The Basque nationalists have been the ones who have most clearly expressed what they think about the controversy surrounding the professional activities of Begoña Gómez, the wife of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, but also taking care of their nuances. Everything they have said can be summed up in that We must not confuse what is admissible in politics with the Penal Code, because there are behaviors that, although they are not criminal, are not acceptable. and they should be thought through carefully before doing them.
However, in general terms, the partners, and especially striking is the case of the left of Sumar, ERC and Bildu, are preferring to look the other way, and, in some cases, to assimilate with the closing of ranks imposed by Moncloa on the socialist leadership.
Ultimately, what is at stake is the share of power or influence that they hold over the Government, and this explains the different level of demand that they apply to the confusion between the public and the private that is allegedly observed in the professional behaviour of Begoña Gómez and the moral demand that they demand from the right.
In that sense, It is important to listen to the critical opinions, in the field of reserve, of some of the top representatives of the parties that support the Government. and what they say when they have a microphone in front of them.
The general impression is that what is being investigated regarding Begoña Gómez’s professional activities may not be a crime, but the information confirms that the significance of occupying the Presidency of the Government and using the Moncloa Palace “for private commercial activities” has not been calculated.
In this sense, the partners are suspicious of Begoña Gómez’s refusal to testify or the movements that are taking place at the Complutense University of Madrid. Although, equally, they have the right to “shoot” against the figure of Judge Peinado and to make their own, by assimilation also with the speech of Moncloa, the message that there is a crusade by the right to overthrow Sánchez and the coalition government that they support in exchange for the latter giving in to their demands.
This strategy could work for Sánchez as long as no more compromising information appears and there are no judicial developments, especially from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which has not closed its investigation due to the use of European funds.
Based on what is known today, the situation is not a threat to Pedro Sánchez’s stability nor does it endanger the pact that Moncloa is “combing” with ERC. The problem with this agreement is “aesthetic”, that is, how the two parties present it to their respective parishes without it being a problem for them.
This, by the way, worries ERC more than the socialists, who prefer to give in now, rather than risk a repeat election in Catalonia, which would have a destabilising effect at the national level. Even though it has been suggested that the President of the Government would take advantage of the situation to call a general election.
Sánchez has the upper hand as long as he is willing to make new concessions, even if it complicates his wife’s situation and, consequently, his own. To dampen the political and legal context that is currently not in Sánchez’s or his wife’s favour, the socialist ranks have begun to anticipate that “they should be prepared” for the new developments that will “put Judge Peinado in his place”.
The entire power machinery is working to find compromising “facts” that will give substance to the campaign against him for being, supposedly, a “hand” of the right to overthrow the President of the Government. This was also the strategy followed in the last general election campaign, with the announcement of a “bomb” that was going to affect the PP candidate, and which did not explode, despite the insistence of the media in prophesying it.