Pedro Sánchez conveys "optimism", about his chances of re-election, to all the interlocutors with whom he is meeting since the King commissioned him to build a parliamentary majority to endorse his investiture. "He knows that he has a difficult hill ahead of him, but he sees himself with the strength to climb it and reach the goal", reveals one of these interlocutors.
And this is what Alberto Núñez Feijóo also acknowledged yesterday, after the meeting he held in Congress with the socialist candidate for re-election. "He sees himself as president of the Government", revealed the leader of the PP. "What did not move me is how he will achieve it", he warned.
Sánchez and Feijóo have nothing to agree on, despite the breadth of issues that would require a minimum consensus between the leaders of the two main parties. And in just 50 minutes they resolved a meeting of simple procedure, within the framework of the round of contacts that Sánchez maintains with the representatives of the parliamentary groups, except for Vox, to obtain a majority of investiture and legislature without the concurrence of the pp.
There was no sign of understanding at the meeting. And yes mutual reproaches, thrown from one trench to another. It was the only thing that both of them could see. Forced smiles and an icy frown staged the lack of connection. And, after the meeting, the two sides reaffirmed their very different positions.
There was irritation in Moncloa: "Enough is enough". And Sánchez conveyed to Feijóo "the need to respect the electoral results of July 23, parliamentary democracy, and the majority will of the citizens to form a government of progress".
Sánchez thus demanded from Feijóo "institutional respect for the Constitution", after attributing to him the blocking of the renewal of the CGPJ, which accumulates five years of delay. He also asked him to "respect the national symbols, which belong to all Spaniards, and the national holiday of October 12", as well as "restraint in his desperate attempt to agitate the street", according to socialist sources.
"The PSOE was absolutely respectful in the investiture process of Feijóo, despite the fact that it wasted the time of all Spaniards for more than a month. However, in the last two weeks the PP has called two demonstrations against the investiture of Sánchez, in which the head of state has been disrespected, and is now trying to make a partisan instrumentalization of the national holiday of the 12 - Or", denounced the socialists.
Sánchez told Feijóo that the results of 23-J "are indisputable" and demanded that he "respect the turn of the PSOE to articulate a parliamentary majority that allows the formation of a progressive government". "We are not asking for your support for the investiture, but for prudence in your actions and respect for the investiture process commissioned by the King", remarked the socialists.
"We will not appeal to transfuguism, as they did", warned the PSOE spokesman, PatxiLópez. "We don't ask for support, but we do ask for respect."
Feijóo, in the appearance he took after the meeting, was surprised by these demands. Regarding the demonstration called on Sunday in Barcelona by Societat Civil Catalana, and the event held by the PP in Plaza Felip II in Madrid, Feijóo replied that the only thing missing was that he could not hold political events, when Sánchez holds meetings every weekend. In addition, Feijóo alleged that the two events were called before Sánchez was a candidate for the investiture.
The leader of the PP emphasized that, during the meeting, he did not get Sánchez to pronounce the word amnesty, which he did quote and repeatedly". But he warned him "not to do it", because it would be "a historical mistake" that would only serve to "promote independence".
Feijóo reiterated to Sánchez all the questions he asked him in his inauguration speech, when the PSOE leader chose not to go up to the podium to reply. But he regretted that he didn't get an answer yesterday either. "What will he do with the amnesty, what will he do in the face of a possible referendum, and the ideological funding that the pro-independence parties are asking for?", were the unanswered questions.
That is why he demanded from Sánchez to let the Spanish have their say at the polls, and on January 14 they can say whether or not they agree with the amnesty and the self-determination referendum. "What used to be silence, euphemisms and periphrasis", in his appointment yesterday was, directly, "nothing", he criticized. And that's why he demanded from Sánchez "honesty, to say things by their name and not to make excuses, because coexistence is not being sought". Feijóo told him that "if he is so sure" of what he will do and if he is so sure that it is better for coexistence, he should explain it to the Spaniards and let them decide. At the polls
