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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced he is considering quitting on the day a judge opened a preliminary corruption investigation into his wife.
In an extraordinary letter to the country published on Wednesday on the social media platform X, Sánchez said: “At this point, the question I legitimately ask myself is: is it all worth it? I honestly don’t know.”
The Socialist leader said he was cancelling his public duties for the next few days and would announce a decision on his future on April 29.
Earlier in the day a judge opened judicial proceedings against his wife Begoña Gómez over allegations that she had received favours from private businesses that won government tenders and were awarded subsidies.
“This attack is unprecedented and so serious and so crude that I need to stop and reflect with my wife,” Sánchez wrote.
He has been in power since 2018 when he replaced a conservative leader felled by corruption allegations. He began a new term late last year having cobbled together a fragile parliamentary majority after an inconclusive election.
The judicial proceedings against Gómez were opened after a union called Manos Limpias — or Clean Hands — filed a complaint founded on a series of stories published by news organisations, notably El Confidencial.