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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The writer is an international lawyer and founder of España Mejor, a non-partisan organisation to counteract political disengagement and polarisation
Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s Socialist prime minister, startled the nation last Wednesday when he said he was considering resignation because of public pressure on his wife, Begoña Gómez, who is facing a preliminary judicial investigation over influence-peddling allegations instigated by a group whose founder is linked to the extreme right.
Sánchez is understandably distressed about the pressure on his wife. But in Spain there is no effective system to deal with conflicts of interest of politicians’ families and spouses. Thus, it is unavoidable that this issue ends up being played out in the political arena and the courts, rather than by way of a more low-key process, where it belongs.
Families and spouses of Spanish politicians have traditionally played little direct role in the country’s politics. In the UK, wives (husbands, rather less so) of politicians are subjected to the constant scrutiny — and harassment — of the carnivorous British media and only survive if they have the skins of rhinos. But in Spain, the political and media attacks on Sánchez’s wife are very much a first.
The accusations against her are so far only tenuous and a public prosecutor has filed a motion to get the case dismissed. However, there is little doubt that there is an appearance of impropriety — by Gómez allegedly writing letters of support for companies in tenders for public funds and by Sánchez not recusing himself from related decisions.
If Gómez were the wife of a British premier, the allegations would have been easily sorted out by the Office of Propriety and Ethics under the UK ministerial code of ethics. As happened with Cherie Blair, or even myself when my husband was deputy prime minister in the coalition government, the Office of Propriety would have ensured that there was a preventive system in place to recuse the prime minister from any decisions that could be directly or indirectly related to the work of his wife. In response to the accusations against Gómez, they would have issued a clear statement guaranteeing that no conflict had taken place.
In Spain, there is no such system. We do not have an Office of Propriety and Ethics with credibility and teeth. Instead, we have an outdated Office of Conflicts whose lack of independence and autonomy is criticised by the EU and the Council of Europe year after year. And strikingly, the Office of Conflicts only considers that a conflict arises when there is a direct commercial relationship between family members and companies, not covering the risk of indirect gain.
Conflicts of interest are not the only area of ethics where Spanish politics lags behind countries such as the UK. In Spain, we do not even have a ministerial code of ethics. Our ministers have no obligation not to knowingly lie in parliament. We have no system to check that ministers do not flood the administration with political advisers.
We do not have rules limiting the use of ministerial houses or official aeroplanes. We do not have legislation on lobbies. We do not have rules on civil servants having to be present at meetings of ministers where government matters are discussed. And of course we do not have an independent ethics adviser, as in the British system.
This lack of comprehensive rules on ethics is a perpetual problem in Spanish politics. But politicians have made no attempt to sort it out.
Sánchez came to power in 2018 after the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy failed to survive a no-confidence motion linked to a corruption case involving some of his party’s officials. At that time, it looked as if Spain would finally have a modern government committed to setting up a clear framework of rules on integrity. But after almost six years in government, Sánchez’s record in this field is non-existent.
As the Gómez case proves, having a framework of ethical rules in place is not only good for society, it also protects politicians and their families. Sánchez is blaming the opposition and the extreme right for the public pressure on his wife. But he should also blame himself for not having put in place a system that would have protected her.
We will know on Monday whether Sánchez will resign or not. Regardless of his decision, his cri de coeur is a reminder to Spanish society that politicians and their families are human and can crack under pressure. It should also be a reminder to Sánchez himself and all Spanish politicians that Spain urgently needs a new approach to ethics in public life and a ministerial code of ethics.