“The entire PSOE is behind Pedro Sánchez for the investiture,” agree in the leadership of Ferraz and in the socialist parliamentary group, but also different territorial leaders and socialist federations and groups, in the face of the admonitions of Felipe González and Alfonso Guerra against the amnesty that the Catalan independence movement demands to invest the leader of the PSOE as president of the government. “There is no noise or tension in the PSOE; “The party is a block,” they say.
The “absolute confidence” in the negotiations that Sánchez will lead for his investiture, when that of Alberto Núñez Feijóo fails, prevails in the organization and in the majority of the federations and their militancy, they say. On the other hand, many in the PSOE warn that the repeated attacks by González and Guerra, which they see as “studs in the wheels” for Sánchez’s claims, are already turning against them.
“They have less and less success at the grassroots,” highlights an Andalusian leader about González and Guerra. “His opinions are becoming less and less important in the party,” agrees a Valencian leader. “Unfortunately for them, they have found themselves outside the affection of socialist militancy, with the sentimental bankruptcy that this has meant for many,” acknowledges a Basque leader. Óscar Puente, former mayor of Valladolid and now a deputy in Congress, openly stressed this yesterday: “A long time ago they stopped being a progressive reference to become what they are today,” he lamented.
José Montilla, former president of the Generalitat and former leader of the Catalan socialists, also regretted that González once again came to the fore to warn Sánchez that he is on the wrong path and that the amnesty is unconstitutional – a position that Guerra joined yesterday with forcefulness–, after having been missing from the socialists’ campaigns for the recent municipal, regional and general elections. “I would have liked to see him in the campaign,” Montilla said about González. “He is free to give his opinion, but it is curious that he does it at certain times and not to lend a hand,” he concluded.
Other PSOE leaders, on the other hand, claim that they preferred not to see González, nor Guerra, in these campaigns: “There is no need for it. “They only remain.”
González and Guerra will be able to return to the fray, however, on the occasion of the presentation on September 20 at the Ateneo de Madrid of the former vice president of the Government’s latest book, where both will meet again.
In Moncloa and the leadership of the PSOE, in any case, they avoid direct confrontation with González and Guerra: “We will not respond to them,” they acknowledge. In order not to fuel the controversy and, above all, to not divert the focus from Feijóo, who is now in charge of the King to face his investiture, and whose intention to find a fit for Catalonia, they say, was “incapable of explaining.” , and the PP had to qualify it immediately.
Minister Félix Bolaños, after listening to González’s new “message” – a classic that he maintains with all his successors in the party –, defended that what the PSOE is doing “is absolutely consistent with the best socialist tradition.” And Minister María Jesús Montero, deputy general secretary of the PSOE, limited herself yesterday to showing her “affection and respect” for Guerra, after her attack against a possible amnesty.
In the leadership of the PSOE they insist on considering the “personal opinions” of González and Guerra, who warn that they only represent themselves, while they take as “discounted” the critical position on the matter of the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García. -Page, or that of the former president of Aragon, and still leader of the Aragonese socialists, Javier Lambán. All of them, therefore, would be isolated voices, and would not respond to a widespread malaise in the PSOE, as occurred, in the last legislature, with the effects of the law of only yes means yes or with the reform of the crime of embezzlement, which They did generate internal controversy.
Several leaders highlight, in this regard, the closing of ranks of the leader of the Andalusian socialists, Juan Espadas, during the rally he held with Pedro Sánchez in Malaga last Saturday. Espadas encouraged Sánchez to reach an agreement for the governability of a “diverse and non-uniform” Spain, and conveyed the support of the PSOE of Andalusia to his “position of negotiation, dialogue, coexistence and agreements” in Catalonia.
“This does not mean weakness or that we agree with the approaches of the independentists, but rather that we love our country and we want to build agreements for governability through dialogue,” highlighted the leader of the Andalusian socialists. Although he has already warned that the right will squeeze them and put “pressure on the pot” to try to derail any agreement. “Cold head and common sense to try to reach an agreement,” he confided. Because, in line with Sánchez’s purpose, “our dialogue and capacity for agreement have a border: the Constitution.”
Yesterday Espadas defended the legitimacy of some socialist veterans, in reference to González and Guerra, to express their opinions. But he warned that, at this political moment, what they should do is demand that Feijóo explain what his territorial model is for Spain and what relationship he wants to maintain with Catalonia.
