Pedro Sánchez maintains the maxim of not entering into confrontation with Yolanda Díaz given the high tone of the second vice president, who called for an overhaul of the government in the face of the corruption and harassment scandals affecting the PSOE. Hours before the meeting between the socialist leadership and Sumar’s parties, during a press conference, the president revealed that he had already met Díaz. This was in response to the question of whether he intended to do so to calm the spirits of the minority coalition partner. “I’ve already met,” he said.
Sánchez responded to journalists’ questions quickly and concisely on this subject, having also avoided confrontation in the morning, when he avoided answering whether it was logical for Sumar to leave the government after demanding an overhaul that he had ruled out from the start. He also denied seeing disloyalty in Díaz’s attitude. “No, I don’t think about it,” he said.
The Prime Minister tried to reduce tensions with Sumar a few hours earlier. “Despite the differences, because we are political organizations with a different culture, there are many things that unite us, the main one being the roadmap of progress that we are implementing until 2027,” he noted.
Sánchez defended the “cleanliness” of the rescue of the Plus Ultra airline, which he said was a loan during the pandemic, after the PP’s attacks on former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for meeting Plus Ultra director Julio Martínez shortly before his arrest. The former president denies any link with this operation and those around him consider it “slanderous to insinuate that he warned him of his arrest, which was a great surprise for him”.
Defends the “cleanliness” of Plus Ultra rescue
“I did not have the opportunity to speak with President Zapatero, but we have always defended the cleanliness of all rescues, which were not rescues but loans, in accordance with national legislation, the parameters and the requirements required by the Court of Auditors,” said Sánchez, who recalled that the issue of airline rescue is “a recurring debate.” The PP also insists on linking his wife, Begoña Gómez, to the Air Europa file, which the courts have closed. What the president did not answer was whether he would lay his hands on the fire for Zapatero, who had a close relationship with Martínez.
Sánchez appeared before the media in Brussels after 4 a.m., having finished the European Council in which the 27 failed in their plan to use Russia’s frozen assets to help Ukraine financially and agreed to issue Eurobonds worth 90 billion euros over the next two years to prevent the country’s collapse.
The president of the government minimized the new delay in the agreement with Mercosur imposed by the Italian far right Giorgia Meloni. France also called for more guarantees for European farmers. “If we waited 25 years, we can wait 25 years and a month,” he said.
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