Pedro Sánchez wanted to surprise and upset Alberto Núñez Feijóo with the unexpected challenge that he launched yesterday: to celebrate six television duels between "the only two possible presidents". One a week until the general elections on July 23, the two alone, face to face, and at prime time. He who does not risk does not win, they warn in Moncloa.
But the leader of the Popular Party does not want to take unnecessary risks on his way to the presidency of the Government, and immediately rejected the unusual proposal. "Spain is not for eccentricities," ruled out Borja Sémper, spokesman for the PP campaign.
"Debating is never eccentric, it is an obligation, a duty of every democrat, because what is at stake is very important," replied Sánchez in an appearance at Moncloa together with the Prime Minister of Sweden, the conservative liberal Ulf Kristersson. "These elections must be those of democratic debates," argued the Spanish president, who used precisely the example of the last elections in a "consolidated democracy" like Sweden, before which seven debates were held, also face to face between the main candidates, and another five sectors.
But the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, now Sumar's candidate, also did not like Sánchez's proposal for face-to-face meetings with Feijóo, which she attributed to an attempt to reinforce the bipartisanship between the PSOE and the PP. Just when the first vice president, Nadia Calviño, warns that "it is a fact that the two political parties that emerged with the financial crisis, Ciudadanos and Podemos, have disappeared." "Whoever believes that the future of Spain is summed up in a photo of Sánchez and Feijóo is out of reality, bipartisanship is the past," Díaz replied. "Spain is more than a debate between two men," she settled.
And Podemos, while waging its battle with Díaz to configure the electoral space to the left of the PSOE, also stirred up. "The bipartisanship brought corruption, austerity, deindustrialization, the scrapping of strategic companies, the bank rescue, the express abdication of the emeritus and political disaffection," Pablo Echenique cried.
The president, in any case, warned that the dilemma posed by the leader of the PP before the elections – “Either Sánchez or Spain” – is a “dangerous slogan”, in line with those of Trump in the United States, Orbán in Hungary or Meloni in Italy. "We are not the anti-Spain," he claimed. "In love with Spain they will not beat us," he stressed. The dichotomy expressed by Feijóo is, in his opinion, "false and tricky." “The choice is very clear: Sánchez or Feijóo. Feijóo or Sánchez. This is actually the election, because there are only two possible presidents, ”he noted.
And he assured that the best way to contrast both candidates and their projects is to confront them in face-to-face debates. Sánchez thus accepted the invitations issued by four media groups –Mediaset, Atresmedia, Prisa and RTVE– and demanded two more, one a week and six in total until 23-J, without wasting time: “I expect Feijóo next Monday ”.
Immediately afterwards, the organization secretary of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, sent letters of acceptance to these communication groups, and summoned the general coordinator of the PP, Elías Bendodo, to meet "as soon as possible" to negotiate this first debate.
Sánchez assured that this would avoid a bitter electoral campaign plagued by "hoaxes, insults and lies." And he gave the example of his alleged aspiration to be the next NATO Secretary General, replacing the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, who is waiting for his replacement. "Everything is a hoax," he settled.
And, in response to Díaz, Sánchez warned that his proposal is not only to hold these weekly debates with Feijóo, but also others with Sumar and Vox, four-way. "I will gladly come," he insisted. And, in addition, other sectors, between the parties, to confront the respective projects on the economy, climate change, social policies, pensions...
Borja Sémper, on behalf of the PP, wanted to stop the president's feet. It is not Spain, he justified, that needs this succession of debates. "The one who needs them is Sánchez," he warned. But he assured that his "anxiety" will not mark the opposition leader's agenda. Feijóo already sees himself with one foot in the Moncloa, and he is not willing for Sánchez to impose his strategy on him. "Feijóo's legs have trembled," criticized the socialists.
Beyond the debate on the debates, Sánchez also issued a harsh warning yesterday about the economic consequences that a change of government after 23-J could have for Spain. "Any alteration of the current economic policy, taking steps back in the ecological transition, the digital transformation or the labor reform will not only stop important industrial projects and relevant investments, but will also slow down the present and future economic growth of Spain, and, with it, the intense job creation that we are registering”, he warned. If his reforms are repealed, as Feijóo promises, he warned that "the damage would be extraordinarily serious."
"The Spanish economy is going like a motorcycle," he stressed in his speech at a conference on European recovery funds organized by elDiario.es. "If someone has an economic policy alternative, raise your hand and explain how you are going to improve these data and who is going to be the person responsible for that task," the chief executive summoned the PP leader.
