Spain’s media has been left with no other word than “farce” to describe the grand end-of-year press conference held by the country’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
More than fifty accredited journalists came to the event which, in theory, is the head of government’s annual big date with the press, and by extension, with the wider Spanish public. However, Sánchez left only 20 minutes to field questions from the accredited journalists in attendance.
The press conference started an hour later than the time the government had announced. From there, and without apologies, Sánchez spent half an hour praising the work of his coalition government.
Then, the secretary of state for communication opened the floor for a mere twenty-minute question period. Notably, only six media outlets—all chosen by the secretary—were called on to ask questions. These media outlets were El País, the newspaper which is most left-leaning and approving of Sánchez’s government, another left-wing news outlet, and two Catalan region newspapers.
None of the hand-picked journalists asked questions about the hottest topic in Spanish society at the moment—an amnesty for leaders and the 2017 illegal referendum on Catalan independence. Instead, the questions that were allowed dealt with leader of the opposition Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s proposal for the European Commission to mediate in the renewal of the country’s court system, the King’s Christmas Eve speech, and a few other issues of minor importance.
The president also reproached the press for not being harsher with the PP and Vox.
Sánchez’ staging of the press conference contrasts starkly with the practice of the two prior prime ministers, Mariano Rajoy and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who made it a rule to respond to all—or practically all—of the journalists who came to cover the end-of-year press conference at Moncloa, the prime ministerial residence. In fact, for both, it was the PM’s longest appearance of the year and the press could ask questions about all topics, without restrictions.
