The National Court hosts from this Monday one of the most anticipated trials of spring, the "Kitchen" case, which will bring to the dock the former Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández Díaz, his former number two Francisco Martínez, and a good part of the Interior leadership of 2013, as well as the controversial former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo.
All of them are accused of allegedly having launched an operation between 2013 and 2015 to spy on the former treasurer of the Popular Party, Luis Bárcenas, and his family, as well as of stealing sensitive documentation for the PP in the midst of the investigation of the Gürtel case. All of it, allegedly financed with reserved funds.
In the first session, focused on preliminary issues, the Socialist Party, appearing as a popular prosecution, has requested the partial annulment of the case to reopen the investigation and include the former general secretary of the PP, María Dolores de Cospedal, and her ex-husband, Ignacio López del Hierro.
The socialists argue that there are audios and files of Villarejo, subsequent to the closing of the instruction, that could evidence his direct political participation in the operation and the improper use of public funds.
But beyond the judicial intricacies, the start of the case in the National Court has generated a wave of reactions that slide from the unnuanced condemnation of the PSOE to the defense by the PP of the current leadership of the party.
The PSOE denounces the case as "the greatest shame of Spanish democracy"
In a statement released from Ferraz, the PSOE has described the case as “the greatest shame of Spanish democracy”. The socialists have assured that the Popular Party has tried for weeks to generate noise to divert attention and cover up the irregularities that the judicial investigation is bringing to light.
“What is the Kitchen? It is the Popular Party using the Ministry of Interior, judges, prosecutors and police to destroy the evidence of its own corruption,” the PSOE leadership has pointed out.
According to the socialist lawyer, Gloria de Pascual, the audios called “MD Cospedal” and others broadcast by RAC1 in 2025, would show multiple and continuous relationships between Cospedal and Villarejo, and require judicial assessment to guarantee a complete investigation. For this reason, they request sentences totaling 47 years and 10 months for Fernández Díaz, and 38 years and 3 months for Francisco Martínez and Villarejo.
For the socialists, Kitchen is not an isolated event, but an operation organized from power to cover up the Gürtel. “The PP covering up the PP with the apparatuses of the State,” they emphasized this Monday from Ferraz, and point out that the party has applied a same method in different cases of alleged corruption.”
“To understand what the PP is, just look at Génova 13 floor by floor. On the first floor: the Gürtel envelopes, which turned the PP into the first party convicted of corruption in the history of Spain. On the second floor: the Ministry of Interior destroying the evidence of that corruption. On the third floor: the Ministry of Finance investigated for selling the BOE. Three floors. The same building. The same method," they stress.
Furthermore, the socialists emphasize that corruption in the PP is not something of the past, but remains present. In this context, they denounce that while the trial begins, the party led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo tries to divert attention, generate noise and blame others, without assuming any consequences.
The Popular Party takes distance and condemns “without nuances” corruption
From the PP they make a different reading. The Deputy Secretary of Finance, Juan Bravo, has insisted in a press conference offered to the media that they distance themselves from the case, assuring that in the current leadership of the party no one remains involved in any corrupt plot.
“We condemn without nuances any case of corruption,” he assured, stressing that the current political party should not be identified with the facts judged in Kitchen. According to Bravo, “the PP of 2026 is not Kitchen, nor is the PSOE of 2026 Filesa,” in allusion to the illegal financing case that affected Felipe González's PSOE.
Along the same lines, the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has insisted that the PP of today “has nothing to do” with the Kitchen case and has lashed out at the PSOE for wanting to “tie” by equating this case with the investigation into the purchase of masks that begins this Tuesday.
“I believe that these cases, some and others, have no comparison, because in the first one we are talking about something from 13 years ago. I believe that, furthermore, currently the Popular Party and those who lead it have nothing to do with this story”, the Madrid president stated in declarations to the media from the new health center in Parla.
Sumar denounces the use of the State for partisan purposes
From Sumar, the Second Vice President of the Government and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, has pointed out that the use of state mechanisms to investigate political adversaries is “very serious in a democracy”. Díaz has emphasized that Operation Kitchen not only reflects an improper use of public resources, but also an ethical and political void that needs to be sanctioned.
The leader of Sumar has stressed the responsibility of the PP leaders involved, recalling that, despite the fact that the events occurred during the Government of Mariano Rajoy, "no one has apologized" nor assumed responsibilities for the instrumentalization of the Police and of the reserved funds.
For his part, the spokesperson for United Left in Congress, Enrique Santiago, has valued valued as "good news that impunity ends". "The bad (news), the surprising thing is that it has taken approximately 15 years to be judged,” Santiago declared after participating in a concentration in Córdoba.
Santiago has also referred to the investigation of the case, calling it insufficient and partial. “One must be very critical of how the investigation has developed,” he warned, recalling that this slowness and the judicial decisions adopted during the investigation phase have prevented some of the main perpetrators of the plot, among them María Dolores de Cospedal and former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy “from sitting in the dock”.
Vox lashes out against the corruption of PP and PSOE: "It's the week of the two-party system"
For his part, the national spokesperson for Vox, José Antonio Fúster, has branded the day as the “week of bipartisanship” in a context in which, according to the party, citizens will witness the “embarrassment” that both PP and PSOE generate before public opinion.
Thus, Fúster has pointed out that the judicial processes include “the corruption of Ábalos, Koldo and Pedro Sánchez's entire mafia gang” and, in parallel, the start of the trial of Operation Kitchen.
The spokesperson has stressed that, in his opinion, PP and PSOE coincide on several problematic fronts: from climate policies that he has described as “fanaticism,” to the management of immigration and public services, but also, according to him, “on corruption”.
Regarding the Kitchen case, Fúster has insisted that the trial demonstrates how, “allegedly, a Popular Party government used the Ministry of Interior and the police not to pursue corruption, but to hide it”, including the use of public resources to enter the homes of former senior PP officials and erase evidence that could incriminate the party.
Therefore, he has clarified that the case has become “a breath of fresh air for Sanchismo”. Finally, Fúster has defended Vox as the only alternative to bipartisan corruption, to what he considers “detrimental policies of the PP and PSOE in recent years”, and has insisted that “more and more Spaniards see hope in VOX, because we are a party with no experience in stealing, swindling, or approving laws that harm citizens”.