Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been summoned as a witness in a corruption investigation involving his wife, Begoña Gómez. Sánchez will be questioned on July 30 by investigating judge Juan Carlos Peinado at the prime minister’s residence. A preliminary investigation was opened in April into whether Gómez used her government connections to further her private business interests. The corruption and influence-peddling probe was launched following a complaint filed by Manos Limpias, or “Clean Hands,” a platform with links to ultranationalist groups notorious for filing legal complaints li ..read more

MADRID — “I don’t want to reform anything, I want to destroy the system.” A warning from the Alternative for Germany? Or France’s National Rally? Or even Donald Trump? No, that was the message from Luis “Alvise” Pérez, a Spanish online agitator, as he campaigned (successfully) to become a member of the European Parliament. Pérez’s party Se Acabó La Fiesta (SALF) — in English, The Party’s Over — won over 800,000 votes and three seats in the EU election. Despite that success, it’s not yet clear if SALF will become a major force in Spanish politics or is merely a short-term disruptor. What i ..read more

Listen on Acast Amazon Music Ending months of political paralysis, we bring you up to speed on the turmoil in Spain that has left Pedro Sánchez clinging to power. The Socialist leader secured another term as Spain’s prime minister thanks to a controversial amnesty deal with Catalan separatists, which saw thousands of people take to the streets in protest. EU Confidential host Suzanne Lynch talks to POLITICO’s Aitor Hernández-Morales and Nick Vinocur about the stability of the new coalition in Madrid and its wider impact on EU politics, as well as the implications of Sanchez’s victory for ..read more

Spain’s parliament gave final approval Thursday to a controversial amnesty law which will end legal action against hundreds of Catalan separatists involved in the unsuccessful 2017 secession bid. The legislation — backed by the left-wing ruling coalition, two Catalan parties and other smaller parties — passed even though the conservative Popular Party (PP) and the right-wing Vox voted against it.   The bill passed by a narrow margin of 177 votes in favor to 172 votes against. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the vote. “In politics, as in life, fo ..read more

BUENOS AIRES — Fighting out of the red corner: Spain’s exasperated Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Fighting out of the blue corner: Argentina’s pugnacious President Javier Milei. The two leaders and their corners are locked in a spiraling diplomatic crisis that is opening a major rift between Madrid and Buenos Aires. Milei landed a blow during a rally of far-right parties in Madrid last weekend, insulting Sánchez’s wife. The Spanish government responded by recalling its ambassador to Buenos Aires and demanding Milei publicly apologize, which the libertarian leader has refused to do. As a result ..read more

Is this a turning point for Catalonia? For the first time in decades, Catalan nationalist parties failed to secure a majority of seats in the regional parliament in Sunday’s election as voters overwhelmingly backed Socialist Salvador Illa, a former health minister who campaigned on social issues instead of separatism. But with no political party earning enough votes to govern on its own, it’s unclear who could become Catalonia’s next president — and what the consequences might be for the national government in Madrid. Here are the five top takeaways: 1. End of the procés? For the first time si ..read more

Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party won the biggest share of votes in Sunday’s regional election in Catalonia, in a result that boosted the Spanish prime minister and dealt a blow to the separatist movement. Catalonia’s pro-separatist parties fell short of the combined 68 seats required to form a coalition government for the first time in over a decade, since before the push for independence known as “el procés” began. Salvador Illa, leader of the Catalan wing of Sánchez’s Socialists, hailed the result as the start of a “new era” in the region and told supporters late Sunday that “it is my intenti ..read more

The fugitive: Carles Puigdemont’s final shot at Catalan independence The separatist politician is running for president from his camp just across the Spanish border. By AITOR HERNÁNDEZ-MORALES in PERPIGNAN, France Illustration by Michelle Kondrich for POLITICO There once was a mayor of a small European city who was chosen to lead a rebellion. When the uprising was suppressed, he fled the kingdom and took refuge in a nearby realm even as the authorities detained his friends and allies. For years, he lived under threat of imprisonment should he ever step foot in his native land. He s ..read more

Argentinian President Javier Milei accused Spain’s Socialist government of endangering the middle class with policies “that only bring poverty and death” after a Spanish minister intimated Milei may have been on drugs while campaigning for office. “Pedro Sánchez’s government has more important problems to deal with, such as the corruption accusations leveled against his wife, an issue that even led him to consider resigning,” Milei wrote in an official statement from the Office of the President of the Argentine Republic that was posted on the institution’s official X account. The row between B ..read more

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced Monday that he would not go through with his threat to resign his office. “I have decided to remain prime minister,” he said in an emotional address to the nation. Sánchez’s announcement concluded a five-day “period of reflection” that the prime minister took following the launch of a corruption and influence peddling probe directed at his wife, Begoña Gómez. The preliminary investigation was prompted by a criminal complaint filed by a group with links to the far right known for filing baseless lawsuits against people connected with progressive ca ..read more