Is The Government of Spain a Cesspit of Corruption?

And a word about the Irish election

1.

Before I get started let me point you to a thread I wrote yesterday about yet another horrendous report on Spain in the FT. In case you are not on Bluesky the tldr is this: Behind a façade of “The national government says this, the regional one says that. Who knows really? We’re giving both sides of the story” slippery turns of phrase give the innocent reader the impression that the national government is responsible for the Valencia floods catastrophe.

2.

So, is the government of Spain a cesspit of corruption? That’s the impression that the opposition, the senior ranks of the judiciary, and much of the media are trying to install. I’d say that the answer is, as far as we know, no. In various forms, it’s been in power since December 2018 so it would be a bit weird if someone hadn’t put their hand in the till in all this time and so it has proved, apparently, with the interconnected Koldo and Ábalos cases related to the payment of commissions to acquire PPE during the pandemic.  Nothing has yet been proved it but it sure doesn’t look good.

Involved in their cases and a separate one and in jail on remand, the mysterious Víctor de Aldama, a businessman with unclear relations with the Guardia Civil and possibly with intelligence service elements too,  yesterday gave testimony accusing various  ministers of either having received massive bribes from him or of facilitating his criminal activities. One of the people he accused of being on the take is Santos Cerdan, a senior PSOE guy in charge of relations with the Catalan nationalist party Junts, thus a particular hate figure for the right. A few hours after spattering a ton of shit over the government he was released from custody. All perfectly legal but I guess readers don’t need me to join the dots for them.

 By contrast to all this the brother of PP superstar Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the President of the Madrid Autonomous Community and the  Evita of the far right, trousered a quarter of a million Euro commission during the pandemic and that was deemed to be impeccably legal.

Her boyfriend is up to his oxters in problems with the tax authorities. This has led to the Supreme Court ordering a search of the Chief Public Prosecutor’s office and the seizure of his electronic devices, allegedly to find evidence that he leaked confidential information about the case.  As he is a political appointment a cynical person might say that the real objective of the search and seizure was to find dirt on the government.

Considerable efforts are also being deployed to paint Sánchez’s wife Begoña Gómez as some kind of master criminal, or as being trans. I mention the latter because the judge investigating her has asked to see her marriage certificate “with any notes in the margins”. The only motivation I can think of for this request is a search for evidence that she was a man at some point, a favourite of the far-right rumour mill.  Related to this are the whispers that Morocco has embarrassing personal information about the prime ministerial couple and is using it to blackmail him.

You’re beginning to spot a pattern here? Me too. I think that neither the senior levels of the judiciary nor the opposition nor much of the media have ever accepted the legitimacy of Sánchez’s governments, have got sick and tired of waiting for the electorate to kick him out and are now determined to do it themselves by wearing down the psychological strength of Sánchez, his wife and ministers and eroding public confidence in the government. Guillem Martínez says in one of these pieces that the ultimate goal of this campaign is to find something about which to investigate Sánchez personally, search his office in the la Moncloa government complex, and seize his devices. Whatever it takes….

Sánchez isn’t going to go quietly though; after a hugely complicated negotiation his government got a packet of fiscal measures through Congress during the week. This augurs well for the possibility of passing a budget and protects the recovery fund money from Brussels

Careful management of the economy with impressive statistics by every measure no longer seem to matter in Spanish politics. It’s now about vibes and atmospheres.

3.

There’s a general election in Ireland on Friday. This is the constituency I’m from and the candidates standing there. If I could vote I guess I’d give my first three preferences to the Greens, the Social Democrats and Labour. With a heavy heart though, their parties are eager participants in the current antisemitic psychosis in Ireland.  

I doubt any of them will get in but the Sinn Féin candidate  will surely be returned. I used to know her family back in the day. I wouldn’t describe them as people with a strong commitment to liberal democracy, the Constitution or the rule of law.

—

PSA. I’m not allowing comments on this because I don’t want to give space to compatriots telling me that Ireland is a paradise for Jews and that I am a sick Zionist.