Euronews • April 15, 2026 09:24

Watch: Shadows over Spain — will corruption topple Sánchez?

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Score: -0.02 • Center / Neutral

Pedro Sánchez is positioning himself as the ultimate progressive hero, famously defying Donald Trump over the war in Iran. But at home, the Spanish prime minister is fighting a massive wave of domestic corruption scandals. What is going on?

Story Timeline

Sat 20:43 - El Mundo (ES)

The corruption that brought down Rajoy and that surrounds Sánchez in the middle of the electoral cycle reaches the bench

Sun 03:30 - El Pais

The mask plot sits on the bench: Ábalos before his first trial

Sun 10:54 - El Mundo (ES)

The PP maintains that the messages of support for Ábalos from its colleagues confirm that corruption affects "the entire Government" of Sánchez

Mon 08:35 - El Mundo (ES)

Montero justifies that when they sent "affectionate messages" to Ábalos "the situation of this person was not known at all"

Mon 20:48 - El Mundo (ES)

The Ábalos case returns anxiety to the Government: "It is very painful, we have never hidden the seriousness of what happened to José Luis"

Mon 20:49 - El Mundo (ES)

Ábalos' internal WhatsApp messages point to Montero and Calviño: "They wanted to get out of the way with Plus Ultra, but they are the accused"

Mon 23:36 - El Mundo (ES)

A great plot of corruption that operated at the heart of the Government and the PSOE: from the rigging of public works to the envelopes

Tue 09:03 - El Pais

Montero accuses Juan Manuel Moreno of going “from party to party” to “not talk about management” in Andalusia

Tue 10:49 - El Mundo (ES)

Ábalos's son denies that the former minister accepted a luxury apartment in Castellana as a commission: "My father told me that it was a scam, that there was a squatter."

Tue 11:46 - El Mundo (ES)

Tezanos probes Andalusia before 17-M: the Board managed the floods better than the central government and Moreno beats Montero

Tue 13:53 - El Pais

Trial against Ábalos, Koldo and Aldama, live | Koldo's brother declares that he went to the PSOE headquarters to collect envelopes with money for Ábalos' former advisor

Wed 11:46 - El Mundo (ES)

Feijóo commits to deflating personal income tax in his first year governing at the beginning of Sánchez's most "voracious" income campaign

Wed 12:41 - El Mundo (ES)

Ábalos's "virtual" friend placed in a Renfe branch declares that she went during work hours to "read train books at the Oviedo library"

Wed 14:33 - El Mundo (ES)

Sánchez now signs a statement with the European powers in which they commit to "guarantee navigation in Hormuz"

Wed 20:55 - El Mundo (ES)

Two former lovers of Ábalos support before the Supreme Court the minister's influence peddling in public companies

Thu 00:08 - El Mundo (ES)

Red alert day for Sánchez and Montero in the TS: bags with 45,000 euros in Ferraz and the advisor of the favor to Aldama with the Treasury

Thu 09:35 - El Mundo (ES)

Montero achieves consensus lists in seven provinces, but Cádiz rebels and challenges the regional leadership

Thu 10:55 - El Mundo (ES)

Aldama's ex-girlfriend declares that Koldo and he collected half a million at "the house of the owner of Air Europa" for the rescue of the airline

Thu 10:58 - El Mundo (ES)

The businesswoman Carmen Pano confirms in the Supreme Court that she went to Ferraz on two occasions to deliver a total of 90,000 euros

Thu 15:01 - El Pais

Two businesswomen confirm that they bought a chalet as compensation for Ábalos: “The minister wanted a house”

Thu 15:22 - El Pais

Instructions for bringing bags of money to Ferraz

Thu 20:45 - El Mundo (ES)

"We do not expect anything from the Spanish socialists": the Sahrawi people cry out against Sánchez after 50 years of abandonment in the desert

Fri 00:56 - El Mundo (ES)

The Pano-Aldama-Rivas triangle that surrounds the PSOE with the envelopes with money: "I know it doesn't benefit me to tell it, but it happened"

Fri 00:56 - El Mundo (ES)

Final examination of Montero's authority: judge today the 'rebel' list of Cádiz while trying to limit the provincial 'barons'

Fri 09:03 - El Mundo (ES)

Montero no longer talks about vetoes against Sumar: he plans to talk "with everyone" for a left-wing candidacy while he forms a "team" with Rufián

Fri 13:32 - El Mundo (ES)

Montero amends the Cádiz list, imposes its number 1 in the face of the challenge of the provincial leadership and deepens the crisis

Sat 01:07 - El Mundo (ES)

Montero emerges injured from the battle for the Cádiz list, which breaks her authority at the start of the most uncertain campaign of the Andalusian PSOE

Sat 12:07 - El Mundo (ES)

Salvador Illa boasts that "Catalonia will be the best country in Europe" with the PSC and says that "Andalusia needs María Jesús Montero as president to do well"

Sat 23:58 - El Mundo (ES)

Sánchez activates the red telephone again with Beijing to show a direct connection with Xi in the midst of a clash with Trump

Sun 16:07 - El Mundo (ES)

Sánchez also prays the rosary with Ábalos, Aldama and Leonor in the Supreme Court

Sun 21:22 - El Mundo (ES)

Montero on the Andalusian scaffold

Mon 11:34 - El Mundo (ES)

"Outrage" in Moncloa over Peinado's order prosecuting Gómez: "It is no coincidence that it coincides with the president's official trips abroad"

Mon 20:41 - El Mundo (ES)

The bench awaits Begoña Gómez for "taking advantage" of an elite circle thanks to the power of Sánchez

Mon 22:08 - El Mundo (ES)

"They try to counterprogram": the PSOE targets the PP for meeting with María Corina Machado during her visit to Spain while the left of America meets with Sánchez

Tue 00:16 - El Mundo (ES)

The German Government launches an 'anti-crisis plan' with a tax reduction three times lower than Sánchez's "out of economic prudence"

Tue 03:52 - El Mundo (ES)

Xi teams up with Sánchez in the face of the wars that Trump supports: "China and Spain are on the right side of history" and reject the "return to the law of the jungle"

Tue 07:04 - El Mundo (ES)

Sánchez again suggests that Peinado is playing politics with the investigation of his wife: "What I ask of the justice system is that it do justice"

Tue 07:30 - El Mundo (ES)

New letter to citizens from Sánchez for extraordinary regularization: "Migration must be managed responsibly and become shared prosperity"

Tue 09:31 - Politico EU

China’s Xi recognizes Spain’s Sánchez as key interlocutor between Beijing and the EU

Tue 10:17 - Euronews

Spain strengthens ties with China as Sánchez backs Beijing's Middle East role

Tue 12:46 - El Mundo (ES)

Feijóo calls Sánchez "the Orban of the South" and calls for his resignation over the prosecution of his wife: "He has consented to being robbed in his face and has not left"

Tue 13:32 - El Mundo (ES)

The Government comes out en masse to criticize the instruction of Judge Peinado with Puente at the head, which suggests that "he intends to violate the political action" of Sánchez

Tue 20:47 - El Mundo (ES)