Zapatero Criticizes Musk, Backs Sánchez at PSPV Congress

Zapatero Criticizes Musk, Backs Sánchez at PSPV Congress

Former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero used the 15th PSPV-PSOE Congress in Valencia to outline the political landscape for the coming months. He argued that knowledge will triumph over misinformation in the face of what he described as a "reactionary offensive," naming specific policies he believes embody this trend: seizing Greenland and the Panama Canal, cutting federal aid programs, and lowering taxes for the wealthy, all in reference to Donald Trump's administration. His most direct target was Elon Musk, whom he defined as the "great representative" of this agenda and "a person without scruples or complexes."

Zapatero predicted that if such policies continue, "the poor will have to pay the rich's taxes" in the United States. He warned that Musk "will interfere in electoral campaigns in Spain": "We expect it. Of course, it is certain," he said, before noting that the magnate "wants to make Germany fall on the terrible side of history." The mention of Germany connects with the Trump camp's support for Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party that, according to the former president, forms part of this offensive.

The Role Zapatero Assigns to the European Union

Against this backdrop, the former president positioned the European Union as a "great civilizational political project" called upon to offer "a global alternative to the world" based on "defense of international law" and "not going back in history." This is the core of his intervention: the EU as an institutional dam, not just economic, against a global shift he identifies with Washington and the interests of the South African-American magnate.

Zapatero also expressed being "very proud" of Pedro Sánchez's government, stating that "with social democratic policy, it is delivering the best performance among all European countries." While his speech did not include figures to support this comparison, it served to establish the former president's stance: championing the social democratic framework as a remedy against the fiscal cuts and deregulation he attributes to Trumpism.

The Rejection His Figure Generates in Public Debate

The reaction to these statements reopens a rift that has remained open for two decades. One line of analysis argues that Zapatero is a toxic figure whose mere mention discredits any cause he embraces: if he supports something, the argument goes, that thing becomes contaminated. This logic summarizes an idea repeated in conversation: if the former president opposes Trump and Musk, some conclude they must take the opposite side.

Conversely, others recall that Zapatero reached La Moncloa after the March 11, 2004 attacks and that his economic management left, according to calculations circulating in the debate, a trail of hidden bills in administrations and town halls—talk of €30 billion hidden in drawers—that only surfaced with the change of government. The discussion on whether he was a good manager or a radical ideologue who exploited confusion to consolidate power remains open, and each public appearance reignites it.

The Link to Venezuela and Erosion of International Credibility

One of the most frequently cited weaknesses is his relationship with Chavismo. He is accused of acting as an intermediary or supporter of a regime that, according to critics, exploits and crushes its own people, and now gives ethics lessons from a podium. The accusation is not new but returns whenever Zapatero adopts a sarracena tone regarding democracy or human rights.

In parallel, emphasis is placed on his tenure on the supervisory board of BlackRock's German subsidiary between 2016 and 2020, one of the world's largest asset managers. For his critics, this fact contradicts his image as a social democratic reference and places him within the financial power networks he claims to fight. For his defenders, it is just another professional experience in a career that includes serving as Prime Minister.

Why Musk and AfD Enter the Spanish Campaign

Zapatero's warning about Musk's intention to intervene in Spanish elections is not an isolated hypothesis. In the debate, it is taken for granted that the magnate will use his platform to amplify certain parties, as already attributed to him in Germany with the AfD. The novelty is that a former Spanish president states this at a provincial congress and frames it within a coordinated global offensive.

This framing has practical consequences: it turns any external support for Spanish parties into a matter of democratic security, not electoral preference. It forces parties to position themselves on whether they accept or reject such backing. The discussion on the 11-M attacks, the Iraq War, and jihadist authorship continues to function as a backdrop to everything else, with conflicting versions on what was said and who benefited.

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The question remains whether Zapatero's warning is prophetic or self-serving. What is fruta is that his figure continues to act as a reagent: any statement of his mobilizes more detractors than supporters. And on a board where Musk has already shown he likes to play, that too is data.