As Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez marks eight years in office on 1 June, his government and Spain's Socialist Party confront a cascading series of corruption investigations that threaten not only his political survival but the stability of democratic institutions meant to protect the public interest. His musician brother, David, has just gone on trial accused of influence peddling. Former Socialist prime minister and close Sánchez ally José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has been named in an investigation into alleged money laundering. Police have raided the Socialist headquarters in Madrid as part of a probe into allegations of a dirty tricks campaign that the opposition has dubbed "the Socialists' Watergate."
The investigations have generated growing calls from the opposition for Sánchez's resignation and speculation that his government might soon collapse. Centre-left newspaper El País said: "The accumulation of cases makes clear that these are not isolated episodes or the fruit of dark conspiracies." It added: "The investigations are linked to the nucleus of power which has governed for the past eight years."
A Pattern of Alleged Corruption
The Socialist Party has been under scrutiny since 2023, when José Luis Ábalos, a former transport minister and deputy party leader, was implicated in an investigation into a network that allegedly received kickbacks from the sale of €50m (£43m) worth of facemasks during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ábalos denies involvement but was expelled from the party and recently went on trial, where he is awaiting the verdict. Last year, he was also implicated in a broader kickbacks-for-contracts case, along with Socialist Party number three Santos Cerdán. Sánchez said of Cerdán: "The Socialist Party and I should not have trusted him." Both Cerdán and Ábalos deny wrongdoing.
The case against Zapatero accuses him of using his influence to secure a €53m government bailout of Plus Ultra airline in 2021 and receiving a commission in return. Zapatero is due to be questioned in court on 17 June and has insisted he has done nothing illegal. For now, he has Sánchez's "full support." Zapatero is a close Sánchez ally who has commanded enormous respect on the left for reforms he introduced during his 2004-2011 administration, including same-sex marriage, historical memory and gender violence. The separatist group Eta ended its four-decades-long campaign of violence during his tenure.
Paco Camas, head of public opinion in Spain for polling firm Ipsos, said: "Symbolically speaking, this is very significant." He added: "The fact that this is the first former prime minister [to be investigated] makes it extremely serious. But also because he has been a moral reference for the party."
Allegations of Dirty Tricks and Family Ties
The investigation that led to a 12-hour police raid on Socialist Party HQ in Madrid this week centers on allegations that the party paid member Leire Díez to carry out a campaign to discredit police, judges and prosecutors who were investigating existing cases, including the one affecting Cerdán, who has been named as a suspect in the probe. Díez has denied that she performed this role.
Sánchez himself has not been directly implicated in any of the investigations, but family members have. The allegations against his brother, David, who went on trial on Thursday, are that he was appointed to a musical post in Badajoz in south-west Spain without undergoing a selection process and that once in the role he did not carry out his duties. A judge has also been investigating the business affairs of the prime minister's wife, Begoña Gómez, since 2024 and has proposed she go on trial for misuse of funds and influence peddling. She has been summoned for a preliminary hearing on 9 June. Sánchez has criticised the cases against his brother and wife, pointing to the fact that they originated in accusations made by far-right organisations.
Political Standoff Deepens
Sánchez's combative transport minister, Óscar Puente, said: "there is a government that some want to bring down, not through the ballot box, but with other dark arts, with undemocratic methods." The leader of the conservative People's Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, described the scandals as "a criminal carousel" and called for Sánchez to resign and bring forward next year's general election.
Sánchez has insisted he will see out the parliament's full legislative term. His minority coalition government has struggled to manage its parliamentary partners, an array of regional nationalist and left-wing parties, and has not approved a single new budget this legislature. The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) hinted that its patience is wearing thin, suggesting that waiting until 2027 for the next election would be an "irresponsibility." However, there does not seem to be enough support for the opposition to win a no-confidence vote, which was how Sánchez himself came into power in 2018.
Paco Camas said: "I don't see an incentive for the government to call elections, however blocked the situation may be and however much it is affected by scandal." He added: "It can dig in." He said the summer break could provide the government with a badly needed respite, allowing it to recover some political initiative in September.
Another question is whether ill-feeling within Socialist ranks at so much scandal could spread. The president of the Castilla-La Mancha region, Emiliano García-Page, and former Prime Minister Felipe González, both regular Sánchez critics, have called for early elections. Lluís Orriols, a political scientist at Carlos III University, said: "There would have to be an internal rebellion of mayors and regional leaders who are concerned that the contagion effect of the reputation of this government could have an impact on the May [2027 local] elections." He added: "But right now we're not seeing that kind of revolt."
Sánchez's future is likely to depend to a great extent on how the investigations develop. Further explosive cases, or evidence of illegal financing in the Socialist Party, could trigger an exodus of parliamentary partners and make the pressure unbearable, even for Sánchez. Orriols said: "This is a government which has been in a very delicate situation for some time now. Don't rule out the possibility of it running out of air soon."
Why This Matters:
The crisis engulfing Spain's Socialist Party strikes at the heart of public trust in democratic institutions and the principle that elected officials serve the common good rather than private interests. The allegations—ranging from pandemic profiteering on facemask contracts to influence peddling and dirty tricks campaigns against judicial authorities—reveal potential failures of accountability mechanisms meant to protect citizens from corruption. For a party that has championed progressive reforms including same-sex marriage and protections against gender violence, the investigations represent not just a political crisis but a test of whether democratic institutions can hold power to account regardless of ideology. The government's inability to pass a budget while managing these scandals raises questions about its capacity to address the needs of ordinary Spaniards. How these investigations proceed will determine whether democratic oversight functions effectively or whether political survival takes precedence over transparency and the rule of law.