The Government paves the way to present the 2027 Budgets in the midst of a judicial storm: Santos Cerdán, Leire Díez and Marlaska's appointment in the Senate

The Government has tried to start the week talking about management, economy and Budgets. Moncloa extraordinarily gathered the Council of Ministers this Monday to approve the new macroeconomic framework, the document that formally opens the way to the next public accounts. But the same day that Pedro Sánchez sought to move the agenda towards growth, housing, the regularization of migrants and the social shield, several judicial fronts once again hit the Executive and the PSOE.

The economic vice president, Carlos Cuerpo, raised the growth forecast for 2026 to 2.6%, four tenths more than in the previous calculation. The Government also draws a path above 2% for the coming years, with 2.2% in 2027, 2.1% in 2028 and 2% in 2029. This roadmap will be the basis for preparing the General State Budgets, although the real test will come later, in a Congress where the investiture majority continues to depend on increasingly fragile balances.

The Council of Ministers also extended social shield measures linked to the anti-crisis plan due to the Iran war and the energy impact, with tax reductions on fuels and relief measures for households and businesses. The other leg of the week will be housing. PSOE and Sumar have agreed to bring in July a new decree with an extraordinary extension of rentals, regulation of seasonal contracts and rooms, more tax pressure on tourist flats and bonuses for owners who lower prices.

Moncloa seeks social agenda before the August break

The extraordinary regularization of migrants will be another of the Government's political showcases. The deadline ends this Tuesday and applications already number around 1.2 million, well above initial forecasts. Sánchez wants to present the process as a measure of rights, employment and contributions, in full clash with the anti-immigration discourse of PP and Vox.

That is the lane that Moncloa wants to occupy this week. Budgets, housing, regularization and social shield. An agenda designed to regain political initiative after months of wear and tear due to judicial cases. The problem for the Executive is that every management announcement is accompanied by a novelty in the courts or in the Senate.

The most delicate one came from the Audiencia Nacional. Judge Santiago Pedraz has agreed to direct the procedure against the president of SEPI, Belén Gualda, and 24 other people within the framework of the Leire Díez case. The piece investigates alleged maneuvers concerning public companies, rescues, and contracts linked to the Hirurok group, allegedly formed by Leire Díez, the former president of SEPI Vicente Fernández, and the businessman Antxon Alonso, partner of Santos Cerdán.

Tubos Reunidos again points to Cerdán

The name of Tubos Reunidos appears as one of the sensitive axes of the investigation. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office places under suspicion the rescue of the company charged to the Fund for Support for the Solvency of Strategic Companies. The UCO has also found in an agenda of Santos Cerdán seized at the PSOE headquarters notes about that operation, an element that for investigators reinforces the idea that the former Organization Secretary knew the intentions of the Basque company.

The political blow comes at a bad time for Ferraz. Cerdán has just published 'La caída', a book in which he presents himself as a victim of a political trial, vindicates his role in the pacts with PNV, EH Bildu and Junts, and avoids going into depth in the Koldo, Ábalos and Leire Díez cases. His defense, moreover, has asked that the investigation of the Leire case return to the Plaza de Castilla courts and leave the Audiencia Nacional.

The day also left another uncomfortable statement for the PSOE. Carmen Pano, the businesswoman who claims to have taken 90,000 euros in cash to Ferraz, ratified before Pedraz that Koldo García's lawyer offered her 250,000 euros to change her version. The lawyer denies these facts and Pano's statement left doubts in some details, but the case continues to fuel the investigation into alleged maneuvers to interfere in sensitive cases for the socialist environment.

Gertrudis remains silent and Marlaska arrives at the Senate

The Senate also kept the Zapatero front open. Gertrudis Alcázar, the former president's personal secretary, appeared this Monday before the committee investigating alleged irregularities in the management of SEPI and invoked her right not to testify. Alcázar is under investigation in the Plus Ultra case, where Judge José Luis Calama places her as a relevant piece of Zapatero's operational environment. Before the senators, she limited herself to explaining that her silence was due to her procedural situation and her right to defense.

The pressure will continue this Tuesday with the appearance of Fernando Grande-Marlaska before the Senate committee on the Koldo case. The PP wants to question the Minister of Interior about the contacts between Leire Díez and Civil Guard commanders, after the general director, Mercedes González, admitted to meetings that the Interior had denied days earlier. Marlaska will have to state his position on one of the most sensitive points of the case: what his department knew and how those contacts were managed.

Other still-active fronts are added to that agenda. The trial against David Sánchez, the president's brother, was concluded this month in Badajoz. Begoña Gómez continues with precautionary measures imposed by the controversial judge Juan Carlos Peinado, including the withdrawal of her passport and periodic appearances. The Government is trying to turn the page with Budgets and a social agenda, but the week starts with too many proper names in courts, commissions, and case files.