36. Rubalcaba Ministry (2011-2015) -4-
Just as Rubalcaba attempted to reach an agreement with Sánchez, troubles exploded in North África when Rabat demanded that Ceuta and Melilla were returned to Morocco. This demand baffled many in Spain and many more were angered by this move, that went "against the sovereignty and integrity of Spain. Of course, Rubalcaba simply ruled out even bothering to listen to what Morocco had to say. Then it was believed that
Mohammed VI of Morocco had made this move to divert the public opinion attention from the ongoing crisis that was storming through the North of Africa and many thought he was hoping to take advantage of Rubalcaba's troubles to secure some trade concessions or even Spanish funding for the Moroccan industries. If he had expected also to cause some popular uproar in the two cities, he was sorely disappointed. In the end, money flew, indeed, but only to Melilla and Ceuta, which saw their infraestructures boosted by a sudden burst of public works. Meanwhile, the Spanish economy was still in tatters, and it shrunk by 0.1%.
The situation began to become tense. As Pablo Iglesias wrote, "
the Spanish economy had ensured in the last twenty years that the profits of the industry remained as high as possible as the workers' wages were frozen. The "austerity" measures had only helped to worsen the situation of those in the bottom half of the wage distribution. Indeed, wages had suffered similarly in most of the rich nations, but this process has been especially sharp in Spain. The international help has been used to rescue banks and not the jobs of the average Spaniard. Right now, the PSOE is a prisoner of the finance sector of the economy, and with the party, the country too ” -
pabl0iglesi@s.wordpress.com, May 1st, 2012.
Ironically, not even with the worsening economic situation seemed to bring the PCP back to life. The constant bickering within the Conservative ranks exploded when, in November 2012, fifteen Conservative members of the Cortes led by Antonio Robles and José Domingo, left the party to create a new party called
Unión, Progreso y Democracia (Union, Progress and Democracy - UPyD); then, in February 2013, another ten led by Jorge Cañas, also left the PCP. They were to create the short-lived
Coalición Democrática (Democratic Coalition - CD). In July 2013, Carina Mejías and three demochristian candidates followed the example set and created the
Unión Democrática Popular (Popular Democratic Union - UDP). Then, the following month, as we have already seen, Rivera returned to politics.
With the Conservatives in disarray, Rubalcaba had only to fear Sánchez and Iglesias. While the latter proved impossible to persuade or to buy with a ministry, the former was more ready to listen and to pact, while also less easy to put into line. Sánchez, knowing that Rubalcaba needed him more than he the prime minister, simply accepted those pacts that did not force his hand but rejected those who tied him to Rubalcaba. Thus, by the end of the talks, Rubalcaba still had Iglesias open set against him and a vague promise of loyalty by Sánchez "
if he could do it without troubling his conscience". In the end, Rubalcaba had nothing and had weakened his position by showing his weak control over the PSOE. In fact, this lack of authority among the party was to give way to an increasing number of high rank members of the party to begin to thing about replacing Rubalcaba. Ironically, even in Sánchez was the least likely of all the possible candidates, the turn of events would turn him the only suitable Socialist candidate.
Meanwhile, the Liberal party was hit by a hard scandal that rocked the very soul of the party. It all began with the Catalan branch of the PSOE. Two politicians of the PSC, the major of Sabadell, Manuel Bustos, and the vicepresident of the PSC, Daniel Fernández, were arrested by the police after being accused of having taking briberies and of peddliong of political flavours. Then, six months later, in April 2013, three former high rank members of the Liberal Party in Catalonia (Jordi Pujol, Lluís Prenafeta and Macià Alavedra) and two members of the PSC (Luis García Sáez and the former major of Santa Coloma, Bartomeu Muñoz) apparead on the frontlines of the major newspapers of the ocuntry. All in all, they were accuse of offering political favours to several financiers and bussiness if they donated at least 1,000,000 pesetas a year to the party. In addition to this, around 5% of that money ended in the bank accounts of those politicians.
The situation worsened when Prenafeta hinted that it was a common practice in the Catalan Liberal party to have that kind of "donations", even if he later denied having meant that. Both the PSOE and the Liberal he parties quickly moved to contain the damage control, and a new and cohesive legislation was passed on December 19, 2013 forcing the parties to disclose the full details of any gifts of over 50,000 pesetas. Ironically, this was to hit hard the ultraright EP, as Santiago Abascal and his right hand, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, refused to give any details about their bank accounts, something that sounded deeply suspicious after it was discovered Abascal bought a new house worth 200 million pesetas in on of the finest areas of Madrid, in Pinar del Rey. This shadow would return to cast its darkness over Abascal and the EP during the elections of 2015.
The fate of Abascal (Right) and Ortega Smith (left),
who seemed to be rising fast in popularity among the Spanish voters,
suffered an deblace in late 2013