Twice Sánchez failed to get elected as head of a minority government.(Photo: AFP)
The leftist parties across Europe had trusted him. And now? For reasons of vanity, Sánchez did not manage to forge an alliance. In the end, the rights will probably cheer again.
Comment by Sebastian Schoepp
Since the success of his party in the European elections, the Spaniard Pedro Sánchez claims the role as the last hope of European social democracy. But after this week's spectacle in the Madrid Parliament, one has to say: That's not going to happen. Twice Sánchez failed to get elected as head of a minority government. For the time being, it is a chance to prove that even in 2019 a large European country can still be governed to the left of the center. But how can anyone give an example to Europe's leftists if they can not even come to terms with Podemos' relatively moderate Spanish links?
The fact that Sánchez's ego played a major role in the speech before the decisive vote showed that his principles are more important to him than the position of prime minister. That sums up the whole historic misery of the left: one persists in the conflict with one another so long on principles, until the right wins in the end. This led to absurd situations in the parliamentary debate. Those who are otherwise booked for the role of the rioters, the Basque and Catalan regional parties, pleaded with Sánchez and Podemos boss Pablo Iglesias to tame their egos and not screw up this unique opportunity. Vain. The Catalan left republican Gabriel Rufián put it in a nutshell when he said: That would regret the left yet.
Of course, the regional politicians in Barcelona and Vitoria would be better off with a left-wing government in Madrid than the right-wing concrete faction, the People's Nationalist Party, Ciudadanos and Vox, which, if there were to be new elections in November, would have a chance to win the majority win. But then, in Spain, the inner peace would be in danger, because that would mean the utmost confrontation between Madrid and the regressive regions.
Until September, Sánchez has time to forge a coalition of those willing to talk. The fact that he is so severely involved has historical reasons. At national level, there has never been a coalition government since the reintroduction of democracy in Spain. One of the two major parties has always been strong enough to govern alone or with the occasional help of small parties. The People's Party and Socialists also stuck to this model when Parliament was long since fragmented. As a result, Spain has been run by minority rachit governments for the past few years - holding only until the next budget consultation or no-confidence vote.
The fourth largest economy in the Eurozone, however, needs a concept, a vision, as it comes out of the still smoldering economic crisis. One had the feeling that socialists and podemos certainly had this vision. A more social, but Europe-bound Spain, that could have become a counter-model to the market-liberal uniformity - but especially to the spreading right-wing populism. Sánchez admitted that the two parties were programmatically close together. It is more than negligent to let vanity and vanity fail. It is irresponsible.
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