Spanish PM Sánchez’s Future in Doubt Amid Catalan Spying Scandal

The Pedro Sánchez government splashed by the revelation of an affair. On Thursday, the director of the intelligence services, Paz Esteban, confirmed that the current President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, was wiretapped under judicial authorization in 2020, reports L’Indépendant.fr. At the time, he was vice-president of Quim Torra’s executive and Minister of Economy.

This revelation is likely to cost the President of the Government dearly. Pere Aragonès is already threatening to withdraw the support of the ERC (Catalan left) deputies from Pedro Sánchez. "Trust is broken," the head of the Catalan executive estimated on May 6 on public radio. "The action of the Spanish government eliminates the possibilities of stability of the legislature," he adds.

If implemented, this threat could result in the loss of the majority of the Spanish government in Parliament, which would in turn trigger the departure of Pedro Sánchez. In the event that the latter were to leave the executive, what would become of Spanish support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Sahara, considered "as the most serious, realistic and credible basis for the resolution of the dispute"?

For now, the Spanish government assures that if the wiretapping of the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia were confirmed, it would only be a request from the justice system and not from the government.