The Spanish prime minister and leader of the PSOE party, Pedro Sánchez, is considering his current foreign minister Josep Borrell to head the Spanish Socialists' electoral list for the elections to the European parliament next year, on 26th May, according to sources close to Sánchez quoted by Europa Press. Borrell would thus leave both his foreign ministry post and the Spanish government.
The PSOE leadership recognizes that Spain's current top diplomat is not overjoyed about the prospect of returning to the European Parliament, where he previously served as one of the chamber's vice presidents, and for this reason some interpret the mention of this possible redesignation of Borrell as an attempt by Sánchez to put pressure on the minister.
In prime ministerial circles, it is asserted that the head of the Spanish executive does not want to tamper greatly with the current composition of his Government in order to provide the PSOE with candidates for the upcoming 2019 municipal elections, but also recognizes that a victory in the European elections could boost the party ahead of the Spanish general election, due by 2020. In this regard, Borrell would offer a profile with some crossover into the territory of the Popular Party and Ciudadanos.
In a week which has seen speculation about the minister of justice, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, as a possible PSOE candidate for the mayoralty of Madrid, the secretary general of the Socialists in the Spanish capital, José Manuel Franco, has now admitted that the current justice minister would be "a magnificent candidate", but added that there were also "other colleagues and people from outside the party who might be great candidates".