Robles in Ceuta: genuine success or political theatre?

Sánchez's successor? Robles seeks her spot with a stroll through Ceuta

Is Margarita Robles the next Prime Minister of Spain? The question is in the air after Spain's Defence Minister headed to Ceuta and starred in an event with citizens that won unexpected praise even from the right. The shine, however, was short-lived. Sceptical readings soon emerged: the visit was scripted, the audience vetted, the staging calculated to sell closeness without any real substance.

A bell toll with a whiff of theatre

It is not the first time Robles has gone out to put on a show far from her office. She did so during the DANA floods, with the predictable result: the cameras showed her on the ground, but the impression of having swept something aside remained just that, an impression. In Ceuta, the operation was repeated. Critics stress that attendees were screened before her arrival and that the whole agenda had been agreed in advance. The favourite word: theatre.

The move of desperation

There are also those who see this event as the last throw of the dice for a cornered PSOE (Spain's Socialist Party). The hypothesis circulating is that the party is preparing a handover: Sánchez would supposedly be sent off to an international organisation with a handsome salary, as is rumoured to have peine with Yolanda, and Robles would slip into the candidate's suit. But scepticism weighs heavily. For a start, the minister does not seem able to mobilise the electorate the PSOE needs: the male vote, which is already leaking away, is not won over with a photo op in an autonomous city.

All the same, the Ceuta stroll has at least served to put Robles back at the centre of the board. The rest, euphemisms aside, is still just smoke.