The event called by the PP on Sunday against the amnesty, although its motto will be “For the equality of all Spaniards”, weighs on the PP, which lowers expectations about it, “it is a conventional political act, an act of the PP”, but about which he continues to raise an aura that surpasses the limits of the party. So much so, that the PP spokesperson, Borja Semper, who made an express invitation “to card-carrying socialist militants, to socialists who have been expelled, to social democrats at heart” to attend the call, as he does also to “the conservatives and liberals.”
The popular leader avoided talking about an invitation to Vox, whose president, Santiago Abascal, stated that he would wait for an invitation to decide whether to attend or not, but that did not prevent him from showing his confidence that some socialist leader or some PSOE militant would attend the Sunday to the Plaza Felipe II, in Madrid. That is why it is done in the street, because in the opinion of the PP it is easier for those who are not from the parties to attend, and he pointed out, responding to criticism of the call: “That is not is taking to the streets, it is a right that assists us”.
Semper assured that taking into account the calls that are being received in all the PP headquarters throughout the Spanish territory, the forecast is that it will involve a large mobilization “of a social spectrum that goes beyond the PP”, even if it is an act of the PP, and that is why everyone who wants to attend will be welcome, whether they belong to the party, association, foundation or group.
And the PP is detecting a growing rejection of a possible amnesty, the self-determination referendum and, in short, what this means to end equality between Spaniards. For Semper, what is exceptional about the event, compared to any PP rally, “is the substance. Because of what the country is at stake, because of the content of what we call to defend,” which is “the essence of the Constitution,” and the “refusal to break the Constitution by breaking equality with amnesties” and other issues that are supposed to be on the negotiating table for a future investiture of Pedro Sánchez.
The PP spokesperson is convinced that Spaniards are becoming more and more aware of Sánchez’s intentions, precisely because the acting President of the Government wastes all the opportunities he has to clarify whether he is going to grant the amnesty. The last one yesterday, when at an event in Galicia he showed his conviction that there will be a progressive government, but he continued without clarifying if he is going to give in to his demands.
Hence, the PP asks Pedro Sánchez a direct question. “Do you want to grant amnesty, yes or no?” And that it does so leaving aside “the innovations that there are various types of amnesty”, without hiding behind “euphemisms, or bizarre analyses”, in reference to the statements of the acting second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, in La Vanguardia, in which he spoke that there were various types of amnesty, and that the resolution of the Catalan conflict had to be done through an agreement with social agents and civil society. “He only needed to appeal to the family third,” said the PP spokesperson, referring to one of the agents who had the right to vote under Franco.
The question, for Semper, is clear: “He wants to amnesty those who committed illegal acts, subverted the constitutional order, subjected Catalan society to one of its greatest crises in history, and strained Spanish politics to unsuspected limits, yes or no.” . The popular leader believes that it will not be difficult for Sánchez to answer the question, because very recently he was very clear that it was unconstitutional.
For this reason, the PP stands as a defender of those who believe that what happened in 2017 should not have happened, and those responsible are the independentists. “No. The Security Forces and Corps did not do it wrong in Catalonia; the Spanish citizens and many Catalan citizens who opposed a delusional process did not do it wrong; the judges and magistrates who applied the rule of law did not do it wrong “The only ones who behaved badly, who broke coexistence and tense Spanish politics are those who did it wrong.”
While this is happening, the PP continues trying to add will to its investiture. This Monday the spokespersons for the PP and the PNV will meet in Congress. Cuca Gamarra and Aitor Esteban will hold a meeting in the Lower House. In parallel, the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, met in Madrid with the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, and that of Cepyme, Jorge Cueva.
Garamendi stressed at the end of the meeting that it was an institutional meeting in which Feijóo explained the proposals that he will present in the investiture debate.
After the meeting, Garamendi assured that the CEOE “is against the amnesty”, because it considers that it is outside the Constitution, and invited PSOE and PP to sit down to negotiate the future government, because between the two constitutionalist parties, they represent the 95% of Spaniards.
“We have always said the same thing. Spanish businessmen are with the unity of Spain, with the 1978 Constitution, and we are moving towards moderation with the economic agreements with the unions, which has always worked fantastically well.”
The president of the employers’ association stressed that the CEOE is “with the parliamentary monarchy, which is among the 20 best democracies in the world; it is with the separation of powers, with the rule of law. We are there and I will stay there,” he said when asked for Yolanda Díaz’s proposal that the amnesty be the result of a great consensus with civil society and social agents, including businessmen. But in case there was any doubt, he added: “I am not going to enter into partisan politics,” but “Institutions and forms must be respected. We are going to work within the constitutional order. Amnesty, no.”
