The leader of the PP assumes the risk of misunderstanding in some sectors of his party due to the winks to Junts and PNV while Sánchez finishes tying up his investiture
Feijóo thinks about breaking the socialist majority while thinking about the regional elections in Euskadi and Catalonia, and a legislature of “very fine politics” in Congress
When the outcome of the investiture of Pedro Sanchez is approaching and waiting to know what the negotiation with the Catalan independentists—especially those from Junts—will look like, the leader of the PP maintains a strategy of wear against the socialist leader, which contains gestures towards nationalist parties and that generates internal tensions within his own party. Alberto Núñez Feijóo assumes it and will continue along that line, even with the declaration of war that Genoa has seen in the last words of Alejandro Fernández, president of the Catalan PP, and the incomprehension of other sectors of the party very well represented in Madrid.
In the environment of Feijóo They make it clear that all movements are aimed, first of all, at breaking the block of support that Sánchez needs to be inaugurated. The game of destabilization remains a priority in Genoa until we see if the socialist manages to be president again. And in the meantime, they admit, the strategy serves other objectives: winking at the electorate of Junts and the PNV, reminding them that they have little or nothing to do with the economic policies of the PSOE and Sumar, for example.
Feijóo did it during his investiture debate and will not stop doing it now that an electoral cycle begins in the Basque Country (probably next spring) and in Catalonia, at the beginning of 2025 if they do not go ahead. The PP assumes that its electoral space does not only imply competing with the socialists in some aspects and, above all, with those who previously voted for Ciudadanos or Vox. Look directly at the nationalist center-right electorate that could penalize the agreements with Sánchez in the hands of EH Bildu and ERC.
This electoral objective joins the strategy that the PP designs for this legislature if it starts up. In the hard core of Feijóo, like other members of the national leadership, they agree that it will be time “to do intelligent policy, to spin very finely and look for windows of opportunity” to complicate life for the Government. And that can only happen by knitting specific complicities with PNV and Junts in Congress. For certain laws, votes, amendments or unexpected plot twists. Neither with ERC, nor with EH Bildu, nor with Sumar or the BNG is it likely that the PP will be able to achieve anything. But with the partners on the right who are now integrated into the so-called progressive bloc, they do see options.
And in that dynamic the PP, combining a very tough opposition against the socialist leader and looking for holes with which to tear apart his majority. Managing these political relationships may be the most complicated task Feijóo faces. He already is now, with some gestures that he maintains towards those parties while Sánchez continues negotiating his investiture with them.
The most recent example happened days ago in Barcelona when Feijóo spoke the following words about Carles Puigdemont in a conference: “I respect all the citizens of my country. I think Puigdemont is a politician who is clear about what he thinks. There are others who lie a lot. He… everyone knows what he asks for. The contacts were neither personal nor direct, but indirect, and He hasn’t lied to us. That’s a value. I don’t agree with his approach, but that doesn’t mean that From the discrepancy there can be respect”.
Although they avoid giving details about the interlocutors and how far these conversations went, the PP already made it clear weeks ago that they maintained contacts with Junts within the framework of the negotiation of the Congress Table and, later, when Feijóo assumed the King’s mandate to try form Government. The fact that he referred to Puigdemont with “respect” It bothered the leader of the Catalan PP a lot, as he himself demonstrated on his social networks.
The tension could not be greater. In the national leadership they believe that “disloyalty” by Alejandro Fernandez has been increasing. As this newspaper published, Genoa has decided to carry out the replacement as soon as possible. No move will be made until Sánchez’s investiture passes. If it were possible before the end of the year, they would do it. And if not, it will be confirmed early next year. But there is no desire to delay it in time as it might have seemed weeks ago. On the contrary. In recent days the situation has become even more serious.
In the party they assume that the current leader “wants to fight.” And so would imply a congress with two lists going to clash. The important leaders consulted by this newspaper assure that “the PP wants to go with everything” to the next Catalans. And that means betting on a ‘heavyweight’. Internal gazes continue to be directed at Dolors Montserrat. Other names such as Daniel Sirera, who has had a lot of connection with Feijóo, remain on the table. In any case, while waiting for the Catalan congress to take shape, what they also assume in Genoa is that “the tensions” They will continue until that time.
In the same intervention in Barcelona, Feijóo made it clear that his main objective is “improve results in Catalonia”. A phrase that everyone in the Catalan PP understood. A day later, from Brussels and after meeting with the rest of the popular European leaders, Feijóo did not qualify his words about Puigdemont. He stressed what he had already said before: that the contacts were not direct. And he maintained that the independence leader is “more sincere and transparent” than Sanchez. In Genoa they confirm that his intention was not to clarify anything, in fact, but to make it clear that his opinion and his strategy are what they are. Even if it bothers some sectors of the Catalan PP.
Other important leaders recognize that there are other places, especially Madrid, where that strategy with the nationalists is not well understood either. Isabel Diaz Ayuso He avoided confronting his leader, ensuring that Feijóo “does his job to the best of his ability.” and, yes, recognizing that his opinion on nationalist formations and “the damage & rdquor; What they have done is known throughout the world.
In Genoa they insist that Feijóo does not direct the policy of his territorial barons and that he has a free hand to make his own. Is willing to take risks waiting for a new opportunity. In the party, for now, they are closing ranks, also waiting for know the restructuring of the dome and the new distribution of power.