Criticism of institutional management surrounding the harassment case attributed to Francisco Salazar, a former government adviser, has raised questions about the role of executive branch officials in protecting and handling internal complaints, according to media. In this context, the opposition has increased its demands for public statements, citing as the main reason the absence of seven ministers in the last control session of the year in the Congress of Deputies, convened for Wednesday, December 10, 2025.
According to media reports, the departure of these high-ranking officials from the scene is directly related to the unrest and debate that resulted from the complaints against Salazar. The news that the Socialist Party, a historical benchmark of the current government and the party with which Salazar was linked, took about four months to respond to the complainants increased pressure on the executive branch, the source added. This delay was used by the People’s Party (PP) to question the commitment and transparency of government officials in the context of institutional crises.
According to the media, the PP believes that the absence of the seven ministers at a particularly important meeting represents a deliberate strategy by the government to avoid parliamentary scrutiny. The senior officials identified include First Vice President and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, and Minister of Education and Government Spokesperson, Pilar Alegría. The PP attributes them an important role in the internal handling of the complaints and in the alleged protection of the former advisor Salazar, citing a close relationship between the two and the person concerned.
The media explained that the stance of Montero and Alegría represents, for the PP, the desire not to respond in the House of Commons to the questions arising from the case. The Conservatives alleged that Alegría had a frequent professional relationship with Salazar and that he chose not to appear before Congress despite being aware of the complaints. In media reports, party spokesmen said: “He no longer shared a table, a tablecloth and confidences with the harasser Salazar, despite knowing the complaints filed against him, but fled Congress.”
In addition to the above-mentioned ministers, Third Vice President Sara Aagesen, Economy Minister Carlos Body, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Defense Chief Margarita Robles and Transport Minister Óscar Puente will also not attend. According to the media, the PP interprets the non-appearance of this group of ministers as a deliberate retreat from parliamentary responsibility with the aim of avoiding explanations on the cases affecting their departments.
The Salazar case gained notoriety through the dissemination of anonymous complaints from workers in the institutional environment. The complaints describe behavior deemed inappropriate, such as situations in which colleagues are approached in offices, as well as actions considered rude and humiliating by the affected employees, the media said. The handling of these complaints by the PSOE and the central government has been the subject of an internal investigation and extensive political debate, both due to the nature of the events and the time that elapsed before they were officially recognized and addressed.
As reported by the media, it is argued within the PP that the executive maintains a double discourse: while strengthening the defense of equality and the protection of women, the government is at the same time accused of “raising the feminist flag with one hand and ensuring that harassment complaints disappear with the other,” according to statements reported by the media. This discursive strategy has intensified political confrontation in a context already characterized by high institutional tensions.
The government control session in the House of Representatives represents one of the most important control and dialogue mechanisms between the executive and the opposition. The absence of more than a third of the Cabinet has meant for the opposition a withdrawal from parliamentary debate and the political responsibility arising from the management of internal complaints. According to the media, the People’s Party has insisted that this stance exacerbates public perceptions of the government’s lack of accountability and transparency.
In addition to questioning the PSOE’s coherence in equality and victim protection policies, the opposition took advantage of the delay in processing complaints to highlight deficiencies in internal procedures and the management of institutional resources in sensitive cases. According to the media, the media and political impact of the case highlights the need to examine both the individual and collective responsibilities of senior officials in dealing with harassment situations and demands for transparency.
The monitoring carried out by the PP of the development of the Salazar case – including the PSOE’s response time and the attitude of government members – has increased the public visibility of the case in a scenario of increasing scrutiny of the integrity of the national executive and the credibility of its main figures, as can be seen from media reports. This context explains the opposition’s interest in assessing the institutional impact of the absences and turning the parliamentary session into a pressure point on the central government.
Critical sectors insist that the open crisis following the harassment complaints and the executive response reinforce doubts about the effective protection of victims in the institutional environment and the quality of the internal policies implemented by the ruling party. The controversy extends to the way government officials responded to public scrutiny and the actions taken after learning of the complaints filed by employees of central authorities.
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