Family photo, setting that imitates that of the Conference of Presidents, short speeches without questions from journalists. This is how the PP has decided to ignore the obvious internal divergences that exist between the national and regional leaderships, and between them, due to the reform of regional financing that the Government wants to tackle, forced by the agreement reached between the PSOE and the ERC for the investiture of Salvador Illa. Alberto Núñez Feijóo has imposed silence in the face of the cascade of contradictory statements from his barons, who cannot even agree on whether or not to attend a hypothetical bilateral meeting with Pedro Sánchez. The socialists criticize him for his plan to “confront Catalonia with Spain.”
Feijóo gathered the regional presidents of his party this Friday in a mansion in the north of the city of Madrid. No one made a statement upon entering. The PP set up a large table with Feijóo in front and all the regional flags behind him. Those of the presidents present, but also the Basque ikurriña or the Catalan senyera. On the front of the table, the motto: “Summit of presidents. “We are all Spain.” But the presidents who are not from the PP were not present, which is logical.
In the middle of the meeting, the party leader and the barons made a statement of a few minutes that was broadcast on television and radio news. First, the leader of the people stands at his own lectern, surrounded by the presidents of the government. The camera turned, ready to focus on Feijóo in front of the main gate of the palace. Two columns on either side of the PP leader and the flags of Spain and the EU culminated the trompe-l’oeil of the Moncloa Palace.
After Feijóo’s speech, everyone went back inside the building. A few minutes later, the leaders came out again, two by two, to make statements at the same time in front of smaller lecterns and with the garden in the background. The first, simultaneously, were Juan Manuel Moreno and Isabel Díaz Ayuso. “It looks like the fair,” joked the Andalusian president, given the setting and the presentation style imposed by Genoa.
The PP’s unity of action regarding regional financing is limited to the rejection of the economic agreement reached for Catalonia. But the main opposition party does not have an agreed alternative. Or it does not present it. For weeks, the PP has limited itself to denouncing the alleged concessions to Catalonia.
And this is what Feijóo showed again in his speech. The PP leader assured that this Friday’s meeting “transcends the acronyms” of the party, even though there were only representatives of the party. The opposition leader assured that the objective was to announce to the Spanish people that there is “a solid alternative for change”, although he did not give any clues about what this project is.
The PSOE was quick to criticize Feijóo’s message. “The PSOE reacts to Feijóo’s message.” Once again, the Popular Party’s only plan is to confront Catalonia and Spain. It is not enough that they have provoked the biggest territorial conflict in recent Spanish history – a conflict resolved by the socialists – but every day they seem determined to bring it back,” they lament from Ferraz Street.
The socialists decide that the popular summit will end “without a valid and seriously elaborated proposal for the regional financing system, which has expired since 2014.”
18 billion of European funds
Feijóo devoted his presentation to launching his usual arrows against the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, whom he accuses of destroying the unity of the Spanish people. “We offer the Spanish something very different from what is proposed in Moncloa. In the absence of convictions, we propose principles. In the face of irresponsibility, common sense. In the face of confrontation, understanding. In the face of selfishness, solidarity. And in the face of decadence, hope,” he maintained.
The PP leader assured that “Spain is facing the challenge of inequality.” “Because of the parliamentary weakness of the Government, because of the weakness of the principles of the Government and because of the weakness of the President of the Government. For power at all costs. General interests no longer count. The word no longer counts. Service to institutions no longer counts,” he said.
“The only project of the Spanish government today is to maintain power. The PP project aims to improve Spain, and with this objective, we have signed a declaration today,” Feijóo announced. A document that was already leaked last night to different media. “Yes, a new model is needed. More resources are needed,” he acknowledged. “But the agreement between the government and the independence movement does not improve the financing of public services in any community, not even in Catalonia. “What is sought in the financing of the process,” he criticized. “With the amnesty, immunity has been granted to past and future processes. And with the separatist quota, all Spaniards will pay for it,” he said.
Feijóo outlined the general lines of the minimum agreement signed today by the PP barons. “First of all, independence quotas must be abandoned,” he began. “We request and reaffirm the immediate convening of the Conference of Presidents,” he added, continuing: “Thirdly, all presidents expressly renounce falling into a deceptive bilaterality with regard to the system of financing public services for all Spaniards.”
The first clarification came in the fourth point: “We believe that it is necessary for there to be an immediate economic injection into the communities and we believe that this is possible by decentralising part of the non-refundable European funds that Spain has.” Feijóo requested “18 billion euros of Next Generation funds that [el Gobierno] could not be executed. We will also demand that, as more funds from the remains are identified and the government does not grant them, they be transferred to the autonomous communities, thus avoiding the return of funds to Europe. But not only does the Executive leave these funds unspent, but also the PP regions.
Madrid and Andalusia, disagreement without questions
Feijóo arrived at the regional financing model in the fifth point: “We are committed to actively contributing to the realization of a new multilateral financing model with more resources that, from the common regime, respond to the particularities of each territory and with special attention to public health.”
And that’s it. He didn’t give any information about it. Of course, he asked for more money for the autonomous communities with a “transition fund that compensates for imbalances until the renewed system is approved.”
Then the regional presidents arrived. And from the beginning, it is clear that the unity of action does not go beyond paper. The first to speak, at the same time, were Moreno and Ayuso. The Andalusian president assured that the system wanted by the government means “that those who have more will pay less than those who have less”, despite the fact that he has repeatedly reduced taxes on the highest incomes in his region.
But Moreno also warned that he would go to Moncloa if Pedro Sánchez called him: “We will talk to everyone, and of course dialogue with the president of the government.”
The “ex aequo” reply reached 10 meters. “I celebrate this commitment not to discuss it in a bilateral meeting in order to be deceived,” Ayuso said.
The President of Madrid acknowledged that “all presidents and all autonomous communities” have “unique problems”. She mentioned in particular “a growing problem of insecurity, a total destruction of the Cercanías, growing insecurity and a lack of control of immigration”. “And of course, I would like it to happen in La Moncloa”, he added, returning to the initial idea: “But I am happy that everything that concerns the common fund and the interests of all Spaniards is only discussed in a fair forum, with lights and stenographers and with everyone together.
After a series of appearances, the barons and the PP leader returned inside the palace. The meeting continues while they enjoy the food.
