Last Thursday, the 9th of November, was a sad day for Spain. Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE and the Catalan secessionists announced an agreement for the investiture of the Socialist prime minister. The agreement would keep Sánchez in power in exchange for conceding on each and every demand made by the Catalan separatists who attempted a coup d’état in 2017. These concessions comprise amnesty to all Catalan coup plotters, including those on trial for terrorism and attacks against the police; an upcoming call for an illegal and unconstitutional self-determination referendum for Catalonia; cession of 100% of taxes to the Catalan region; cancellation of Catalonia’s debt, which all other Spaniards will pay; and recognition of lawfare, which would allow a political commission to invalidate the decisions of the judges who tried the coup plotters and even be prosecuted themselves.
Sánchez has gone from criticizing the Catalan coup d’état to leading it, putting an end to the equality of Spaniards before the law, trampling on the Constitution, and placing Spain on the brink of a Bolivarian-style extreme left-wing dictatorship. Naturally, he has not even done the minimum that could be expected of him: call a national referendum or general elections so that Spaniards, nearly all of whom could not imagine any of this when they voted for him, could decide freely.
In the midst of this chaos, the government was ordered to dissolve the peaceful demonstrations in front of its headquarters with extremely violent methods—including police charges and tear gas against children and elderly alike. Then, a few hours after the investiture agreement was announced and Sánchez’s betrayal of Spain commenced, the former vice-president of the European Parliament and co-founder of VOX, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, was shot in broad daylight in Madrid. The Catalan politician, highly critical of the secessionist drift of Catalonia, was shot in the face and survived only by some kind of miracle.
A few minutes later, the Sanchez-approving press falsely leaked that it was an attempted robbery, something quickly denied by witnesses. The attackers fled on a motorcycle that was found, burned, on the outskirts of Madrid, and are still being pursued. Alejo Vidal-Quadras was also in the crosshairs of the Iranian regime, which was initially widely considered as the reason for the assassination attempt. However, as days go by and still nothing is known about who tried to kill him and why, the police have begun to rule out the Iranian hypothesis, which would have been an unprecedented attack on European soil. The National Court will take over the investigation this week, treating it now as a terrorist attack. Nobody forgets that Vidal-Quadras himself is an old symbol of constitutionalism and national unity, and that, on the day he was attacked, he happened to be speaking at one of the demonstrations against the amnesty.
Along with the rallies that take place every day in front of PSOE locations throughout Spain, Alberto Núñez Feijoo’s PP called for a large demonstration last weekend. The event, which had the backing of VOX, brought together close to two million Spaniards, one of the largest demonstrations in the history of Spain.
It should be noted that Sánchez has not only needed to make a pact with the Catalan coup plotters, but for his investiture he has also required agreements with the political heirs of ETA, with Basque and Galician nationalists, and with the two communist parties; all of them will receive generous concessions and many of them will also be in the next Government. If he had needed the help of the devil himself in order to be prime minister, he would also have accepted it without hesitation.
His obsession with staying in power after having lost the general elections to the Right, will result in an extreme left-wing totalitarian government, whose first victim is the separation of powers. In a normal scenario, the Constitutional Court would reject the amnesty, however, Sánchez has been preparing his plan for some time, and months ago he maneuvered to place a socialist from his inner circle, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, at the head of the court. Conde-Pumpido will surely approve whatever the PM tells him to approve. Just today the Supreme Court has expressed its concern about what Sanchez intends to do, but the socialist leader remains stubborn in his destructive plan.
Nevertheless, there is hope. Not even the brazenness and impunity with which he is acting has discouraged the opposition, which is in turn awakening the masses—in the street, in the justice system, in the institutions, and in the EU. Precisely, one of the aims of the opposition is to make the EU understand the threat that this coup represents, not only for Spain but for all Europe. And it is a real threat, not like that of Hungary and Poland over which they waste so much time.
As for the institutional battle, the vast majority of the associations of judges, prosecutors, tax inspectors, notaries, and even police, have agreed for once and have issued communiqués condemning the amnesty law, admitting that if Sanchez gets his way, the rule of law will be dead in Spain. I doubt France or Germany want a new Venezuela in the heart of Europe.
Sánchez’s newspaper archive comprises the most voluminous festival of lies in the political history of Spain, and probably also in European history. The list of lies and betrayals is endless. Sánchez ran for election under the promise of bringing back to Spain and trying the leader of the Catalan coup, since then a fugitive in Waterloo. Not only will he not be doing that, but he will be rewarding him. Sánchez said he would not be able to sleep with communists in his government, and yet he governed with communists in the previous legislature, and now he will do it again. Sánchez said he would never reach agreements with Bildu, the political arm of ETA, and of course he has reached an investiture agreement, the terms of which are unknown for the moment—but everything points to the fact that it will include new releases of convicted terrorists.
The Socialist leader himself has received timid criticism from within his party, among other things because regional leaders have no way of explaining to their voters that crimes may or may not be crimes depending on whether they are committed by Catalans, Extremadurians, or Asturians. They also do not know how to explain to their voters why the Catalan debt, the largest in the country, must now be paid by all Spaniards, thus punishing regions that have managed their finances properly.
Sánchez’s control over his own people—he has sacked all the critics—is such that there is no hope of any of them deciding not to support the fraudulent investiture of the prime minister, though it would be enough for about a dozen socialist deputies to vote against for it not to go ahead. And if you take a look at the history of Spain, you will discover that heroism and socialism are antonyms. Historical PSOE members, such as former PM Felipe González, have raised their voices to harshly criticize the party’s coup drift and … not much else.
On Monday, 13th of November, Pedro Sánchez took his amnesty law to Congress and the hurried investiture session was set for Wednesday, 15th of November, and Thursday, 16th of November. It seems the bride is in a hurry to get married in case someone raises a hand in the middle of the wedding and alleges infidelity, betrayal, or worse. In response, VOX leader Santiago Abascal has asked the Supreme Court for a precautionary suspension of the investiture and filed a lawsuit against Sánchez for three crimes. The workers’ union linked to VOX has called a general strike against the amnesty for the 24th of November. In the meantime, Spaniards continue daily to come out en masse to protest in cities all over Spain and request the support of the international community against Sanchez’s autocratic plan.
The amazing thing about the Spanish case is that neither the Catalan secessionists nor the Basque nationalists, nor even the communists have significant electoral representation in Spain as a whole. It is incomprehensible that a few hundred thousand extremists are deciding the political future of 47 million Spaniards. But it is even more appalling if you seek an explanation for Spain having reached this situation, because it turns out that there is only one: Pedro Sánchez wants to keep his premiership at all costs. Nothing else matters to him, including his honor, his party, the good of Spanish citizens, and Spain itself. The unbridled ambition of this man does not only represent a danger for Spain, but for all Europe.
Sánchez’s Betrayal of Spain
Photo by Focal Finder / Shutterstock
Last Thursday, the 9th of November, was a sad day for Spain. Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE and the Catalan secessionists announced an agreement for the investiture of the Socialist prime minister. The agreement would keep Sánchez in power in exchange for conceding on each and every demand made by the Catalan separatists who attempted a coup d’état in 2017. These concessions comprise amnesty to all Catalan coup plotters, including those on trial for terrorism and attacks against the police; an upcoming call for an illegal and unconstitutional self-determination referendum for Catalonia; cession of 100% of taxes to the Catalan region; cancellation of Catalonia’s debt, which all other Spaniards will pay; and recognition of lawfare, which would allow a political commission to invalidate the decisions of the judges who tried the coup plotters and even be prosecuted themselves.
Sánchez has gone from criticizing the Catalan coup d’état to leading it, putting an end to the equality of Spaniards before the law, trampling on the Constitution, and placing Spain on the brink of a Bolivarian-style extreme left-wing dictatorship. Naturally, he has not even done the minimum that could be expected of him: call a national referendum or general elections so that Spaniards, nearly all of whom could not imagine any of this when they voted for him, could decide freely.
In the midst of this chaos, the government was ordered to dissolve the peaceful demonstrations in front of its headquarters with extremely violent methods—including police charges and tear gas against children and elderly alike. Then, a few hours after the investiture agreement was announced and Sánchez’s betrayal of Spain commenced, the former vice-president of the European Parliament and co-founder of VOX, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, was shot in broad daylight in Madrid. The Catalan politician, highly critical of the secessionist drift of Catalonia, was shot in the face and survived only by some kind of miracle.
A few minutes later, the Sanchez-approving press falsely leaked that it was an attempted robbery, something quickly denied by witnesses. The attackers fled on a motorcycle that was found, burned, on the outskirts of Madrid, and are still being pursued. Alejo Vidal-Quadras was also in the crosshairs of the Iranian regime, which was initially widely considered as the reason for the assassination attempt. However, as days go by and still nothing is known about who tried to kill him and why, the police have begun to rule out the Iranian hypothesis, which would have been an unprecedented attack on European soil. The National Court will take over the investigation this week, treating it now as a terrorist attack. Nobody forgets that Vidal-Quadras himself is an old symbol of constitutionalism and national unity, and that, on the day he was attacked, he happened to be speaking at one of the demonstrations against the amnesty.
Along with the rallies that take place every day in front of PSOE locations throughout Spain, Alberto Núñez Feijoo’s PP called for a large demonstration last weekend. The event, which had the backing of VOX, brought together close to two million Spaniards, one of the largest demonstrations in the history of Spain.
It should be noted that Sánchez has not only needed to make a pact with the Catalan coup plotters, but for his investiture he has also required agreements with the political heirs of ETA, with Basque and Galician nationalists, and with the two communist parties; all of them will receive generous concessions and many of them will also be in the next Government. If he had needed the help of the devil himself in order to be prime minister, he would also have accepted it without hesitation.
His obsession with staying in power after having lost the general elections to the Right, will result in an extreme left-wing totalitarian government, whose first victim is the separation of powers. In a normal scenario, the Constitutional Court would reject the amnesty, however, Sánchez has been preparing his plan for some time, and months ago he maneuvered to place a socialist from his inner circle, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, at the head of the court. Conde-Pumpido will surely approve whatever the PM tells him to approve. Just today the Supreme Court has expressed its concern about what Sanchez intends to do, but the socialist leader remains stubborn in his destructive plan.
Nevertheless, there is hope. Not even the brazenness and impunity with which he is acting has discouraged the opposition, which is in turn awakening the masses—in the street, in the justice system, in the institutions, and in the EU. Precisely, one of the aims of the opposition is to make the EU understand the threat that this coup represents, not only for Spain but for all Europe. And it is a real threat, not like that of Hungary and Poland over which they waste so much time.
As for the institutional battle, the vast majority of the associations of judges, prosecutors, tax inspectors, notaries, and even police, have agreed for once and have issued communiqués condemning the amnesty law, admitting that if Sanchez gets his way, the rule of law will be dead in Spain. I doubt France or Germany want a new Venezuela in the heart of Europe.
Sánchez’s newspaper archive comprises the most voluminous festival of lies in the political history of Spain, and probably also in European history. The list of lies and betrayals is endless. Sánchez ran for election under the promise of bringing back to Spain and trying the leader of the Catalan coup, since then a fugitive in Waterloo. Not only will he not be doing that, but he will be rewarding him. Sánchez said he would not be able to sleep with communists in his government, and yet he governed with communists in the previous legislature, and now he will do it again. Sánchez said he would never reach agreements with Bildu, the political arm of ETA, and of course he has reached an investiture agreement, the terms of which are unknown for the moment—but everything points to the fact that it will include new releases of convicted terrorists.
The Socialist leader himself has received timid criticism from within his party, among other things because regional leaders have no way of explaining to their voters that crimes may or may not be crimes depending on whether they are committed by Catalans, Extremadurians, or Asturians. They also do not know how to explain to their voters why the Catalan debt, the largest in the country, must now be paid by all Spaniards, thus punishing regions that have managed their finances properly.
Sánchez’s control over his own people—he has sacked all the critics—is such that there is no hope of any of them deciding not to support the fraudulent investiture of the prime minister, though it would be enough for about a dozen socialist deputies to vote against for it not to go ahead. And if you take a look at the history of Spain, you will discover that heroism and socialism are antonyms. Historical PSOE members, such as former PM Felipe González, have raised their voices to harshly criticize the party’s coup drift and … not much else.
On Monday, 13th of November, Pedro Sánchez took his amnesty law to Congress and the hurried investiture session was set for Wednesday, 15th of November, and Thursday, 16th of November. It seems the bride is in a hurry to get married in case someone raises a hand in the middle of the wedding and alleges infidelity, betrayal, or worse. In response, VOX leader Santiago Abascal has asked the Supreme Court for a precautionary suspension of the investiture and filed a lawsuit against Sánchez for three crimes. The workers’ union linked to VOX has called a general strike against the amnesty for the 24th of November. In the meantime, Spaniards continue daily to come out en masse to protest in cities all over Spain and request the support of the international community against Sanchez’s autocratic plan.
The amazing thing about the Spanish case is that neither the Catalan secessionists nor the Basque nationalists, nor even the communists have significant electoral representation in Spain as a whole. It is incomprehensible that a few hundred thousand extremists are deciding the political future of 47 million Spaniards. But it is even more appalling if you seek an explanation for Spain having reached this situation, because it turns out that there is only one: Pedro Sánchez wants to keep his premiership at all costs. Nothing else matters to him, including his honor, his party, the good of Spanish citizens, and Spain itself. The unbridled ambition of this man does not only represent a danger for Spain, but for all Europe.
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