Política

The climax of the trial against David Sánchez at the Badajoz Court is approaching for the alleged crimes of malfeasance and influence peddling. The brother of the Prime Minister will testify this Thursday and will have the opportunity to defend himself against the accusations that he was appointed in the Badajoz Provincial Council in 2017. Also testifying in this fifth session of the trial will be the former president of the Provincial Council and former secretary general of the PSOE of Extremadura, Miguel Ángel Gallardo, accused of having designed a senior management position tailored for David Sánchez.

The judge of the National Court José Luis Calama has ordered a preliminary appraisal of the numerous jewels found during the police search on May 19 in the office of the former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, according to Efe.

Pope Leo XIV will meet with the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, on Tuesday, June 9 in the afternoon, at 4:15 PM. It was a meeting that was not on the public agenda of the Pontiff and was already planned, since between the midday prayer at the Barcelona cathedral and the event at the Lluís Companys stadium there were several free hours which, according to the trip organizers, were for private meetings of the Pontiff.

The agreement between PP and Vox for Castilla y León contains 19 sections and more than 300 measures in 62 pages. In general terms, it is quite similar to the pact that both parties already sealed in Extremadura and Aragón. With this understanding, the forecast is that PP and Vox will govern together and Alfonso Fernández Mañueco will be invested next week.

The long and difficult fourth session of the trial against David Sánchez was led by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Balas, head of the economic crime department of the Central Operative Unit of the Civil Guard (UCO). Balas, who was in charge of the investigation of the case after seizing thousands of emails from employees of the Badajoz Provincial Council and from David Sánchez himself, concluded that the position of the president’s brother as coordinator of conservatories “was predetermined” and that it was the then president of the Badajoz Provincial Council, Miguel Ángel Gallardo, who had allegedly created the position by appointment for David Sánchez.

The Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard points out in a recent report, to which La Vanguardia has had access, that “the ultimate goal” of the alleged plot led by Santos Cerdán and Leire Díez to “destabilize or obstruct” judicial proceedings opened against the PSOE was “to protect the interests at stake” of the socialist party and, directly or indirectly, of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will participate this Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. in the annual meeting held by the Cercle d’Economía in Barcelona. The head of the Executive attends one day after the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, ready to defend Europe’s strategic autonomy and showcasing Spanish growth.

In the long and intense third session of the trial against David Sánchez, a dozen witnesses addressed the three vertices of the case. The first refers to the allegedly nepotistic hiring of the brother of President Pedro Sánchez as coordinator of the conservatories of the Diputación de Badajoz in 2017. The second focuses on the alleged irregularities surrounding a modification of David Sánchez’s position when in 2022 he became director of the Office of Performing Arts. The third addresses the alleged favoritism of Luis Carrero, a friend of David Sánchez, as coordinator of centers and cross-border activities also by the Diputación de Badajoz in 2024.

Pope Leo XIV will also use Catalan in the blessing of the tower of Jesus of the Sagrada Família, at the climax of the Pontiff’s trip to Spain.

The PSOE has increased from 15,612 euros to 44,859 euros the payments that the socialist formation in Cantabria paid for communication consultancy to Leire Díez, investigated by the National Court in an alleged plot “to destabilize” judicial processes against Ferraz. In a document sent to the Madrid court that initiated the investigations, the party details the periods in which the so-called plumber of the PSOE provided her services as a freelancer and the amount of the corresponding invoices “in the interest of full cooperation” with justice. The document was sent on May 14, just over ten days before the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard entered the party’s national headquarters to request information under the orders of the National Court.