The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, arrived yesterday in Barcelona, where he presented Daniel Sirera's candidacy for mayor and later met with representatives of the Catalan Civil Society (SCC), and today he continued his visit with a lunch discussion in the Círculo Ecuestre moderated by the journalist from La Vanguardia Carmen del Riego and in which he has claimed to be a "reformist, calm, stable and predictable" politician.
After the words of welcome by Antonio Delgado, president of the Círculo, who thanked Feijóo for his presence at the club, and Enrique Lacalle, vice president, who praised Del Riego's professional career, the PP president explained to the audience his vision of Catalonia and the project it has for the community if it comes to Moncloa.
Feijóo, "a long-distance runner" who "always wins the games", in the words of Lacalle, has begun by explaining that he has no more interest than Catalonia, the community that he has visited the most since he led the PP together with Valencia, be " a better space to live." Integration, cosmopolitanism and stability are the axes proposed by Feijóo, who has claimed politics as a "useful instrument" to transform society.
After explaining that during the morning he took a walk along the Rambla and ate some anchovies at the La Plata bar, Feijóo has indicated that he would like Barcelona to return to being "what it has been for a long time" and for Catalonia to recover of "unforced errors" in recent years. In this sense, he has criticized the message that Catalonia is "hostile to foreigners" which, in his opinion, was given during the independence process.
In contrast, the president of the PP has vindicated his economic agenda, with which he intends to promote employment and the creation of companies, with a reduction in taxation, and the defense of legal security against those who, in reference to the recent modification of the Criminal Code in the Congress of Deputies, they want the law to "adapt to the current president" to "benefit" those convicted of the organization of 1-O.
If he reaches Moncloa, Feijóo plans to obtain "an inclusive balance" against the "division" and "dispersion" that he attributes to the independence movement, based on a conception of politics as a "useful instrument" for progress and, in In this sense, he regretted the departure of financial institutions based in Catalonia "to protect their deposits and employment".
The leader of the PP has pointed out the "loss of opportunities" that the procés has meant for Catalonia, in his opinion, something that he has argued with the decision of the European Medicines Agency to settle in Amsterdam and not in Barcelona or in the resignation to present a candidacy to organize the 2030 Winter Olympic Games. And regarding the expansion of the El Prat airport, he has assured that "it does not make sense to have the money and not invest it".
On the other hand, Feijóo has criticized President Pere Aragonès for the "feeling" he gave during the visit of the President of the French Republic to Barcelona, Emmanuel Macron, that in Catalonia "signs of identity are not respected". However, beyond the procés, Feijóo has shown his desire to talk about management, a territory in which he feels more comfortable, in the face of "the dominant policy of evading the responsibilities of the ruler and blaming the opposition."
Regarding the "cordial bilingualism" that he put into practice as president of the Xunta and that he wants to extend to Catalonia, Feijóo has insisted that it is "natural in Galicia". What it is about, he has said, is "not causing problems" for citizens. "The Xunta is solvent and viable", he reiterated, while adding that "there is no European region that has more powers than Catalonia" and that, therefore, his is not a "fitting project", since "It has been embedded for 500 years" and Spain is "one of the oldest nations in the world."
Asked about the pacts with Vox by Del Riego, Feijóo has repeated his proposal that the most voted list govern, as happens in Portugal with mayors, he has set an example, and has challenged the Prime Minister to commit to doing what himself: "No one is convinced that Pedro Sánchez would not assume the presidency if he did not win the elections by agreeing with nationalists and populists," he assured.
"I commit myself and make the proposal to Sánchez that if I do not win the elections, I do not deserve to be president of the Government. And I hope that, reciprocally, to play with the same regulations, Sánchez says that, if he is not the force with the most votes, will let the one who wins the elections govern", concluded the president of the PP.
Among the 160 attendees, among members of the Círculo Ecuestre and guests, in addition to the main board of the Catalan PP, with Alejandro Fernández at the front, were entrepreneurs such as Amancio López, Luis Conde, César González Bueno, Joan Rosell, Isabel Suqué and Joaquim Gay from Montellà
