Four months ago Borja Sémper (Irún, 47 years old) returned to the PP after a few years in a consultancy and on the radio. He says that he feels that he is in the best team “to change the policy & rdquor; and “change to Spain & rdquor ;.
In his last press conference, he stated that the Government “moves& rdquor; Franco and José Antonio Primo de Rivera, but what they “move” they really are mortgages. He also assured that Pedro Sánchez makes “legislative botch jobs & rdquor ;. Wasn’t he supposed to be the moderate face of the PP?
We must differentiate between being critical and insults and falsehoods. That this government botches is objective evidence, like the law of ‘only yes is yes’. It is also objective to say that, when the Government goes through an uncomfortable situation, it tries to divert attention. The PP has no doubt about the suitability of exhuming the remains of José Antonio Primo de Rivera: the 2011 law identifies him as a victim of the Civil War and the family has promoted the exhumation. There is no questioning of the substance, but of the permanent use of Francoism to divert attention.
The conservative spokesman and deputy secretary is not afraid that Ayuso could hit the table if the party does not recover any key community
The PP has won three of the last four municipal elections. In 2007 by 150,000 votes; in 2015 for 400,000 and in 2011 for 2.2 million ballots. What bar do they set now?
Objectively, winning is having one more vote.
Would they calmly reach the generals with a single vote difference?
Yes, it would mean recovering more than a million votes compared to the last municipal ones, from 2019 [el PP perdió por 1,5 millones de papeletas].
“The PP has no doubt about the suitability of exhuming the remains of José Antonio Primo de Rivera”
Are you afraid of an internal revolution if the PP does not seize some community from the PSOE?
Not at all.
Don’t you think that Isabel Díaz Ayuso can be emboldened if she sees that the ‘Feijóo effect’ has no translation at the polls?
I see all the leaders absolutely aligned with Feijóo and, when I say all, I also include Ayuso. There is an absolute alignment to ensure that Feijóo, in December, regardless of the result of the May elections, which we believe we are going to win, is not only the candidate for the general elections, but also the next president of the Government.
“Why don’t we expropriate the homes of the rich? Sánchez proposes a model that goes against medium and low incomes”
In which community do you think the PP can take the presidency from the PSOE? Valencian Community? Aragon? Balearics?
The perception on the street is good, but nothing has been won.
In the autonomies that they can recover, they will reach the presidency thanks to Vox.
It will be thanks to the citizens. You win the elections and govern because there are people who have voted for you. Spot.
Winning does not mean ruling.
Good, but it is convenient that many people vote for you. Our goal is to have a result that is broad enough to not need other training.
The surveys, however, indicate that in June they will need Vox for mayors and autonomies. How are they going to go from those pacts to competing with Vox again in the generals?
We need to stop treating people like idiots. When a candidate says that he would not sleep peacefully governing with so-and-so and, 48 hours later, he governs with so-and-so, he insults the people. In this phase, we say what we want to do and how we want to govern. If this changes, people will have to be told, with humility and transparency, why that scenario is changing.
They do not like the new housing law, but the PP did not manage to find the solution when it governed either.
There is no magic wand. This government has been here for five years and it is in the final stretch when it tells us that it is going to build 183,000 homes… Where rents have been regulated, housing prices have skyrocketed. And this law does not tackle the problem of the occupation either, which it solves with a certain demagogy. Do you believe that vulnerable families have the right to housing? I think so. But what I believe is that they do not have the right to occupy their home or that of the saver.
“Is Doñana the only thing the Government has against the PP? Our position is clear. Doñana does not touch herself, Doñana protects herself”
The law reinforces the protection of the most vulnerable, but as long as they are in homes with large tenants.
We are talking about people who have been saving and buying apartments of €150,000 and who may have treasured five homes. That’s great forks.
The regulation allows those who have five homes in the same stressed area to be considered large holders. This is not usually the case for small savers.
If the law poses the debate in those terms, why don’t we expropriate the homes of the rich? Why don’t we expropriate the house from those who use it only in summer? Sánchez proposes a model that goes against middle income and low income.
Do you think that Juanma Moreno, president of Andalucía, has made a mistake, now proposing the bill for Doñana?
No, it is a commitment from the previous legislature. What there is is an evident intention of Sánchez to turn Doñana into something that is useful for him electorally. Is it the only thing the Government has against the PP? Our position is clear. Doñana does not touch herself, Doñana protects herself. We are absolutely convinced that this is compatible with protecting economic activity.
“What pacifies Catalonia and what changes the course of the independentistas are the judicial sentences”
But the scientific community and Brussels warn Moreno that he is not on the right track. And, unusually, you have involved the European People’s Party (EPP) in your battle against the Commission.
You know that the dialectic in Brussels between ideological currents, even between Commission and Parliament, have evolved in the last 20 years. there is a commissioner [de Medio Ambiente, Virginijus Sinkevicius] with an ideological bias [de un partido verde de Lituania] that we understand that it works more from orthodoxy than from the reality of Doñana. What Europe tells us is that this law must comply with the EU ruling, which was imposed with a socialist government, by the way. What Moreno says, and we do not doubt it, is that the final wording will comply with the sentence.
“I believe in transparency in all areas and for all people. Juan Carlos has to be held accountable”
Do you give Sánchez any credit for lowering the tension in Catalonia?
The main merit that it has is called the Supreme Court. What pacifies and what changes the course of the independentistas are the judicial sentences, a consequence of what they did in the months before the proceedings. That makes the soufflé go down and those who commit those acts are aware that they have consequences, in this case legal. And the temporal thread shows it to us.
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Do you think that Juan Carlos I should give explanations to the Spanish?
I believe in transparency in all areas and for all people. And I believe that King Juan Carlos has to be held accountable but, as far as we know, Juan Carlos I is innocent, no court has sentenced him to anything. And his role in consolidating democracy is very relevant… Does this give you a license to do whatever you want? The answer is no’.