Simon Hunter
SPANISH Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has unexpectedly cancelled all of his official engagements for the next two days, with sources close to the Socialist Party leader citing only an ‘unavoidable’ and unforeseen personal matter.
Socialist sources told El Periodico de España that Sanchez is expected to return to his schedule before Friday, depending on the progress of the issue in question.
Other sources told the same newspaper that the matter was a strictly personal one and not a political one.
Sanchez is expected to miss the first Mediterranean Social Economy Forum, which is taking place this week in Barcelona and will bring together economic leaders from countries such as Spain, Egypt, France, Italy and Morocco, among others.
The prime minister has been working this week on talks to distribute the so-called ‘top jobs’ in Brussels, and sources told El Periodico de España that he may return to continue these talks tomorrow despite his announced absence.
This latest announcement that Sanchez is cancelling his diary for the coming days arrives not long after he did something similar back in April.
On that occasion, he took a five-day break to consider his position and decide whether or not to resign, after a judge opened a probe into his wife, Begoña Gomez, on accusations of influence peddling.
After taking the time off, however, he appeared at a press conference on April 29 to say that he would stay on, thanks to ‘expressions of solidarity from all sections of society’.
Today saw Sanchez appear in Spain’s lower house of parliament, the Congress of Deputies, where he answered questions about the deal announced yesterday between his party and the main opposition Partido Popular (PP) to renew the judges appointed to Spain’s CGPJ legal watchdog.
The renewal of the judges on the CGPJ has been blocked for the last five years due to the failure of the Socialists and the PP to reach an agreement on the appointments.
The deal was announced just five days before the deadline Sanchez had set for the PP, on the threat that his government would change the law and remove the current powers that the CGPJ has to appoint judges on top courts such as the Supreme Court and the country’s High Courts, among others.
Sanchez welcomed the rare cross-party agreement in Congress today, and said that he ‘hoped it would be the first of many’ between his group and the PP.
