The leader of the PP and candidate for the Presidency of the Government, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, will call Pedro Sánchez "in the next few hours" within the framework of the round of contacts that begins this Monday with all the political groups to gather support for his investiture. It will be an invitation to which the PSOE, by virtue of "democratic normality", has confirmed its attendance. Although he has not specified whether the acting president of the Government will be Ferraz's interlocutor.
This was announced by the PP's Deputy Secretary for Culture and Open Society, Borja Sémper, at a press conference after the meeting of the party's Management Committee, in which he also assured that Feijóo is going to include all the regional presidents, including the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonés, because even if they do not vote for his investiture, the candidate for the presidency of the Government is interested in knowing the concerns of the regional presidents and the needs of their territories.
According to Sémper, the president of the PP wants to hold, as leader of the most voted party, a meeting with Sánchez to find out his "disposition" when it comes to advancing stability, reforms and the general interest of Spain. "Feijóo wants to call Sánchez to tell him that it is not good for Spain to be president giving in to the independentistas," and he will try to explore if "there are formulas to achieve stability in Spain."
The PP spokesman knows that investiture is difficult and even being able to advance in this search for formulas, but he assured that "we will wait to see his response", because, he joked, "perhaps he has a change of opinion, also in this". To Semper it seems "reasonable" that "whoever has won the elections should talk to whoever came second", although now it seems strange, because politics is immersed in a "pit of sectarianism". Feijóo wants to meet with Sánchez, he stressed, "even if it is so that Sánchez does not pay any attention to him."
"It is essential that politics be governed by moderation, that it escape and flee from extremism," he emphasized, before insisting on the "responsibility" of both parties to seek stability and governability in this country. The popular leader has pointed out that this meeting between Sánchez and Feijóo should serve to "pave a new path in Spanish politics."
Sémper was also asked at the press conference after the meeting of the management committee, about the criticism of the president of the PP of Catalonia to the decision of Alberto Núñez Feijóo to speak with Junts, something that he considers not acceptable. The response of the PP leadership is that "this is what the PP has always defended, speaking with everyone, even if it is to disagree", because "speaking does not mean giving in", and the president of the PP "is not going to give in to the independence, nor the equality of the Spanish, nor amnesty nor a referendum on self-determination, and this is understood by everyone, and Alejandro Fernández too".
However, Borja Sémper wanted to downplay the fact that it is the president of the Catalan PP who has shown these discrepancies, perhaps, he stressed, because he was not in Pontevedra on Sunday, where Feijóo clarified that he wanted to speak with Junts, but about economic issues and social, not amnesty, in a speech in which numerous regional and territorial presidents of the PP were present. Even so, the popular spokesman made it clear that "The PP is not a sect" and that "it is good that there are different opinions", but the position of the PP, he insisted, "is the one that the PP has always had. We want to disagree face to face face", and to be able to say "to the Spaniards of Catalonia, that there is a candidate for president who is above partisan interests, and that we are not going to abandon them.
A few minutes after the PP movement was known, the PSOE has confirmed its willingness to meet with the leader of the popular within the round of contacts for the investiture. "If we are called, first we have to be called (...) we will attend that meeting," said the acting Minister of Education. Pilar Alegría, however, has not confirmed that it will be the acting President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who will meet with Feijóo as requested by the PP leader. "It could be Sánchez or someone else who attends the meeting," sources from Ferraz have stressed.
Alegría catalogs the confirmation of the PSOE within "democratic normality" although, for the sake of that normalization, it has also asked the PP to stop "insulting" the PSOE, respect this party and its voters.
In statements to the press in the Ferraz patio, Alegría has also demanded that the popular ones apologize for having been delegitimizing the Government and insulting the PSOE, to which the "calls for turncoats" have been added.
