For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Pedro Sanchez has said he will continue as Spain’s prime minister despite his wife being investigated over corruption claims.
He announced his decision on Monday morning after taking several days away from public duty to consider quitting.
The legal complaint against his wife, Begona Gomez, was filed by a legal platform that claims Ms Gomez used her position to influence business deals.
On Wednesday, Mr Sanchez said the move was a personal attack on his family and he needed time to decide his priorities.
However, after several days of tension as the nation awaited his decision, the prime minister announced his decision to stay in office on Monday.
Mr Sanchez met King Felipe VI – a step that would have been necessary should he have decided to resign – but announced in a televised address that he had informed the monarch of his decision to stay on.
He had been encouraged to stay by widespread expressions of support over the weekend, Mr Sanchez said.
“I have decided to go on, if possible even stronger as prime minister. This is not business as usual, things are going to be different,” he said in a national broadcast.
The group that brought the legal complaint against his wife, Manos Limpias, or “Clean Hands”, acknowledged that it was based on newspaper articles. Spanish prosecutors say it should be thrown out.
Mr Sanchez blames the investigation on online news sites politically aligned with the leading opposition Popular Party and the Vox party that spread what he called “spurious” allegations.
He has been Spain’s prime minister since 2018 and is one of Europe’s longest-serving Socialist leaders.
While popular internationally, he is loved or despised in Spain.
His supporters say this should be a wake-up call to react against baseless attacks that are poisoning Spanish politics.
The Popular Party, however, said Sánchez’s behavior was frivolous, adolescent and unbecoming of a European leader. It said the decision was a tactical ploy to whip up support for electoral purposes.
Following his decision not to resign, fellow members of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party offered their support to Mr Sanchez.
The party’s secretary Santos Cerdán León wrote on X/Twitter: “We are going to continue working tirelessly. For the regeneration of democracy. To continue consolidating rights. So that clean politics prevails. We will face the challenges that lie ahead stronger than ever.”
