SPAIN’S Prime Minister has fired back at the leader of the hard-right Vox party with a remarkable retort during a heated parliamentary clash over border security in Ceuta.
Pedro Sanchez was responding to accusations from Santiago Abascal that his government was being blackmailed by Morocco over alleged corruption involving his family.
The exchange occurred on Wednesday just as the government prepared to declassify 40 military intelligence and CNI reports regarding the mass arrival of migrants to the North African enclave of Ceuta.
READ MORE: Political round-up: PM Pedro Sanchez battles growing Ceuta backlash as opposition turns up the heat
Abascal warned that Spain could not continue to act as a ‘Moroccan protectorate’ and claimed the country’s leadership should not take orders from Rabat.
The Vox leader broadened his attack beyond Morocco, claiming Spain was losing its sovereignty to global superpowers and foreign capitals alike.
“The country’s next government cannot take its orders from Rabat, Brussels, Washington, Tel Aviv, Tehran, or Beijing,” he said.
Sanchez flatly denied the accusations, insisting his government does not accept blackmail from any party or country and has nothing to hide.
He then turned his sights on Abascal’s international alliances, accusing the Vox leader of wearing a leash to foreign populists by supporting Donald Trump’s tariffs and Benjamin Netanyahu’s military campaigns.
Acknowledging the insults regularly hurled at him by the opposition and ring-wing media, the prime minister then chose to confront the ‘Perro Sanxe’ meme head-on.
It is among the most derogatory monikers coined by right-wing opponents, one which his supporters later attempted to reclaim during recent election campaigns.
Sanchez delivered a sharp counter-punch, pointing out it was Vox that was the party truly on a leash, accusing Abascal of cheering on Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and Benjamin Netanyahu’s military offensives.
“Regarding the insults, your honour, you have called me an autocrat, a dictator, they even call me a dog,” he said.
“Look, I will tell you one thing, Mr Abascal: unlike you, I may be a dog, but I have no master.”
The declassified intelligence reports cover the period between July 1 and August 1, a time of intense pressure on Spain’s southern borders that directly impacts resources and security across Andalucia.
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