"I am Juan Lobato, I have three children, I am Susana's husband and I want to be the president of the Community of Madrid", he defined himself in the Assembly. State Treasury Technician and former mayor of Soto del Real, Lobato (Madrid 1984) is the current leader of the Madrid socialists and on 28-M he is running for the first time as a candidate for the regional presidency. His aspiration is to evict Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who in the early elections of 2021 added 44.7% of the vote and now he is pursuing an absolute majority.
Is President Ayuso an insurmountable wall?
Absolutely. In Madrid there is a clear majority of democrats with social convictions, which I aspire to represent. That majority exists: in the last general elections, the PSOE won in Madrid. Four years ago, we won the autonomic ones. And eight years ago, we were one seat away from governing. Now, let's go all out.
Isn't Madrid therefore a conservative region?
Exact. Of the ten big cities, eight have socialist mayors. Today we already govern for two million people from Madrid. And that is why we are going with all the ambition to regenerate Madrid, after these 28 years of PP governments.
The other day he starred in a rally with Pedro Sánchez in Fuenlabrada. Does that red belt in Madrid still exist?
Of course, we govern in Móstoles, Getafe, Leganés, Alcorcón, Fuenlabrada, San Sebastián de los Reyes, Alcobendas, Parla, Pinto, Alcalá de Henares...
And how is it explained that Joaquín Leguina, today expelled from the PSOE for his alleged support for Ayuso in the last campaign, is the first and for now only socialist president of Madrid, a whopping 28 years ago?
Madrid is an absolutely dynamic region, and the PSOE has not had the capacity to keep up with that pace, adapt to the evolution of society and lead it. This is what we are trying to do now.
Ayuso is presented as a counterweight to Sánchez. Do you think that he is now looking for an absolute majority to choose to unseat Alberto Núñez Feijóo as a candidate for the presidency of the government?
I believe it and all of Spain believes it. Ayuso has not left the electoral poster for four years to dedicate himself to managing not a single day. She has been permanently busy competing first with Pablo Casado and now with Feijóo, who came as a moderate and Ayuso turned him into a radical. She is in permanent competition with the leaders of his party.
Ayuso built his political profile with a fierce opposition to Sánchez due to the restrictions of the pandemic. He cried out for “freedom” and swept the polls. Once this crisis is over, can it lose steam?
Yes. 2021 was a unique moment, and Ayuso took advantage of the pandemic climate. The day it was announced that there were already 800 deaths, he said that for the 1% the rest would not be sacrificed. Even thinking that would give electoral success, I would never have done what she did. There is no electoral victory that justifies going against the safety and health of the people of Madrid.
Will the wave of protests for public health affect Ayuso's expectations?
We are already seeing it in surveys, published and our own. For the first time, instead of getting better we are getting worse. Millions of families no longer have our lifelong emergency doctors. My parents, when I was ill as a child, would take me to the health center at dawn. Today with my children I cannot do it. The loss of quality of life is terrible. But we Madrid residents are not willing to resign ourselves.
Ayuso also champions the PP's policy of tax reductions. Is Madrid the epicenter of tax dumping in Spain?
I would not say tax dumping, I am a State Treasury technician and I like to be rigorous. What Ayuso champions is a policy that gives away 992 million each year to 0.2% of the great fortunes, while he says that health and education have to get worse inevitably. Inevitably not, but because of the cuts that he applies for these tax gifts to those who need it least. It is the ideological model of him.
You have to start by regaining leadership on the left. More Madrid surpassed the PSOE in the last elections and is the first force of the opposition.
More Madrid rose very little. The problem was that the PSOE fell a lot. The 2021 elections caught us at a very bad time, before taking over in our party. But at this moment, that vast majority of honest people, of democrats with social convictions, sees a party with ambition and strength, and understands that Ayuso only has one possible replacement. Only the PSOE, which combines sensitivity and the ability to listen and, at the same time, solvency and management experience, is capable of changing Madrid after 28 years.
Is the fracture on the left between Más Madrid and Podemos a drag on your aspirations?
The division of the non-social democratic left is striking. Mónica García has been a deputy for Podemos for more years than for Más Madrid. That they are not able to go in a single candidacy with Podemos is surprising, but very negative electorally.
He says that Madrid is a canyon, but that opportunities are being wasted. What would be his priority as president?
The only way to move forward is through dialogue and consensus. We have to replace insults with proposals. And we need to have a model region to aspire to. It is key to bet on education and strategic sectors. We must break the cursed triangle, with youth unemployment higher than the Spanish average, 33,000 young people who this course have not been able to do FP, and 51% of companies that cannot find professionals to fill the jobs they need. This is nonsense. We have presented a professional training plan to train 250,000 young people in 18 months that will allow us to occupy 100,000 jobs in the first two years of the legislature.
What should be the relationship between Madrid and Catalonia?
Ayuso has a way of understanding Madrid that is very different from mine. He thinks that everything that is in Madrid is very good, and everything that is outside is very bad and they are enemies. And the worse things go for Catalonia, great. No, Madrid does not have to aspire to have a competitive and conflictive leadership with the rest of the regions, on the contrary. Madrid must aspire to have collaborative leadership in Spain. The better for Catalonia, which should be a strategic ally, the better for Madrid. The better for Valencia, which is the port of Madrid, the better. Or to Malaga with the startups, or to Portugal, which should be a key ally. That collaborative, intelligent leadership is what will bring greater prosperity and progress to Madrid. The better the rest of the regions do, the better Madrid will do. That is the key to the future.
