Cool head, maximum tension

It's no surprise that a caricature like Torrente's has triumphed in Spanish cinema. Or that Francisco Ibáñez found inspiration in secret agents like Mortadelo and Filemón. Here, the "underworld," in José María Aznar's words, has always been sloppy. There's Commissioner Villarejo, who has turned Spanish politics upside down in recent years with his obsessive compulsion to record everything, and now the socialist activist Leire Díez .

The two are comparable only in their audacity and vulgar mannerisms. At least for now. The former, with the support of two ministers and a secretary of state, led a network within the police leadership to destroy projects of political adversaries like Podemos and the independence movement, leaking false reports, among other misdeeds. An episode worthy of a state sewer. The latter, as far as we know so far, provided senior PSOE leaders with information designed to harm Civil Guard commanders or an anti-corruption prosecutor, in agreement with a businessman seeking compensation after serving time in prison. So far, no network of public officials acting outside the law has emerged. We'll see if the case goes any further.

If the government is in the hands of the mafia, something must be done. Hence the demonstration on the 8th.

Leire Díez's exploits have raised the political noise a few more decibels. The Ábalos case, whose indications are becoming increasingly scandalous, and the cases involving the president's wife and brother, whose outcome remains unknown, were spiced up by Pedro Sánchez's WhatsApp messages to his former minister, which have remained in the realm of gossip. And now the audio recordings of the intrepid activist. Neither of these matters has so far reached the level of seriousness required to shake the president, but they raise a thick fog that, combined with parliamentary weakness, prevents the government from moving forward and setting the political agenda.

Based on what we've seen and heard so far, Sánchez isn't going to fall. The PP initially believed the parliamentary amalgam would crack, but the PSOE's allies are farther than ever from switching sides. The fact that the general elections aren't just around the corner is something the PP has accepted for months, even though they deem it necessary to fuel the strategy of attrition. The verbal escalation seems endless, but this week Alberto Núñez Feijóo went a step further and called Sánchez a mafia boss. This tension in the narrative forces him to make a move. If the situation is so dire, the country's leading party should present a motion of no confidence. Vox is also demanding this. But the PP leader knows it's not a good idea to lose it. However, he has to respond to the pressure cooker in Madrid, so he has opted to take to the streets again.

Feijóo has proposed a demonstration for June 8th under the slogan "Mafia or democracy," a dramatic dichotomy reminiscent of the electoral slogan that gave Isabel Díaz Ayuso such good results: "Communism or freedom." Vox will not be at the demonstration. But as soon as Feijóo announced the protest, some 300 members of the far-right group Revuelta gathered at the gates of the Moncloa Palace to insult Sánchez amidst Francoist flags and in the presence of Santiago Abascal. His Hungarian friend, Víktor Orbán, warned a few days ago that Spaniards suffer "the most brutal oppression." There are always those who raise the stakes.

Although some sectors close to the PP believe that a motion of no confidence should be presented even to lose it, as Felipe González did in his day, Feijóo knows he would become the target of every attack in Congress. He would receive an image of total parliamentary isolation from Sánchez, the rest of the left, the nationalists, and Vox. Hence, the response is the demonstration.

Aznar summed it up graphically and simply. If in November 2023 he gave the starting signal with "whoever can do it, let them do it," this week he prescribed "a cool head, but maximum vital tension." The former president is also not in favor of a vote of no confidence: "There are two years left until the elections and much remains to be seen." The demonstration will also be a pre-campaign event for Congress. Feijóo will have no problems in the conclave, but he needs to leave it on a high to last two years.

This is the sixth demonstration by the People's Party (PP) against the government in this term. The others were triggered by the amnesty for Carles Puigdemont. In fact, the Constitutional Court is about to rule on whether or not to endorse this law. If it does, it will further strengthen the PSOE's relationship with Junts. The fifth demonstration took place a year ago, when it seemed the amnesty was the end of Sánchez. The PSOE has already accepted it.

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In the Moncloa government, the cases raised by the PP aren't as concerned because they believe they have little basis, and the noise they generate is incomprehensible to most citizens. When Mariano Rajoy fell, he was carrying a party whose treasurer hid 50 million euros in a Swiss account, for example. The Ábalos case has worn down the PSOE, but it hasn't caused its collapse. So everything depends on that "much remains to be seen" to which Aznar refers.