Sánchez loses support by trying to play the victim

Confidence in the government has been severely undermined by the Ábalos-Cerdán case and attacks on the judiciary.

Pedro Sánchez took another step yesterday in his victimization strategy to downplay the scope of responsibility for the alleged collection of illegal kickbacks by the last two PSOE organizational secretaries in exchange for public works contracts. In an open letter to his party members, he raised the tone by questioning the Civil Guard's investigations in its role as judicial police into the activities of Santos Cerdán and José Luis Ábalos, along with their former collaborator Koldo García, and even went so far as to frame them as part of a "moral demolition operation" by the government he presides.

An unacceptable statement coming from someone who has the constitutional duty to respect the separation of powers, even if it is limited to the relationship between a political leader and his party members. Even more so, considering the discontent within the judiciary and prosecutorial professions due to the repeated attacks on judges by members of the Executive Branch, the blatant manipulation of the Attorney General's Office, as well as the reforms promoted by Justice Minister Félix Bolaños, which modify regulated access to both branches of government.

In fact, the majority associations of judges and prosecutors have announced the call for a historic strike for July 1, 2, and 3 in protest against the attempt to increase the politicization of judicial bodies and favor the incorporation of professionals more aligned with the interests of the Executive. The mobilization will be preceded by a rally of both groups outside the Supreme Court this Saturday and a denunciation of the Ministry's plans to the European authorities for violating EU standards.

Despite this clear display of weariness among judicial and prosecutorial professionals, Bolaños reiterated that the reforms will continue because there is a parliamentary majority in favor of them. However, the crisis over alleged corruption within the PSOE has led Sánchez's partners to once again raise the bar on their demands to keep him in power, whether to demand compliance with pending concessions (such as Junts) or to demand greater forcefulness in eradicating such conduct from the administration (ERC). Confidence in the government is severely weakened, and this will be evident today during the Congressional oversight session.