Elías Bendodo (Málaga, 48 years old) has made his debut in the opposition. Until now he has always been in government positions. At only 25 years old, he was a councilor in the Malaga City Council, then president of the Provincial Council and, finally, a councilor of the Andalusian Executive. He assures that he likes challenges and wants to help Alberto Núñez Feijóo to reach an absolute majority in the next general elections, just as he did with Juanma Moreno in Andalusia last June.
-Will you keep the two seats, in the Parliament of Andalusia and in the Senate in Madrid?
-In the medium term we will consider it, but from the outset it is compatible. The people of Malaga voted for me on the list for Parliament and at least I will finish this period of sessions.
“We have to go back to those ideas: to a moderate, focused PP that represents the majority of the moderate constitutionalist voter in Catalonia”
-Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Pedro Sánchez will have a face-to-face meeting in the Senate next Tuesday. Has he caught you off guard?
-If it can be called ‘face to face’ that Feijóo will be able to speak for 15 minutes on a specific topic… Because it’s only 15 minutes and then five more of reply. The idea of Spain that Feijóo has in his head covers much more time. The debate we asked for was to talk about our country, about how we face this fall from the energy and economic point of view. It is good that the Spanish know that there are two projects, the one that is working badly now in Spain and ours, even if it is in 15 minutes. The Spaniards will be able to discover our alternative.
-Ministers of the Executive slip that Feijóo is not as prepared as he says to govern Spain.
-The strategies of the PSOE and Sánchez change every 15 days and that is the perfect example that they are prisoners of a nervous breakdown. If your main sociologist tells you that you are going to lose the elections [en referencia a José Félix Tezanos, presidente del Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS)]is that you are going to lose the elections.
“The PSOE has cut off all channels of communication with the PP & rdquor;
-And what skills do you see in Feijóo to win?
-These months what have the PSOE and Sánchez done? From the outset the strategy was Vox, but now nobody talks about Vox anymore after Andalusia and the PSOE saw that this was wrong. The second strategy was to ignore Feijóo. There is no need to talk about Feijóo, when all Spaniards know him after having been governing Galicia for 13 years and four as leader of the opposition. Proven management solvency. The next step was to insult Feijóo. And Sánchez’s ministers, unknown until now, have come out in droves to insult Feijóo in a chained manner to see who said the fattest outburst and the biggest insult. We have to confront, but you must understand that there are state issues that the PP and the PSOE have to talk about. I don’t say understand each other, I say talk. The socialist party has cut off all communication channels and I think it’s a mistake.
-What is the president of the PP going to propose on Tuesday?
-Measures full of common sense and far from ideology. Those of the PSOE and Podemos are loaded with ideology. The PP proposes to use all the resources that are within our reach, because we are in an exceptional situation. The useful life of nuclear power plants must be extended. Nuclear energy is already green, the European Commission has said. You don’t have to have any ideological prejudice to do what other countries like Japan, France and Germany have done.
“The Government is hostage to its partners and they do not allow the CGPJ to agree with the PP”
-The Government has taken on some of the measures proposed by you, such as lowering VAT on electricity and now on gas. Will this make understanding easier?
-The Government has a hard time accepting that our plan was good, because it was made by experts, discussed with businessmen and unions, away from ideology… He is accepting it dropper, but better late than never.
-What Feijóo are we going to see in the Senate? Because meanwhile the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) is still not renewed.
-We are going to see a Feijóo as a statesman, with an outstretched hand, who is going to put the interests of Spain ahead of those of the party. Not like the President of the Government, for whom the PSOE is first, the PSOE is second, the PSOE is third, and then the interest of the Spaniards. The priorities of the Executive do not coincide with the priorities of the Spaniards. It is true that the judiciary must be renewed and the PP has presented its proposal and the Government has changed the rules of the game [con su reforma para renovar el Tribunal Constitucional]. It is the perfect example that neither wants nor can agree to the renewal of the CGPJ, because the proposals of the PP, with recommendations from the European Union, he does not like. And, secondly, their government partners do not let them, because it means breaking with Bildu, with the Catalan independentists and with United We Can, who are the ones who support the Executive.
-You mention that Sánchez has modified the rules of the game, but you also demand changes before agreeing. Why not renew it without conditions with the current law, which is what the Constitution marks?
-The Government cannot agree with the PP.
– The Government says that yes it wants.
-Morning. We sit tomorrow. Esteban González Pons has spoken several times with Minister Félix Bolaños and is willing to do so again. What’s happening? That the Government is hostage to its partners and they do not allow a pact with the PP. We sit tomorrow.
-Without any previous condition, not even that of not appointing the two magistrates of the Constitutional Court?
Let’s listen, talk. We have our proposal.
“The Government finds it difficult to accept that our energy plan was good. He is accepting it dropper, but better late than never & rdquor;
-Sánchez says that the PP only thinks about 5% of the population, which is represented by the big banking businessmen, the electricity companies…
-It is the strategy of recovering the electorate of the left. It is pure tactics. He is already campaigning, a little desperate, it shows. They are plot holders.
Why have they not recognized the diplomatic success of the Iberian butt to gaswhich now even wants to copy the rest of the European Union?
-The gas cap was necessary.
-But they have called him “Iberian thymus” in a campaign on social networks.
-Because it is, because in the end the one that is benefiting is France. The Government has taken the measures late and badly, what work does it cost you to talk about them and agree on them with us?
-Who are you going to present to the mayor of Barcelona?
-More than talking about people, we must talk about ideas and the PP as a whole. It has to have the ability to reconnect with the center-right electorate of Catalonia as in other times and for that there is no one left. The first challenge of the PP of Catalonia is to present strong candidates in the municipal elections and from there we will tackle the following steps.
-Are you considering an independent star signing plan?
-Few star signings have gone well. The PP has a broad base and very good cadres throughout the territory. I think we have the teams and what is needed is to build ideas and projects that reconnect with Catalan society.
-Dolors Montserrat could be the candidate for mayor?
-Dolors plays a great role in the European Parliament. Although it is true that the national leadership is competent in the candidacies in the provincial capitals and we have not yet opened that melon.
-Have you renewed your confidence in Alejandro Fernández as leader of the PP in Catalonia?
-He is working normally and we have to prepare the municipal ones with him.
-Why have up to three seats in Catalonia sunk compared to Vox’s 11?
-It is due to a combination of circumstances. More than seeing the reasons, we must see the strategies to reconnect with the electorate. We have not done things very well there in recent years, we have been able to do them well in other years and we must return to those ideas: to a moderate, focused PP that represents the majority of the moderate constitutionalist voter in Catalonia. Ciudadanos got it and the PP has to have the capacity to house all that will and that illusion around the Feijóo project.
“There is no reason to give up the absolute majority [en las generales del año que viene]”
-Why is Feijóo taking so long to see Abascal alone?
-Priorities are what they are. He will have to meet with leaders of other political parties when the agendas allow it, not only with Abascal but with Arrimadas, with the PNV, with the Canarian Coalition, with UPN…
-Surveys indicate that they will need it to reach Moncloa.
-The surveys said that in Andalusia and right now we form a government only of the PP. Feijóo cannot give up his own history and that is having achieved four absolute majorities. There is no reason to give up.
– Do you expect to go from 89 to 176 seats in the next general elections?
-It was more difficult to go from the opposition to Andalusia to obtain an absolute majority.
Related news
-You are very critical of the coalition government and the difficulties they have internally. How do you imagine the entente with Vox?
-We do not contemplate that scenario, I tell you very seriously. We aspire to a sufficient majority to give the Spaniards peace of mind, we are not going to give up the history of this party of achieving large majorities.