The PSOE has turned to its battleship, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, to give everything to its first political convention in a decade and less than a month before the Galician elections. The former president of the Government, whose determination in the general campaign of 23-J was crucial to revive the party and achieve a comeback that seemed impossible following the catastrophe of 28-M, has become the great supporter of Pedro Sánchez and the ideological rearmament that the socialists plan for the legislature. “I am always motivated and happy and you know that I have regained the taste for electoral campaigns,” he began to the enthusiasm of the 1,200 delegates from all the federations who have gathered in Galicia on a weekend in which the PSOE will not only renew its ideology and claim itself as the only alternative to the “reactionary wave” of PP and Vox: it will also revamp the executive by going deeper in the merger between the Government and the party, La Moncloa and Ferraz, initiated at the 2021 federal congress in Valencia.
The defense of the amnesty, the Achilles heel of the Government for a PP that hammers day following day once morest the pardon measure and that is not to the liking of Felipe González, is one of the pillars of the roadmap that the PSOE will approve this weekend in A Coruña. “[La derecha] He says that Spain is breaking… It was regarding to break in 2017! It is the time for words, dialogue and reconciliation. Yes, I am a firm defender of the amnesty, I believe in the democracy of generosity, coexistence and starting over,” Zapatero defended in contrast to the fire friend of the other former socialist president, who this week referred to the pardon that is being processed in the Cortes as “a self-amnesty made by the amnestied themselves.”
“We are a party that has the courage to open new debates and to assume our own contradictions and overcome them in the service of the interest of Spain,” highlighted the Secretary of Organization, Santos Cerdán, for an amnesty, demanded by Junts and ERC to allow the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. The president himself rejected its application before the general elections, but, as he himself recognized, he had to make “a virtue of necessity.” But the socialists do not want the controversial measure to concentrate the focus of a convention with which they intend to highlight the internal debate in the face of its absence in the PP, which had its last ideological convention with Pablo Casado. Doing so now would mean putting the two souls of the PP face to face, that of the neoliberal wing and defender of the pacts with Vox and the moderate sector and representative of the traditional right.
“Feijóo left Galicia to cover up the corruption of the PP. That is why they do not want congresses nor do they have internal debates in the PP. This convention means that there is a progressive project for the next four years,” Cerdán stressed. “We are here to vindicate politics. We do it with zeal in any Government we are in and in the opposition. “You don’t come to politics to be comfortable, you come to serve the citizens,” the Number Three of the PSOE. Ferraz has created a working group, the think tank Avanza, which aims to be “a powerful laboratory of ideas of progress for national and international debate” as an alternative to the Pablo Iglesias Foundation, more focused on democratic memory.
“The PP has a very serious problem”
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“The PP has a very serious problem. They didn’t like Rajoy; Married, you know. Feijóo calls demonstrations once morest his people and Pedro Sánchez every two days because he is afraid that they will be called once morest him in Genoa… The PP is closer to Vox every day and further away from the center,” Zapatero reiterated along these lines in the opening ceremony of the three-day socialist conclave. “They are going to end up declaring the Constitution unconstitutional,” he said ironically before praising Sánchez for asking Israel to end its offensive in Gaza. “This scenario of international wars weakens democracies, it gives arguments to non-democratic regimes. I recognize the president’s bravery in denouncing Israel for actions that are not self-defense, but rather an unjustified response. Democracies weaken when there are democracies like Israel and what happens in Gaza,” he emphasized.
With the show of force in A Coruña, the PSOE wants to convey the idea that the party is prepared to govern in the most difficult legislature in democracy due to the complexity of its parliamentary support. Contributing to the lack of noise will be the absence of the two great critics with positions of responsibility in the current PSOE, the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, and the former Aragonese president Javier Lambán, who will not attend the convention. The remodeling of the socialist leadership will not only mimic the party and the Government: the departure of the executive of deputy Andrea Fernández and Mayte Pérez, from Lambán’s trust, will further reduce the few internal discrepancies. The dinner that the general secretaries of the federations will have this Saturday with Sánchez, Cerdán and the first vice president and general vice secretary of the PSOE, María Jesús Montero, will also contribute to the image of a seamless party. An example: Juan Lobato, general secretary of the PSOE of Madrid, is the only one of the territorial leaders who attended González’s event at the beginning of the week.
In this context, turning to Zapatero was more than a guarantee. “I’m really looking forward to the elections in Catalonia. For now, in Galicia and the Basque Country,” the former president said goodbye. Quite a declaration of intentions from the great agitator of the PSOE.
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