Another blunder by the PP

The lawsuits brought by the secretary general of the Popular Party (PP), María Dolores de Cospedal, and by other party members after the publication of the organization’s hidden “B” accounting system showed an intent to utilize the courts against the proliferating accusations of corruption, at a time when they thought they had former treasurer Luis Bárcenas under control and expected him to deny the veracity of what had been published — as he had done at first.

However, now that the National High Court has accredited the authenticity of 55 of the published accounting notes; when Bárcenas has admitted he is the author of the same; and when he is still prepared to keep the “fan” blowing, the PP and the persons noted in his ledgers as receivers of dirty money, find themselves in the uncomfortable situation of keeping their lawsuits going — with the results that were seen on Friday — or of withdrawing them, which would lend further encouragement to the former treasurer.

The spectacle afforded by De Cospedal and Bárcenas in the courthouse will be remembered for some time as a major political gaffe. The fact that Bárcenas can adduce no proof of what he says may be favorable for De Cospedal as far as the defense of her personal honesty is concerned, but in terms of the behavior of a political figure it underlines the PP’s lack of a coherent strategy in the face of the grave suspicions of corruption hanging over her party, quite apart from the shortsightedness revealed by the initial spate of denials and the lawsuits filed in consequence. Moreover, it breaks the party line, set by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, of looking firmly the other way concerning the Bárcenas case.

De Cospedal has, however, withdrawn her lawsuit against the company that publishes EL PAÍS, just as other officials and ex-officials have withdrawn theirs, though some are still going. They might have decided earlier, given that the High Court has advanced considerably in the investigation of the Bárcenas papers. But De Cospedal preferred to go ahead and hold the civil trial in her personal suit for protection of the right to honor, without awaiting the conclusion of the High Court judicial investigation. Hence the platform supplied to Bárcenas, from which millions of people were able to listen to him confirming his grave accusations against the party in which, for nearly 20 years, he held posts that imply a high level of confidence on the part of the leadership.

In connection with this case, the PP has blundered since the beginning. With Bárcenas out of control and glad to exploit every opportunity offered to him, the unresolved suspicions of corruption are once again brought to the fore, weakening a party that has the huge weight of government on its shoulders. De Cospedal hopes to clear her name by the method of highlighting the fact that Bárcenas has no proof against her when he claims that she received undeclared money. She does not seem so sure in regard to other members of her party: when asked in court whether others received such money, she took refuge in an “I don’t know.” To act in this unfocused, every-man-for-himself manner is the price of never having cleared up internal responsibilities within the party.