Zapatero comes out in defense of Sánchez and affirms that there is

Close defense of the former Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, against the current tenant of Moncloa.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
04 July 2022 Monday 07:00
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Zapatero comes out in defense of Sánchez and affirms that there is

Close defense of the former Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, against the current tenant of Moncloa. In his reappearance in Congress, in which he attended to present a conference organized by the PSOE on LGTBI visibility, the former head of government has agreed with Pedro Sánchez in pointing out that, in his opinion, there are "powers of all kinds", "hidden , visible and invisible" and "interested people", "attacking and disqualifying" an "outstanding" government action.

Zapatero has argued that he knows very "well" that "there are many powers in a democracy" and that when he was president he experienced "systematic action by certain sectors, with more or less power, quite aggressive towards the Socialist Party."

In his opinion, the employment data known this Monday -with a record of 20.3 million employees- as well as the "social commitment", the "territorial peace" or the greater "international projection" are so that "the Government has an outstanding", but nevertheless "there are sectors that are permanently attacking, disqualifying what is a serious government action".

When asked about possible changes either in the composition of the Government or in the PSOE, Zapatero pointed out that this is a "very personal responsibility" of Sánchez, who he sees as focused on the battle against inflation, and has underlined that the construction of the team and his "alterations" correspond "only to him".

In addition, the former President of the Government has downplayed the clash between the coalition partners about the increase in defense spending to 2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and has maintained that the dialogue within the Executive contributes to the "deliberation public".

Zapatero has also recalled that this objective of military spending is not new and has expressed his hope that the policy will arrive in time to achieve the end of the war in Ukraine and thus be able to avoid a future of "warmongering escalation or global rearmament".

Regarding the poor electoral prospects that the polls predict for the PSOE, Zapatero stressed that Sánchez won a motion of censure and two elections in the same period in which the PP had three leaders, and argued that the Government makes Spain go a "very safe and very strong" path.

In addition, he has warned that with the PP in Moncloa there would be no progress in rights because "all rights laws carry the signature of a socialist president in the BOE."

Zapatero has also described the Democratic Memory bill as "very successful" because "there is no democracy without memory" and memory is "the way to restore, recognize what was forgotten, which was unfair" and involves "rebuilding a democracy with deep values".