And the mountain gave birth to a mouse, as the fable says. Much was expected from the face-to-face between Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo, but the debate remained a series of monologues in which the Prime Minister and the leader of the main opposition party repeated arguments, in which the leader of the PP asked questions: about sedition, embezzlement, the law of yes is yes, and the chief executive did not answer him, but he reiterated his accusations of Feijóo's lack of moderation, of his agreements with Vox, it is assumed that by the government coalition that exists in Castilla y León, and reminding the current popular leader that the General Council of the Judiciary must be renewed, and its history, since its opposition to the divorce law, approved in 1981.
In the new face-to-face in the Senate, held after more than a month without Sánchez and Feijóo having the opportunity to debate in the Senate, and after the negotiations for the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary broke down, but also after the Government has agreed with ERC the abolition of the crime of sedition, and after the controversy over the effects of the "yes is yes law", after the reduction of sentences for those convicted of sexual abuse, in application of the new law.
From the beginning of the session it was seen that the least important thing was Feijóo's question and the response of the President of the Government. Sánchez was the first to enter the chamber, and all the Socialist senators received him with applause, standing up. A few minutes later, Alberto Núñez Feijóo entered, and the same scene was repeated, with more, louder applause, and even some shouting from the president, president. A clear demonstration that both Feijóo and Sánchez are already thinking about the elections, and about gaining followers, and not about trying to reach agreements or at least bringing positions closer.
The issues that occurred this month in which Sánchez and Feijóo have not confronted were the object of the question that Feijóo asked, which literally said if "the president of the Government is going to continue reforming the Penal Code to favor members of his party ". The president of the PP knew that he had to make a tough speech, but get the tone right, so that those who ask him for more cane are content, but without seeming to give in. As Feijóo himself said: "I'm not interested in being implacable, but in having an unbeatable alternative."
The president of the PP thus responded to the media that today seemed to want to mark the popular leader what should be his face to face with Sánchez, and that the President of the Government himself exhibited as a sign that Feijóo is not free to do or to say what you think: "Where have you left your moderation? In lost objects?" Sánchez asked him, who warned him that "with their insults they do not harm the Government, but rather damage coexistence."
Some insults that Sánchez sees in Feijóo, and Feijóo in Sánchez, but they do not recognize each other. For this reason, the president of the PP responded to Sánchez's question with another "Are you the most moderate president that Spain has ever had?" And apart from those crosses of reproaches and accusations, nothing more. No attempt to approach, or seek agreements, but to reiterate their positions.
In his first speech, Alberto Núñez Feijóo dedicated himself to describing, not what has happened in Spain, but the controversies that the Government has created, from its discrepancies with the European Central Bank over the bank tax, to the declarations of Pablo Iglesias "who has once again insulted his successor", to focus on the reform of the Criminal Code to abolish the crime of sedition, and his refusal to reform it "so that sexual offenders" cannot see their sentences reduced, which only can understand "because of the arrogance" of the Government.
Feijóo drew a "government in shock" that even if Sánchez was given all the hours in the world to explain it in a debate in the Senate, he could not justify it, because "it is doing irreparable damage to the country to spend more time in La Moncloa" and "generating an unbreathable climate in Spain". That is why he asked for explanations for the reform of sedition, embezzlement and what happened with the yes is yes law, because it is what "the majority of Spaniards" want and led him to conclude that they were "questions from Spain" .
Sánchez did not respond to any of these questions, but limited himself to questioning the PP's concern for women's rights, because if they were "they would not agree with those who deny sexist violence", and to describe "the service record "of the right on this issue, having been against the laws of divorce, abortion, same-sex marriage. That is why the President of the Government called on Feijóo to comply with it before giving him lessons on the Constitution, because he has been failing to comply with it for 4 years, with the non-renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary.
The president of the PP once again reproached Sánchez, in his second speech, for repealing the crime of sedition, to affirm that "I wish we could make a motion of censure", but "the next time we see each other, in Congress, it will be in my investiture debate". And there will be a vote of no confidence, he affirmed, "but not in Congress, with a ballot box, but in the thousands of City Councils in Spain, in the May elections, where the most serious nightmare that has ever occurred in Spain will begin to happen."
The President of the Government did not respond either in his second intervention, in which he reminded Feijóo of what has happened in Catalonia when the PP has governed, and what the PSOE did, "support the PP government in the application of article 155 , and you are not with us, because you are not interested in solving the problem of Catalonia, but in confronting territories to win votes".
