Pedro the persistent, Pedro the liar, the clever, the survivor, el guapo. Adjectives are wasted when talking about the Spanish Prime Minister. From now on the European left should call him Pedro the Savior. Because this time, Sánchez was able to avoid the worst not only for himself and his Socialist Party – which emerged from the administrative elections in May with broken bones and, albeit limping, still in government: thanks to his Machiavellian instinct, he got us out of himself The front that governs in Brussels will be in trouble and risk that the popular allies slip into the arms of the conservatives.
The candidate of the street
Sánchez is no longer the young, handsome, apron-clad politician – with a degree and a double master’s degree in economics and public leadership – who, as an activist half unknown to most and protected by former Prime Minister Jose Zapatero, managed to become secretary general of the PSOE in 2014 to be elected. They called him “the candidate of the road” because he drove thousands of miles to report to the base. However, with him at the helm, the PSOE began its decline, overwhelmed by the outbreak of left-wing populism, and in 2016 it recorded a negative result in the elections. The former leader of the prodigies refused to abstain from the popular Mariano Rajoy’s investiture vote and resigned. Complete? No. Using cunning, he managed to retake the party and defeat the barons of Andalusia, who wanted him out of the game forever. As the first government president to be elected after a motion of no confidence in 2018, he led the PSOE back to election victory the following year.
Loser (but not too much)
“El superviviente”, the survivor is now climbing what may be his last rollercoaster ride. This time too he took a gamble and unexpectedly called early elections the day after the Left’s defeat in the local elections on May 28th. Everyone declared him politically dead. However, the 21st century Machiavelli still did it. He lost in the July 23 elections, but not by enough to take the premiership away from the popular Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who had to reluctantly ally himself with the far right of Vox.
Resistance Handbook
The fighter Sánchez today plays the role of the statesman with professionally graying hair but never a slack body. To confirm his fame, he wrote an essay, “Handbook of Resistance,” and perhaps claims a front row seat in the European Union. He knows that his government – fragile, in coalition with a divided left, supported by an army of small allies always ready to stab him – may not last long. During the strenuous negotiations over his training, he thought it best to remain in the shadows and delegate the weaver’s job to others. If they failed, he wouldn’t get his hands too dirty. In the end it was enough for him to accept the amnesty, which he had always rejected, and to come to terms with the Catalans. Flexibility is also a political ability if the people can forgive you.
Ambitions, daughters, basketball
Almost four years ago, he formed the first coalition government with Unidas Podemos by just two votes. Since yesterday, all it takes is for a deputy to turn his back and his superior risks falling. The Catalans have already started to annoy him. At the Cortes he responded with a greeting in four languages to those who allowed him to remain in the saddle. Moita Grazas (Galician). Moltes grícies (Catalan). Eskerrik asko (Basque). Muchas gracias (Castilian). “I would be lying if I said I had no ambitions, politics is in my blood,” Sánchez says about himself. He has been married to university teacher Maria Begoña Gómez Fernandez since 2006 and is the father of two daughters, Ainhoa and Carlota, and still enjoys playing basketball as much as he did in high school. And every morning he runs, like in political life. We still don’t know where the finish line will be.