Pedro Sanchez has held an emergency meeting with Catalan president and Socialist Party (PSOE) figurehead Salvador Illa.
The emergency talks were held at La Moncloa on Friday as corruption allegations against ex-party secretary Santos Cerdan spiral into a full-blown crisis for the ruling PSOE.
The impromptu meeting came on the same day the Supreme Court confirmed Cerdan’s indictment over an alleged bribery-for-contracts scheme – and as the Guardia Civil’s anti-corruption unit arrived at PSOE headquarters on Calle Ferraz to clone his email account.
Sanchez has been noticeably absent this week amid a flurry of revelations that are threatening his government’s credibility.
He last surfaced at Wednesday’s congressional oversight session before cancelling his agenda on Thursday.
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Friday brought more silence from Sanchez’s public calendar. Sources confirmed the meeting with Illa was private – and urgent enough for the Catalan president to cancel a scheduled appearance at the College of Economists in Barcelona.
The two men are believed to have discussed the widening fallout from the Cerdan case, which is already shaking PSOE ranks beyond Madrid.
In Navarre, regional deputy Ramon Alzorriz stepped down this week after it emerged he concealed that his partner worked for Servinabar, a company allegedly involved in the kickback scheme.
Also looming over the Sanchez–Illa summit is Catalonia’s long-running and highly controversial demand for a tailored fiscal arrangement.
Under the tentative framework, Catalonia’s treasury would gradually take control of tax collection, beginning with personal income tax in 2026.
Illa has insisted the timeline will hold, even as the political ground beneath PSOE continues to shift.
