It starts this Thursday, in the Spanish Congress: the motion of no-confidence in the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, which PSOE has brought and about which there is, for the first time in this type of parliamentary initiative, enormous uncertainty. So much so that all hypotheses are possible, even the most implausible: that the challenger Pedro Sánchez might bring together enough votes to reach the Moncloa government palace. This isn't, despite everything, the most likely hypothesis, although given the state of panic among PP members this Wednesday, you could conclude otherwise. In any case, however the motion of no-confidence turns out, the winner will have a pyrrhic victory, since the political crisis in Spain runs so deep it's hard to see the bottom and what there is is a crisis of state which will end up in elections in short order.
Spanish stability has gone up in smoke between corruption scandals, a territorial crisis in which only violence and force from the state have stopped the Catalan independence movement of the 1st October referendum and the proclamation of independence in the Parliament, the legal crisis with extradition warrants in four European countries which have either been rejected or left Spain in an uncomfortable position, and the emergence of a party like Ciudadanos, which is a mix of populism and far-right, with a chance of being the most voted for party in an election.
None of all this will be resolved by the motion of no-confidence, which is directing Spain towards the end of the Transition. And where the blood of a fatally-wounded PP is for certain starting to be smelled by all its opponents and, even worse, by its own members. We know that it's at times of crisis when the worst version of political parties comes out and in the PP's ranks they seem to have forgotten that Rajoy has more lives than a cat and that it's not certain that his epitaph has been written irredeemably. Just in case, Rajoy's side applauds him in the Congress and, at the same time, tries to push him off the stage from behind the scenes. From the vice-president's annexed building, panic is proliferating and it's even spreading that she would be willing to assume the leadership if Rajoy were to resign in the coming hours for the motion of no-confidence to not be successful. This is nothing new: daggers have been flying between the two buildings for a long time, although Rajoy has always preferred to look the other way. That's how it's gone for him.
Meanwhile, so that nobody says that the Spanish government doesn't think about the country's image abroad, a minister has had the brilliant idea of offering economic incentives (12,000 euros) to correspondents of the Spanish press abroad if they speak well of Spain. Something which has drawn guffaws among foreign correspondents in Spain, as well as the logical irritation over so funny an initiative. Of course, the silence of the press associations in Madrid has been resounding.
And, in this climate, of ineptitude and arrogance, Rajoy is fighting his final battle. Meanwhile, a branch blocks the view of the tree. The rotten tree.