The Government does not blame the advisers for the failures of the PP leader in this area: “His problem is that he does not have good intentions”
“The Spanish, when they go to vote in the general elections, They will imagine four more years with Irene Montero, not joe biden seeing paintings in the Museo del Prado after the NATO summit”. The phrase is pronounced by one of the people who are part of the hard core of Alberto Núñez Feijóo to downplay the impact on citizens of the foreign policy. Pedro Sanchez 2023 has been full of international appointments and will close it at an even higher rate, because, as of July 1, Spain will hold the rotating presidency of the European Union. “We know that he will try to take advantage of it, but in foreign policy there is no return of the vote,” continues the adviser.
The position of the PP coincides with the Elcano Royal Institute of International and Strategic Studies, that this is how he collected it in his report ‘Spain in the world in 2023: perspectives and challenges’. According to this center of thought, it is not expected that “foreign and European policy” will be “relevant to clarify the vote.”
The conservative formation has commissioned studies with ‘focus groups’ (people selected to participate in a guided debate, in this case foreign policy) and has concluded that the proper development of the NATO Summit, last June; Sánchez’s fluid relationship with the European Commission, chaired by Ursula von der Leyen, or the success of the Iberian cap on gas (achieved together with Portugal) do not improve the assessment of the head of the Executive. “Yes, on the other hand, the divisions within the Government on account of the delivery of arms to Ukraine or the Sahara have an impact,” say sources from the leadership of the PP.
“We prefer that Feijóo be more loved within Spain and that they want Sánchez outside,” says an adviser to the Galician politician
Feijóo, according to these data that they offer in their party, he is not worried about what Sánchez calls “insolvency” and “gaps of ignorance” in foreign policy. Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba He used to say that if a politician had to go out and explain the same thing twice, it means that he has not done it right the first time and should be self-critical. And that is what happened to the leader of the PP with his criticism of the Government for “pay homage to autocratic rulers” while Sánchez participated, together with Felipe VI, in the Ibero-American summit of Dominican Republic. Feijóo said a day later that he was misinterpreted and that he was referring to members of Podemos and former President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, due to his contacts with the Venezuelan regime and Nicolás Maduro.
Debt cancellation to Cuba
“It is curious that the leader of the PP falls into making these references to dictators when he has photographs with Raúl Castro when he was president of the Xunta”, say Moncloa sources who also recall that the Government of Mariano Rajoy (PP) forgiven 1,976 million euros to the Cuban regime between 2015 and 2016. “What would they be saying about the PSOE if it had forgiven that amount of money to Cuba?” asks a diplomat who remembers that Rajoy was not able to return the Cultural center nor the transfer of the management of any airport.
At Moncloa they do not believe that the comment about the “autocratic rulers” at the Ibero-American summit or the campaign launched by the PP against the gas cap achieved with Portugal is due to “bad advice” to Feijóo. “His problem is that he does not have good intentions. The PP lives with the flamethrower permanently. And, in foreign policy, it is much more noticeable than in domestic policy, because in these day-to-day issues we have already gotten used to it,” continues the diplomat. According to PP sources, the vice-secretary for Institutions, the MEP Esteban González Pons, He is also in charge of coordinating the president’s international agenda. And they help him, according to EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA, from the Prensa Ibérica group, some diplomats who have already worked for conservative administrations such as Juan Pablo García-Berdoy, Ildefonso Castro and Ramón Gil-Casares.
the iraq war
Foreign Ministry sources concede that diplomacy “is not determinative” in the vote in the general except “if a big mistake is made” and remember the support of Jose Maria Aznar (PP) to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 as an example. The vast majority of Spanish society was against it. The Socialists won the general elections of March 2004, which were held days after the jihadist attacks on the Madrid trains. These diplomatic sources emphasize that the “positive effect” generated by a ruler having “prestige” abroad is undoubtedly and that the Executive believes is what Sánchez is achieving.
The different vision between Moncloa and Genoa is great: “We prefer that Feijóo be more loved within Spain and that they want Sánchez outside. He has a credibility problem that he will not be able to solve no matter how many international meetings he holds”, settles the advisor to the Galician politician.