“This goes from week to week, and this week I am happy and satisfied.” Despite having already claimed “ten years of progressive governments” to complete his project, the acceleration of events in Spanish politics, always in the midst of a relentless storm, taught Pedro Sánchez to try to survive in the immediate, week week And the Prime Minister himself, despite the constant heavy artillery fire from the right, considers that he closed in a very positive way this week, after his first official visit to China, the validation of the pension reform in Congress and the express endorsement reiterated by the European Commission while suspending the delivery of 19,000 million euros of European funds to Italy, or the evolution of inflation in Spain.
“We did not come as hostile, but we leave more united”, the Government assumed after the meeting between Sánchez and the President of China, Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The president left the huge Tiananmen square shocked, but also “very satisfied” with an appointment that his team assures that consolidates his international profile and his leadership within the European Union. When defending before Xi the peace plan of Volodymyr Zelensky, and urging the president of the Asian colossus to contact the Ukrainian leader directly, the Spanish leader set “the bar very high” in the strategy of European pressure, which will now be reinforced by the planned visits to Beijing of both the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the high representative of the EU, Josep Borrell, as well as the presidents of France and Italy, Emmanuel Macron and Giorgia Meloni. “All the signs indicate that Xi will not sell arms to Russia, he is not interested in it and it does not compensate him at all”, warn high Spanish diplomatic authorities. “Xi does not want war, nor does he want to be perceived in the world as someone who wants war”, they say. For the Chinese president, Sánchez is a “credible” interlocutor. Something essential, they warn, to be able to debate “frankly” and begin to tip the Chinese scales in favor of resolving the war in Ukraine.
“High voltage” reforms. Despite the visit to China, Sánchez did not take his eyes off Thursday’s validation in Congress of the Government’s pension reform, by a large majority of 179 votes in favor. Again, with the refusal of the Popular Party. For the president, approving “high-voltage” reforms such as labor and pensions, while preserving “social peace” and without contesting the streets as in France, is an “undeniable success of the Government”. And a “political asset” in view of the new electoral cycle which, in his opinion, will take its toll on the leader of the main opposition party.
“The criticisms issued by the leader of the PP in Brussels against this pension reform that has the endorsement of the European Commission caused “rejection and surprise” in the heart of the community club, as they warn the Government. “It is very unpleasant to go to Brussels to criticize everything, even what has the support of Brussels. Feijóo has given a sorry picture. And it is not opinion, but information, even among European leaders of their own political family”, they say.
“The advantaged student”. The president celebrated on Friday, before returning to Madrid, two pieces of news that he considers to underpin his Government action. On the one hand, the express support for the pension reform of the vice-president of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, also from the PP. “It is a reform that goes in the right direction”, he admitted. The Executive also underlines that this reform will activate a fourth disbursement of European funds worth 10,000 million euros. The European Commission, on the other hand, suspended the delivery of 19,000 million to Italy. A decision, they assure Moncloa, that “highlights” their management of the recovery plan, as an “advantaged student” of the EU. In fact, they admit that some other European government already contacted them with the intention of copying them. Sánchez will be able to discuss it with Meloni, with whom he will meet next Wednesday in Rome. In addition, the president underlined a fact: inflation in Spain was halved in March, from 6% to 3.1%. It is thus the second lowest in the eurozone, only behind Luxembourg.
“Let’s all go.” Without giving respite to his teams in Moncloa and Ferraz, Sánchez reconciles an intense international agenda with his deployment in the 28-M campaign. The president warns that his electoral target is Catalonia and, singularly, Barcelona. “Time proves the bet for coexistence in Catalonia, it’s a winning bet. And I hope that Collboni will push it”, he acknowledges. Today, after visiting the B-40 tunnel works between Abrera and Viladecavalls, he will close the municipal convention of the PSC in l’Hospitalet. And on Monday, another rally, in Albacete: “We’re all going”, he warns.