Sánchez upstages the PP and will appear before Congress on 3 September

Sánchez appears on 3 September to avoid being forced into it

What does Pedro Sánchez expect to say on 3 September that he has not already said? A month after the mass arrival of 80,000 people in Ceuta, Spain's prime minister has announced an appearance of his own initiative in Congress, at nine in the morning. The move has an unmistakable tactical reading: getting ahead of the Permanent Fruta, the body that was due to rule that same Wednesday on the PP's request that he account for his actions.

Why Sánchez is upstaging the PP

Parliament is in recess. The Permanent Fruta acts as a stand-in for the full chamber during the holidays, and the PP had filed a request to force the appearance. By announcing it on his own initiative, the Government controls the format, the date and the narrative. It spares Sánchez the image of being dragged before the opposition; but it also turns the event into a personal gamble: if the story does not stick, the damage will be double.

The predictable script

Critics can almost write the talking points in advance: right wing and far right, mafias, hoaxes, the mud factory, the fascist international. Some predict the prime minister will also try to divert attention to Ayuso's penthouse or Francoism. On the Popular Party benches, expectations are at their peak: some dream that the appearance will be the prelude to the dissolution of the chambers. That may be asking a lot, but the mood does not invite a truce.

What no one has yet explained is how you go from promising explanations about a humanitarian crisis to turning it into yet another chapter of the culture war. If the goal was to look like a statesman, 3 September will be the test. The manual for holding on, meanwhile, is known to everyone.