After saving his presidency against the odds, amidst very strong pressure and attacks from the right, and also internal misunderstandings in the PSOE due to investiture pacts with the Catalan independence movement that include the controversial amnesty law for those accused of the process, Pedro Sánchez hugged himself yesterday to José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to claim victory, claim together and celebrate “four more years of progressive government.”
Once re-elected president, and after his tour of the Middle East, the leader of the PSOE took a comforting bath of socialist masses before nearly 10,000 supporters gathered at the Ifema in Madrid. It was an act of absolute closing of ranks, together with former President Zapatero, in which the defense of the amnesty was reaffirmed, despite its difficult digestion in some socialist sectors. And the firm position regarding the conflict between Israel and Hamas was also ratified, despite the new diplomatic clash with Beniamin Netanyahu. And in the face of harsh criticism, triggered by both issues, from the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
Sánchez justified the amnesty, thanks to which he achieved the essential support for his investiture from Junts and ERC, while the right protests “in the face of a risk that is not such, because Spain is not going to break up,” he stated.
“With this transcendent decision of Spanish democracy, such as the approval of an amnesty law, even those who mobilize against it will benefit, because they will live in a more cohesive country, with more coexistence and more united.” than ever,” Sánchez guaranteed, in the face of the PP protests and the far-right attacks against the PSOE headquarters throughout Spain.
The event was also a tribute to Zapatero, who, unlike Felipe González and other patriarchs of the old guard, was deeply involved in the PSOE electoral campaign that managed, against the odds, to prevent a PP and Vox government.
The former president endorsed the amnesty and criticized the PP for appealing to the Constitutional Court, as it already did with the gay marriage and abortion laws. “Everything they don’t like is unconstitutional,” he lamented. But he assured that the amnesty “is a law that looks to the future, to a strong Spain and to us sharing Catalonia.”
Over time, he predicted, it will be claimed that under the Sánchez Government “an amnesty law was approved that opened the door to stability, normalization, coexistence in Catalonia and a better, more integrated and cohesive Spain.” Just like, he said, ETA “surrendered” under his command.
Sánchez also reaffirmed his position towards Israel and Hamas, after opening the door last Friday for Spain to recognize the Palestinian State unilaterally. “Condemning the vile terrorist attacks by a terrorist group like Hamas, and at the same time condemning the indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, is not a question of political parties or ideology, it is a question of humanity,” he cried.
“The right to defense can never include innocent victims, children and civilians. Never! “Killing is just killing!” former President Zapatero supported him.
