by Second Vice President Yolanda Díaz, toughened their tone and left on the table the possibility of leaving the government—as a coalition force within Sumar—if new tentacles of the plot are revealed.

For its part, the PNV, through Aitor Esteban, warned the Prime Minister that "not everything can be done to prevent the right from taking over" from governing. "The situation is very delicate," and the PSOE must "clarify the situation and demonstrate that it boils down to three people and see if it's all about personal gain," declared the recently elected PNV president. "But there's a line somewhere," Esteban added, criticizing Sánchez's statements the day before, in which he "emphatically" declared that the government will continue "to prevent the right from taking over."

Esteban, in fact, advised him to exercise "prudence and humility" instead of challenging the PP to present a motion of no confidence, claiming that "it's impossible for it to succeed." Because, as he added in statements to Radio Popular, it will be "very difficult" to complete the legislative term and reach 2027 if this case is not "perfectly clarified" and the general budget is not approved.

The BNG went further and expressed its displeasure by announcing that it will not participate in the round of meetings called by Sánchez, which it considers a kind of "individualized matter of trust."