Spain’s PM considers resigning amid wife’s legal probe: ‘Is it all worth it?’
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday he would step back from public duties “for a few days” to decide whether he wants to continue leading the government after a court launched a business corruption probe into his wife’s private dealings.
Sanchez, who last year secured another term for his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) as leader of a minority coalition government, said he would announce his decision on Monday, April 29.
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Some on the street were also skeptical, saying the threat of resigning looked like a ploy by Sanchez.
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“I think it’s a way of attracting attention and getting the press to react, but the reality is that he’s not going to resign,” said Cristina, 24, a consultant in Madrid, declining to give a second name.
Corruption scandals have dogged politics on the Iberian peninsula in recent years.
Sanchez himself grabbed power after successfully leading a no confidence vote in 2018 against Mariano Rajoy of the PP after a court found party officials were guilty of operating a slush fund.
In neighboring Portugal, Socialist Antonio Costa stepped down last year amid allegations of graft in hydrogen and lithium projects involving his government.
Sanchez on Thursday had been scheduled to open the Socialist campaign for regional elections in Catalonia, where his party is seeking to wrest power from separatist parties that have led the region since 2015.
Spain’s Socialists are expected to be the strongest force in a weakening Socialists and Democrats group in European Parliament elections in June.
