Pedro Sánchez is very upset. Some of the party's equality leaders and feminist leaders he met with this Friday, just before the Federal Committee, saw him looking very dejected and very thin. He himself admitted at the meeting that he has lost a lot of weight these past few days."Look how bad I'm feeling, I've lost several kilos," he told them. This week in Seville, the president's notable weight loss was clearly visible after the crisis unleashed by the imprisonment of Santos Cerdán, who less than a month ago was his organization secretary and whom he defended tooth and nail.
Sánchez was very frank with the 70 leaders he had summoned to personally apologize for having chosen as secretary of organization a man like José Luis Ábalos, who, in the conversations uncovered by investigators with Koldo García, speaks of women as if they were cattle."I admit that I am heartbroken for having trusted these people," Sánchez told them, according to several of those present."It is a very hard blow for me to know that I chose those people who have those kinds of shameful conversations about women and are implicated in serious cases of corruption. Some people recover easily from blows, but I don't," he noted.
The president first spoke, acknowledging his tremendous mistake, apologizing, and announcing that the PSOE will change its code of ethics to expel any party member who uses prostitution—the Socialists want to ban it permanently if they gain support in Congress. Then the party's Equality officials, both national and local, spoke, and at the end, Sánchez, in a very calm atmosphere, opened up to them in a way he probably hadn't done with anyone before. He even openly spoke about resigning, something he hasn't done in press conferences, although he did so to explain why he's ruled it out.
“If I thought that going home, that leaving the presidency would solve the problems, would avoid the harassment we're suffering from the government, from the PSOE, I would do it without hesitation. But I'm convinced it would make things worse. Because they're not attacking me for being Pedro Sánchez, but for being the secretary general of the PSOE. And they'd do the same to the next person. I don't want to cling to power, but leaving now would be irresponsible. We have a lot of work ahead of us and we've done many things, and we must vindicate them,” he explained. He also asked them to vindicate the government's decisions more, such as the recent one of standing up to Donald Trump and rejecting the increase in defense spending to 5% of GDP, which, he explained, would lead to severe social cuts.
Sánchez will expand on some of these lines in his speech before the Federal Committee this Saturday, according to those close to him, but he will do so in a more formal manner, providing details of his entire administration, seeking to inspire pride among leaders in the work of the Executive so as not to throw in the towel and try to move forward at the president's weakest moment since taking office.
The meeting focused on Ábalos and García's conversations about women, and the embarrassment felt by both the president and the Socialist leaders present at the meeting."I've made many mistakes, I know, but the most important one, without a doubt, was having trusted Ábalos and Cerdán," he told them, while the party's head of equality, Pilar Bernabé, pointed out that these conversations are"the worst thing that could happen" to a party like the PSOE, which champions feminism. Some of the speeches were very harsh, but given Sánchez's sincerity, the leaders ultimately expressed their support, and he thanked them."I needed an event like this to address tomorrow's Federal Committee," he even told them. Now it remains to be seen what tone Sánchez will use before the Federal Committee, now with the cameras in front of him.
