When José María Aznar uttered his war cry, “Go away, Mr. González!”, everyone understood him. He wanted to say: take it off so I can put it on. So it was. When Alberto Núñez Feijóo began to announce, weeks ago, that he was going to “repeal sanchismo” he did not express himself so directly or precisely. Because people (and what they represent) are not repealed. If they hold public office, they can be defeated at the polls and replaced democratically. If they offend, they can be prosecuted and removed. If the desire to lose sight of them is great and the democratic scruples are few, they can be overthrown like a banana republic. But, stricto sensu, they are not repealed. What is repealed are the laws, which amounts to something similar to abolishing or revoking or abrogating them.
Wanting to repeal sanchismo sounds like wanting to give the president the treatment reserved by law. Pedro Sánchez has skills and has demonstrated resistance to political attacks, whether they came from friends or enemies, which was everything. But that does not make him a walking legal norm. The survival of Sánchez at the head of the Government only depends on the voters. If within four weeks the circumstances arise for Feijóo to succeed him, that would also be due to the electorate. Not to how much the popular leader has been shouting, proclaiming how urgent it is, in his opinion, to repeal sanchismo. Although the noise helps.
Another thing would be for the conservative candidate to talk about repealing sanchismo, referring to liquidating certain laws that his Executive has approved. Some would already have lead in their wings, such as the Democratic Memory law or the trans law, as Feijóo himself has advanced. Others –Education, Euthanasia…– could undergo adjustments, without being revoked in their entirety. And many more are on the target of Vox, a party that is emerging as essential for the PP to achieve power in communities and town halls, because the conservative results of 28-M give the PP what they give it, and not for more.
In fact, Vox abhors all socialist laws, including Animal Welfare. Their leader has said that he would repeal them without exception. Only those that support his monocolor, mononational, monoethnic project are worth it. And, therefore, it insults any norm that more or less favors diversity, feminism, immigration, etc. Abascal’s party, like other political forces, of different stripes, is unwilling by the spirit of consensus of the 1978 Constitution.
At the moment, it is not known precisely how many laws a PP government supported by Vox would repeal. Although we should know as soon as possible. Because among the legal measures approved by the Government chaired by Sánchez there are some that enjoy broad support, such as a minimum wage that was 735 euros and is now at 1,080, or the increase in pensions or the Housing Law, which limits the rental price.
Apart from the classic announcement of lower taxes, the two formations on the right, PP and Vox, seem to want to attract voters on 23-J by putting promises of repeal of socialist norms before their own proposals. PP and Vox are like that. But, in a democracy, what is common is that parties try to seduce voters with offers of assistance or economic advances, convinced that an inclusive society gains in cohesion and collective drive. Instead, the PP, and to a greater extent Vox, now seem to be telling the voter: vote for me and I’m going to take this and that away from you. They remind me of that mother who called her son, when he painted stick figures on the walls, shouting “Boy! Come here, I’m going to cut off your hands!” And the child did not go.
This is not just a Spanish case. In the EU, founded on values ??of solidarity and freedoms, a reactionary movement that bets on uniformity, cuts in rights and discrimination is advancing, annoying those who have different origins or different ideas or precarious economies, and humanity as a whole. with policies that deny the climate crisis… Thus, politics is simplified: it no longer seems obligatory to manage complexity without leaving anyone behind. That is what Vox proposes, loud and clear. So if he manages to send a PP conditioned by Vox, it will not be possible to plead ignorance.