The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, begins the new year as the last one ended: with darts against Pedro Sánchez. In a video broadcast on social networks this Monday, the opposition leader congratulates the Spaniards on the year 2024, but is full of veiled messages against the government president. “If I can commit to defending our democracy, it is because I have not chosen to weaken it. If I can truly commit to my country, it is because I have not normalized lying in politics,” claims Feijóo, referring to issues such as the future amnesty law for those prosecuted in the Procés and its consideration on It was approved in the House of Representatives on December 12th with 178 votes. The deadline for submitting full amendments to the rule is this Wednesday and debate on the whole in the plenary session of Congress is scheduled for next day, the 9th, although the session will take place on the premises of the Senate, as that House of Commons is under construction.
The beginning of the new political year will thus be marked by the drafting of the law, after the congressional committee approved January as a fiscal month to accelerate the process. Therefore, high tensions will continue between the PSOE and the PP, whose main point of contention since last summer has centered on the amnesty after Feijóo won the 23-J parliamentary elections, but without the possibility of forming a parliamentary majority. And that Sánchez negotiated with the Catalan independence forces the level of clemency needed to be sworn in as president, after ensuring during the election campaign that he would not cross this limit. “I am aware of the enormous responsibility that the leadership of the opposition bears, even more so to be the first political force.” . That is why I stand up for the majority of Spaniards who continue to believe in our nation,” emphasizes the PP leader in the video published this Monday, praising the idea of the list with the most votes.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal explicitly admitted on December 14 that he would not have voted for Feijóo's inauguration if Popular Party leader Junts had agreed, refuting the opposition leader's argument that he was not president because he was not wanted. The relationship with the Ultra Party, which has isolated the PP from the rest of the parliamentary forces, will continue to be a headache for the People's Party in the coming year, after it concluded four pacts in regional governments and 140 city councils in 2023. “I am committed to maintaining the civic spirit that we have shown on the streets. I am committed to building a country where we all fit back in,” Feijóo continues. The PP intends to call for new demonstrations like those in the fall against the amnesty. Although no specific dates have been announced yet.
My commitment in 2024 remains with democracy, truth and all Spaniards.
Happy New Year everyone. pic.twitter.com/u31Q166WHI
— Alberto Núñez Feijóo (@NunezFeijoo) January 1, 2024
The Secretary General of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, spoke this Monday about the recent statements made by Abascal and other ultra leaders. “I believe that Vox is not our political opponent. Spain has a big problem. This problem is called Pedro Sánchez,” he explained in an interview with Europa Press. The Secretary General also pointed out that the President of the Government is a politician who “does enormous damage to Spanish society on a daily basis”, stressing that the PP “is very clear that it has to do this”. “And we will not engage in other types of provocations,” he added, referring to the attacks by Vox after the PP reached an agreement with the PSOE on the distribution of congressional commissions and the meeting between Feijóo and Sánchez a week ago . , in which they agreed that the European Commission would mediate in the negotiations for the renewal of the General Council of Justice (CGPJ), which expired five years ago due to the PP blockade.
In the annual review that Feijóo made last Thursday in Madrid, he described the CGPJ as “the last dam that curbs the abuses of the government” and stressed that the formation will closely monitor “the renewal and the electoral method” of the governing body of the Judge. Gamarra also warned this Monday that his party would “lead the fight” to prevent the appointment of judges in the commissions of inquiry into alleged lawfare cases, which were approved on the 12th together with the consideration of the amnesty law and will be opened in Congress This semester. As the people's leader emphasized, reporting on “matters learned about in the course of their jurisdiction is outside the scope of the rule of law.” The Secretary General is responding in this way to Sumar's spokesperson, Marta Lois, who stated in another interview with Europa Press that “to understand that judges cannot take part in these commissions would be like not laying down the basic principles of democracy, “that you have to listen to and appreciate” than not judging.
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The position of the government partner PSOE clashes with that of the socialists, who oppose the appointment of judges to these commissions of inquiry. “The Socialist Party is doing everything its partners ask of it to stay in power, therefore for its own benefit,” Gamarra claims. “If this step is taken, there should be no doubt that it will have consequences and the responsible person will be Pedro Sánchez, nothing more, nothing less,” he warns.
Regarding the negotiations for the renewal of the CGPJ, the General Secretary of the Popular Party has assured that her party will include in these talks the filling of the only vacancy in the Constitutional Court, which has been deserted since July 2022 after the proposal of the conservative judge Alfredo Montoya in 2017 He resigned from the popular one due to illness. The approval of his successor lies with the Senate, where the PP has an absolute majority and can therefore advance the voting process, but does not have the three-fifths majority required to appoint him. That's why he has to come to an agreement with the socialists. “It is unusual that there is an organization like the Constitutional Court with 12 members and that it has 11 because the second political force in our country is blocking this renewal because the name corresponds to the other party.” The PSOE said a year ago, that it was unwilling to fill the constitutional vacancy while the People's Party blocked the judiciary. A situation that may now change now that an agreement has been reached between Sánchez and Feijóo, although negotiations are still pending. According to socialist sources, the solution to the Guarantee Court vacancy was already included in the pact that the popular deputy secretary Esteban González Pons made with the PSOE in October 2022 to renew the CGPJ. The PP broke the agreement at the last moment, arguing that the government was simultaneously preparing to amend the criminal code to abolish the crime of sedition and reduce the crime of embezzlement.
What brought the PP leader to a tie before the end of 2023 was the 18-F election rally in Galicia. Xunta's president, the popular Alfonso Rueda, has brought early elections and is aiming to reconstitute the autonomous government. A victory that would be an incentive for Feijóo after the generals' shock. “I commit to working to create harmony, equality and freedom in Spain. And above all, I promise not to change my resolutions even in the middle of the year,” the opposition leader concludes his New Year’s message.
The presidents of the PP are indicting Pedro Sánchez
In addition to the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the regional presidents of the People's Party also included attacks on Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in their respective New Year's messages. Madrid leader Isabel Díaz Ayuso has expressed that, in her opinion, a “politically bittersweet” 2023 will end with the achievement of an absolute majority in the 28-M regional elections, but with the recasting of the coalition government after 23-J. “The grave mistake of the amnesty, the grave mistake of the coalition with the Basque and Catalan separatist minorities, the grave mistake of choosing a communist policy that only impoverishes and suffocates, promoting inequality between Spaniards and confrontation, make the strength of the Government of the Autonomous Community of Madrid,” explained Ayuso, from the municipality of Alcalá de Henares. For his part, the President of the Andalusian Government, Juan Manuel Moreno, assured that “many Andalusians” are worried “that there is a risk of breaking the equality of Spaniards”. “We cannot agree to privileged treatment of some areas over others, because that is the same as giving privileged treatment to some Spaniards over others. You can be sure that I will defend Andalusia wherever it is necessary and against whomever it is necessary,” Moreno promised through a video recorded in Doñana National Park.
Fernando López Miras, from the Murcia region, will not tolerate “the collapse of equality between territories and citizens.” “In times of uncertainty, strength means unity and with one voice we must stop any setback in constitutional Spain that has cost so much to build,” he declared. While the President of Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, has argued that the constitution protects “many values” and “many essential principles” for coexistence, “a large majority of Castilians, Leonese and also Spaniards” see this “at risk today “. “Against this background, we must have clear ideas and free principles,” he added.
On the socialist side, the President of Castile-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, takes a critical line towards the independence forces. García-Page won the March 28 regional elections despite the Socialists' setback in elections in other areas. “This trust, which confirms my position as President of the Government, is an incentive for me and gives me enormous strength. It gives me enormous strength to defend Castile-La Mancha and its interests here. But above all, it gives me a lot of strength to be able to raise our voice on behalf of Castile-La Mancha in the national context. So that only those who want to torpedo or break our constitution do not speak,” the socialist leader said in his message.
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