Juan Lobato arrived at the Puerta del Sol to meet with Isabel Díaz Ayuso, as part of the usual contacts that the president maintains with the spokespeople at the beginning of the course, in the midst of the internal storm of the PSOE in Madrid. This first meeting of the new political course between Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Juan Lobato gave rise to a tense political dispute, in which the spokesperson of the Madrid socialists accused the president of the Community of encouraging an “institutional rebellion” from Madrid so that the rest of the PP barons do not meet with Pedro Sánchez bilaterally to discuss regional financing.
Lobato arrived at the Real Casa de Correos at four in the afternoon, to participate in the series of contacts between the Madrid president and the parliamentary spokesmen at the beginning of this period of sessions in the Assembly. The socialist spokesman has been at the center of the news all week, due to the internal debate that has opened within the PSOE around its leadership and that has been fueled by the convening of the party’s federal congress.
PSOE critics in Madrid criticise Lobato’s “lukewarmness” and his policies, which do not place him as far to the left as they would like. They also believe that their own profile compared to Sánchez, even if most of the time it is only a slight accent different from that of Madrid, is not what the party needs.
In this context, Lobato saw an opportunity in Ayuso’s intervention yesterday morning at a PP political event in Madrid. There, the regional president asked her party colleagues not to be taken in by Sánchez’s strategy and not to attend bilateral meetings to discuss regional financing. He believes that the intention of the government president is to divide the PP communities with economic “bribes” and, in doing so, ignore Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Ayuso asked the popular barons to attend the conference of presidents only to talk about financing.
Lobato took note of Ayuso’s position and came to see Sol to fight. In fact, as soon as he entered the meeting, which was also attended by Marta Bernardo and Jesús Celada, on behalf of the PSOE, he reproached Ayuso for these words. He accused him of having encouraged an institutional rebellion and also of “profound institutional disloyalty” consisting of refusing to meet with the President of the Government.
“I could be in the park this afternoon with my children. But I came here because the president calls me and it is my duty,” Lobato commented to the media, with an indignant tone in the face of Ayuso’s position. The leader of the Madrid socialists is in favor of calling the conference of presidents, but also of participating in all the meetings called by the president of the government.
Socialist sources indicated that the discussion was tense and heated and that it lasted a large part of the meeting. Lobato and Ayuso were able to spend about half an hour in this fight, during a meeting that lasted about an hour and a half, according to the same sources.
In reality, this episode allowed Lobato to show his loyalty to Sánchez, at a particularly delicate moment for him within the PSOE, especially when the idea is spreading that Sánchez wants to promote an alternative candidate in Madrid at the next regional congress. Asked about this subject at the press conference, Lobato explained that he limited himself to working and not to “watching his back” every Tuesday and Thursday.
The presidential advisor and regional spokesman, Miguel Ángel García, who was also present at the meeting, downplayed the anger and assured that a “very cordial” atmosphere reigned at the meeting. Of course, he stressed to the press that Sánchez was showing institutional disloyalty by not convening the Conference of Presidents for two and a half years, when he should have done so five times already. In addition, he stressed that regional financing must be addressed in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council. That is why he defends meetings with the President of the Government on specific issues of the communities, but to talk about financing, he said, there is the Fiscal Policy Council.
