The objective is to “puncture the balloon” of the Feijóo effect as soon as possible, in order to start reversing the forecasts of some polls that insist on certifying –and with increasing effort– a change in the political cycle in Spain with the definitive victory of the Party Popular in the general elections of December 2023, after the examination of the municipal and regional elections next May.
Outside the armored bubble of his absolute majority in Galicia, in Moncloa they consider that Alberto Núñez Feijóo is in the opposition like a fish out of water. And that the best way to "dismantle and disarm" the Feijóo effect is, precisely, to confront him face to face, without intermediaries, with Pedro Sánchez. They assure that this already happened in the first parliamentary debate that both held in the Senate on June 7. The new leader of the PP made several big mistakes on that occasion – he denounced a risk premium much higher than the real one – and was, in the opinion of the Government, “very nervous and erratic”.
Sánchez and Feijóo will face each other again today in the Senate, at the start of the new political course, in a duel in which the Prime Minister will seek to "evidencing the contradictions and limitations" of the opposition leader, as explained to La Vanguardia in Moncloa.
"This debate interests us a lot," they say, because Sánchez will take the opportunity to wield his management in the face of the ongoing energy and inflation crisis, and highlight some measures blessed by Brussels and that other European countries now want to copy to face the consequences of the war in Ukraine . All this in the face of "loose and poorly put together" proposals that warn that he is launching Feijóo as the only alternative.
"It will be a day to debate and put things in their place, and to do a lot of pedagogy about the economic and energy situation," they warn in Moncloa. In the dialectical confrontation over the uncertain economic and energy scenario precipitated by the war in Ukraine, Sánchez looks strong and much more prepared than Feijóo. Without triumphalism, they say, but without paying for the "catastrophism" that they attribute to the leader of the PP.
“The president is going to value everything that has been done so far, what we are doing and what we are going to do to protect the middle and working class, against a Feijóo without proposals and without a clear project for the country,” they predict.
The debate will thus serve to “oppose two models and political projects”. Sánchez's insist that he puts the interests of 95% of citizens before crises - first the pandemic and now the war -, compared to the "wrong recipes" that blame the PP to deal with the latest financial crisis, always prioritizing the interests of the “powerful”.
In the prelude to the clash that Sánchez and Feijóo will settle this afternoon in the Senate, the head of the Executive yesterday starred in an act with citizens in Moncloa, before whom he already outlined some brushstrokes of his speech in front of the leader of the PP. He thus admitted that the situation is complicated, "but the worst thing we can do is get carried away by an easy speech to proclaim disaster." And he corrected the "prophets of catastrophe" with data.
“We cannot fall into fear, distrust or discouragement. When our country acts united, with solidarity and hope, it can overcome any serious test”, he affirmed.
