Just a year ago, a demonstration was being prepared for Sunday, February 20, at the gates of the national headquarters of the PP that brought together some three thousand people to the cry of 'Casado resignation' or 'Ayuso president'. The mobilization marked a turning point and certified the end of the leadership of Pablo Casado, whose most faithful team defends his legacy and avoids self-criticism a year after the greatest crisis that the PP has suffered in its history.
"I was faithful to my principles. We always did the best for the party. That is the best legacy you can have," a person from Casado's hard core assures Europa Press who refuses to make public statements on this first anniversary of the outbreak of the war between Genoa and Puerta del Sol, which left deep wounds that have not yet healed.
The conflict, latent months ago due to the internal struggle for the presidency of the PP in Madrid, broke out on the night of February 16, 2022 when information was published about an alleged espionage on the brother of the Madrid president, information denied that same night by the team de Casado and whose falsehood he continues to maintain at this time, according to sources close to him. Barely 24 hours later, Ángel Carromero, a trusted person of Casado and the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, resigned after being identified as the alleged head of that espionage.
With the hangover from the elections in Castilla y León and the open debate on whether or not to agree with Vox -the elections had been held on February 13 and two days later Casado had convened an Executive Committee to analyze the PP's pyrrhic victory- , nobody could imagine then that a week later, at dawn on February 24, the then leader of the PP would end up agreeing to leave with the territorial barons.
In that tense meeting, Feijóo and the presidents of the PP agreed to let him continue until the extraordinary congress that was held on April 1 and 2 in Seville. On March 1, at the board of directors that convened that conclave, Casado said goodbye regretting what he could have "done wrong" but stressed that he did not deserve the treatment he received: "I have a very clear conscience."
At the epicenter of the controversy, the contract for the purchase of masks that the Community of Madrid awarded with the company Priviet Sportive with which the president's brother had business relations. Genoa estimated the alleged commission of Tomás Díaz Ayuso at 286,000 euros and this was highlighted by Casado himself in an interview in Cope when he questioned that in April, "when 700 people died in Spain", you can "hire with your sister and receive 300,000 euros of profit for selling masks".
Ayuso defended the legality of his brother's business as a commercial and the collection of 55,800 euros for that operation in the 1.5 million contract awarded by the regional government. In June of last year, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office closed that investigation.
Sources from the previous leadership of the PP consulted by Europa Press continue to question whether it is moral and exemplary to hire your brother in the midst of a pandemic. What's more, they argue that defending this action dismantles the PP's criticism of the socialist Ximo Puig for the awards to his brother's company, a case that the party in the Valencian Community has taken to the regional courts.
From Casado's team they value how under his leadership the reunification of the center-right began. "There were three parties in the center right and he left it in two because Cs disappears with Casado", they presume in their environment, who point out that before the outbreak of the internal crisis they handled demographic data that placed the PP at 130 years, in line with what They now give some polls to Feijóo.
In Casado's team, they also highlight his work to raise the PP, which was "annihilated" after the motion of no confidence that evicted Mariano Rajoy from Moncloa in 2018. "The PP received demolished due to internal fights and divisions and managed to raise it, putting leadership that are now important", says one of the people consulted.
Another member of his team expresses himself in similar terms, who attributes the current "architecture" of the party to Casado's PP after "selecting good candidates" that "Feijóo now maintains" and who will compete in the May elections: Carlos Mazón (Comunidad Valencian), Marga Prohens (Balearic Islands), Jorge Azcón (Aragon) or María Guardiola (Extremadura). "He consolidated the PP at a critical moment and history will recognize it," he affirmed in a private chat with Europa Press.
Sources close to the Madrid president assure that "what happened happened" and they look ahead focused on the regional and municipal elections on May 28. "Past water does not move a mill," they point out to Europa Press.
Ayuso has been away from the media focus in Spain on this first anniversary of the PP crisis. At the beginning of the week she traveled to Israel to intensify relations with the country and between next Monday and Wednesday she will be in London, with various acts.
Casado, who now works in a defense fund, is also silent and has not had any public intervention since the Seville Congress in April last year. "He has redone his working life, he is away from politics. He is calm," reveals one of his trusted people.
In that conclave, he went up to the lectern and announced that he was disassociating himself from the organic positions of the PP: "Dear Alberto, you can always count on me, wherever I am, for whatever you need and in whatever may be useful. Meanwhile, I will maintain prudence and Castilian discretion that I have always shown and that a Galician like you knows how to value in the face of noise". Casado and Feijóo have talked several times, according to sources from their surroundings confirm to Europa Press, but their content has not been disclosed.
Another of the protagonists of those days, Teodoro García Egea maintains his seat in Congress as a deputy for Murcia and has once again turned to the technological world. In fact, he will publish a book on cryptoeconomics at the end of the month.
"We have turned the page," stressed one of the parliamentarians who signed a joint communiqué on Tuesday, February 22, calling for the immediate dismissal of García Egea and the calling of an extraordinary congress to resolve the crisis.
Before making that letter public, several of the signatories contacted Casado himself -the phone was in hands-free- to convince him to act, according to the sources consulted, which highlight the twist that the party has offered in just one year, "united" around Feijóo and with "excellent expectations" before this year's elections.
The new leadership of the PP also puts the accent on that unit. "We have achieved a demoscopic, emotional and ideological comeback in recent months," say sources close to Feijóo, who believe that the joint photo in Valencia of the former presidents José María Aznar and Mariano Rajoy symbolizes the "reunification" of the PP around Feijóo to put heading to Moncloa. A year ago, as they emphasize, the party was "inflamed" and "open on the channel" with data that even pointed to a possible defeat by Vox.
The leader of the PP, who has asked all his candidates for large and overwhelming majorities to try to avoid the support of Vox, is aware of how much is at stake in this year's elections. Perhaps for this reason he himself has publicly acknowledged that if he does not win "he does not deserve" to be president of the PP.
