The Government, led by Pedro Sánchez, "have embraced populism and independence", which "is leading Spain to the deepest crisis" that has occurred in Spain since the transition. This is the analysis that the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, took this Thursday to the political assembly of the European Popular Party that is held in Lisbon.
And to argue this conclusion, the popular leader gave examples of both things: populism, the "yes is yes" law and its consequences in terms of reduced sentences; and transfers to the independence movement, with the abolition of the crime of sedition, and the intention of modifying the crime of embezzlement, which would benefit those convicted of the process.
Feijóo stopped, above all, at the effects of populism and the law of "yes is yes", which he explained to the popular Europeans. "My country is experiencing the dramatic consequences of a populist decision" that the government took, he said, against the experts, the judges "and common sense."
The consequence, he said, is "a constant drop in sentence reductions for rapists and pedophiles," and that, he stressed, "has not been a surprise, "we, the General Council of the Judiciary and feminist associations, have warned about it." Far from rectifying, he stressed, the government's reaction has been "to go against the judges, calling them looks" and branding the group as "macho", when the majority of Thursdays and magistrates, he indicated, are women.
For this reason, Núñez Feijóo considers that "Pedro Sánchez must decide if the ultimate responsibility" for the lack of protection that women and girls are experiencing, lies with the Minister of Equality, with the Minister of Justice or if it should be "he who assumes all responsibility ".
The problem, for the president of the PP, is that Pedro Sánchez not only governs with populism, but that "he has thrown himself into the arms of the independentistas" and, for this reason, he urged the president to clarify "if he is willing to give in to the independentistas", after having done so by abolishing the crime of sedition, and agreeing to "reduce the penalties for the corrupt, thus disarming democracy".
All of this, in Feijóo's opinion, what it reveals is "the weakness of the Government", which to remain in power finds no other alternative than to give in to the independentistas and the populists.
"It is true that both pro-independence supporters and populists", stressed the PP leader before his European colleagues, "existed before, but the influence they have today in the Government is unprecedented", and it is not, he believes, because "the Spaniards have become radicals", but because there has been, he said, "the abdication of one of the parties" that since moderation had been one of the pillars of Spanish democracy, the PSOE, as is also the PP.
A PSOE that, in his opinion, has been transformed "by a radical leadership", that of Pedro Sánchez, who is an accomplice "of the drift that puts the division of powers and the unity of the State at risk." With all this, Feijóo concludes that "Spain is an exponent of the populist threat."
