The president of the Government, Pedro Sanchezannounced this Wednesday a period of “reflection” on whether it is “worth it” to continue in your position after a Madrid court has opened prior proceedings to investigate if his wife, Begoña Gómez, has committed a crime of influence peddling. The deadline that has been set ends next Monday, April 29, when they will open before Sánchez four options ranging from nothing happening to putting a new electoral call on the horizon again.
Continue as president
The first option that Sánchez has is to conclude that, despite what he considers attacks by the “extreme right” against his wife and his personal life, yes it is worth continuing to be president of the government. In that case, the unprecedented political situation that he opened this Wednesday afternoon with his “letter to the citizens” would be settled.
Announce a subsequent call for elections
If this were not the case, Sánchez cannot call a general election at this time, because a year has not yet passed since the last time he announced the dissolution of the Cortes, on May 29 of last year, after the catastrophe that the PSOE experienced in the municipal and regional elections the day before, on May 28 . For that reason and if even so the decision that the Spanish vote again -with him as a PSOE candidate or not-, the option he would have would be to make a announcement of an electoral call that, in any case, could not be effective until May 30, from when they would begin to count the 54 days that must intervene between that moment and the celebration of new general elections. It would be the third time that Sánchez calls in advance, after 2019 and 2023.
Resign
However, the president would still have two other options to leave office. without having to call elections and it would be enough to celebrate new investiture session in Congress based on the results of the elections of July 23.
The first would simply be resign. In that case, article 101 of the Constitution indicates that “the dismissed Government will continue in office until the new Government takes office.”
Question of confidence
The second, raise a question of trust to submit to a vote in Congress that would confirm him in office or the opposite. According to article 112 of the Constitution, “the President of the Government, after deliberation by the Council of Ministers, may raise before the Congress of Deputies the question of confidence regarding his program or a declaration of general policy.” Nor in that case would it be necessary to call elections if the deputies voted in favor of giving him confidence and withdrew the majority support they gave him at the last investiture, in November of last year.
According to article 112 of the Constitution, “if Congress denies its confidence in the Government, it He will present his resignation to the king, followed by the appointment of President of the Government.according to the provisions of article 99″, that is, launching a new round of consultations between the king with all political groups, in order of representation from lowest to highest according to the elections of July 23 of last year. The different formations could present their candidate for the Presidency of the Government from among their deputies and Felipe VI would appoint to go to an investiture session who you consider has more support according to your queries.
Go to Brussels
A fifth option, implicit in the resignation hypothesis, would be for Sánchez to leave national politics to make the leap to the EU. In Brussels, European Commission, Council of the EU and European Parliament They have yet to renew their presidencies after the European elections on June 9.
Just the day that the PSOE announced that the third vice president, Teresa Ribera, will be your candidate to the elections to the European Parliament, the unknown that Sánchez himself has raised about his future as President of the Government makes it inevitable to speculate on the possibility that he I would also like to apply for a position in the EU.
The most likely option would be presidency of the European Council, the meeting of the heads of State and Government of the EU. Its current president, the Belgian liberal, is on his way out there Charles Michelwho a few months ago unleashed nerves in European capitals by threatening to resign in July if they did not hurry to find a successor, in which case the position would remain in the hands of the Hungarian Viktor Orban, whose country will hold the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of this year. The former Portuguese Prime Minister has been talked about for this positionAntónio Costa, who resigned when he saw mistakenly splashed in anti-corruption investigation in his country from which he was exonerated. Costa is a socialist, like Sánchez, a plus point considering that the presidency of the European Commission will likely remain in the hands of European conservatives.
Disposable would be presidency of the European Parliament because for that Sánchez should be elected before MEP. In theory and while he reflects, Sánchez would still have time to include his name on the electoral list that will be definitively approved by the Federal Council of the PSOE next Saturday.
It is also highly unlikely that Sánchez could aspire to the presidency of the European Commission, the most important position within the EU. The European socialists have already designated the Luxembourger as a candidate Nicolas Schmita low-profile politician because they would predictably be willing to vote again in favor of the current president, the German conservative Ursula von der Leyen. Furthermore, a hypothetical jump by Sánchez to the European Commission would totally frustrate Ribera from becoming commissioner, the final destination of the process that she is now beginning as a socialist candidate for the elections to the European Parliament.
