The absolute majority of the PP in Galicia and the consolidation of Alberto Núñez Feijóo as president of the party therefore point to major changes on the horizon of the PP in Catalonia. Catalan popular leaders and the leadership in Madrid are exploring the strategy to build a renewed project based on a moderate, centrist and liberal Catalanism. The project will be built without haste – the training strategy, therefore, must evolve – and would entail a renewal of leadership, an attempt to expand the political space and the incorporation of new actors.
PP leaders consider that for Feijóo to reach Moncloa – hence the horizon of the general elections – a good result in Catalonia is essential. And for this they estimate that it will only be possible to obtain them with this expansion of the political field towards the Catalan and liberal center, a space that is considered to remain orphan. The Popular Party won six seats on June 23, considered insufficient despite the electoral growth. The best result was obtained by Josep Piqué in 2000 with 12 deputies.
At this beginning of reflection on the path forward, it is considered premature, at this time, to launch this bet in the face of the Catalan elections, with less than a year of time margin. Although everything is in the debate phase.
Obviously, the project goes hand in hand with Feijóo and, therefore, a bad result for the PP in the European elections would truncate this path. But this is the bet that is being outlined and it is in this context that the messages that the popular have sent to Junts in recent weeks must also be read. The political line that the PP follows now is one thing, and the one that is outlined for the future is another.
If the popular ones take this course, it will mean a change in both Catalan and Spanish politics marked by the process and its profound impact. The PP leaders consulted understand that the future message must be based on the axis of a centrist and liberal project, moving it away from the national axis and ending the debate “Spain against Catalonia, and Catalonia against Spain.”
The analysis of the popular parties cannot ignore the holding of the elections in Catalonia in the coming months, but the proximity and the context advise, according to the sources consulted, a different approach. Alejandro Fernández’s candidacy is not confirmed but he wins points. The president of the Catalan PP has bet heavily on her, and despite the ideological differences that may exist and the disputes with Feijóo’s line, within the party he is considered a candidate with packaging and discursive capacity.
Likewise, and despite the fact that the PP has initiated a process of reconstruction and expansion of space from the municipal structures, there are several voices that do not see it appropriate to hold a congress that involves going into confrontation and that could harm the party in a context pre-election.
They are trying to rebuild bridges within the Catalan PP and the future of the regional candidacy also depends on it, where there is still enough time to make decisions. Without the date of the Catalan elections yet announced – President Pere Aragonès has said that he wants to speed up the deadline until 2025 – some sectors of this formation also understand that it will still be necessary to maintain a forceful speech with the independence movement to recover the votes of Vox and Citizens.
The polls give the PP a wide margin of growth in the Parliament that they want to take advantage of – they now only have 3 deputies – to regain political prominence if this is confirmed.
In this reflection on possible future scenarios, the PP sees it as viable to have some of the keys to the next presidency of the Generalitat. Depending on the results of the PSC candidate, Salvador Illa, the popular Catalans would be willing to support him, as Daniel Sirera did in the Barcelona City Council, and in a strategy that also looks to the Congress of Deputies.
In this drawing, where the European elections must first be faced, the Catalan PP also points out that the design of a campaign against the PSOE is not the same as against the PSC. In the case of the general elections, it is indicated that there is a much larger space to cover and collect on the centrist flank since the profile of Pedro Sánchez and the alliance with Sumar mark more heeled policies on the left. Illa, on the other hand, and always according to the PP’s vision, has a better entry among the moderate electorate.