Sánchez rejects Feijóo’s ‘offer’ of two-year government, to ‘save own skin’

Partido Popular leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo only wants to ‘save his own skin’ with the offer he made to acting Prime Minister and socialist leader Pedro Sánchez to put in place a two-year conservative government, the spokesperson of the progressive formation, Pilar Alegría, said on Wednesday.

Feijóo, who leads Spain’s main centre-right opposition party, met with Sánchez on Wednesday morning in a chilly meeting lasting less than half an hour in the premises of parliament, EURACTIV´s partner EFE reported.

The atmosphere was tense from the outset, and the handshake, when the two met for the press flashes, was interpreted as cold and distant.

As Feijóo explained in a press conference after the meeting, Sánchez prefers to forge “agreements with the (Catalan and Basque) pro-independence movement” instead of accepting the national pact that he has offered, which includes a two-year legislature and six “major” state agreements.

“For the moment, I have found myself with a ‘no means no’, for the time being, because I will not cease in my efforts to offer agreements and pacts”, the PP leader stressed.

‘Emboldened’ Catalan separatists

Feijóo explained that he had presented Sánchez with an “alternative” to protect the state from the “unconstitutional and discriminatory” demands of the “emboldened” pro-independence movement, referring to Catalan separatist parties Junts per Catalunya (JuntsXCat) and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), on which Sánchez depends to be re-invested as prime minister.

Although Feijóo won the snap general election on 23 July, the PP (EPP) did not reach the 176 seats needed to govern alone. Nor, together with the far-right VOX party (ECR), with which the PP governs in several regions and municipalities, does Feijóo reach the necessary quorum.

Spain’s King Felipe VI entrusted the PP leader with the task of trying to form a government as the winner of the elections. However, it will be an almost impossible task, as very few parties have lent him their parliamentary support, and several, including the Catalan, have announced that they do not intend even to meet with the PP leader.

Feijóo has until 26 September to try to achieve the 176 votes he needs (he now has 174) for his investiture, and the clock is already ticking.

If he fails, as all forecasts suggest, it will be Sánchez’s turn to try, probably with the support of the Catalan and Basque separatist forces, in exchange for major concessions, including on economic transfers and other more sensitive political issues, including an amnesty for those involved in the serious events of October 2017, and a tricky referendum on self-determination for Catalonia.

Feijóo’s ‘murky’ past

The socialist spokeswoman launched a direct reproach at Feijóo, who has not clarified his financial situation yet. According to Spanish press reports, the PP omitted in the last election campaign (for the 23 July elections) that Feijóo received an extra salary in addition to the €39,250 for his position in the PP. The total monthly salary received by the conservative leader would be, in reality, €71,000, an amount that he did not disclose, El País reported.

Alegría recalled the “very murky and complicated” past of the PP leader and the “opacity” of the “envelopes” he received from the party and also the alleged relationship he had with a “drug dealer”.

Feijóo does not work “thinking about his country” but only about “how to save his own skin” because he has “a majority against his investiture”, she added.

From ‘repealing’ to ‘begging’ Sánchismo

Ironically, the PSOE spokeswoman said that even though the PP’s (and VOX’s) objective was to “repeal Sanchismo (the policies of the progressive coalition government)”, several weeks after the elections, Feijóo has now turned to “begging Sanchismo”, asking him to be allowed to govern, as the most voted party last July.

Socialist sources told EFE on Wednesday that Feijóo put forward this proposal because he fears that, once his failure in the investiture debate is confirmed, the “Pandora’s box” will be opened to renew the PP leadership, to which the president of the Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, Feijóo’s “shadow” and powerful rival, aspires.

If neither of the two candidates obtains the necessary support, Spain would probably have to hold new elections on 14 January 2024.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)