Sánchez's partners see the legislature "knocked out" after an isolated president who avoided pointing fingers at Morocco in Congress

Pedro Sánchez was left alone before Parliament. Not even the applause from the socialist bench, which tried to support the thesis of the Prime Minister —who avoided directly pointing to Morocco as responsible for the crisis in Ceuta—, managed to disguise that image.

Despite the multiple days that in recent years have shown an unbreathable atmosphere for the Government in the Congress of Deputies, rarely has the loneliness of the head of the Executive been so evident —and on such a delicate issue as that of Ceuta— as on the last day lived in the Lower House.

For a few hours, Congress became an alien, hostile playing field for the Executive. And the parliamentary partners marked more distance than ever from La Moncloa's positions.

Lost opportunity

With a slight change of script, Sánchez —who appeared for the first time after the massive entry of migrants into Ceuta at the end of July— publicly acknowledged that Rabat has many pending answers about what happened those days, but avoided the direct criticism that parliamentary groups did show, and harshly.

The Government publicly opted for “a cooperation” that “has to be different” with Morocco. Sánchez concluded that “what happened these days will have consequences”, but did not specify which ones. For his partners, yesterday's appearance was a “lost” opportunity that will also have consequences for the remainder of a legislature that was already moving within the margins of Realpolitik, politics based on practical and pragmatic interests.

The uncertain course of the last political year

In a round of assessments carried out by ‘ElConstitucional.es’ with deputies from the different parliamentary groups that support the Government, all agree, in one way or another, that the legislature has been “knocked out” by the Executive's inability to manage this crisis.

Partners such as EH Bildu, PNV or Junts, who believe that Sánchez “has not been up to the task”, hoped to have some political margin before the electoral carousel to advance their own agendas. Now they fear that the coming months will be empty of content and without “too many opportunities”.

The General State Budgets, which were intended to be the government's last political card, have been sidelined. The same applies to the decree with measures for the housing crisis, which aimed to be the element with which to recover the agenda, and to the meeting between Sánchez and the lehendakari Imanol Pradales, pending for September and called to redirect the relationship with a partner like the PNV. These are crucial issues to retain the support of partners who show increasing distance due to the lack of substantial progress on matters of daily life.