The Spanish electoral battle is being played out, in part, on the European stage, and the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has decided to claim his share of this space to counteract the international image of Pedro Sánchez and seek support from the family European popular party to voice its criticism of the management of the Spanish Government.
To the questions about the tone of the comments with which some members of the PP have referred, for example, to the European Commission’s endorsement of the pension reform being prepared by the Central Government or the doubts they project on European supervision of the recovery fund, Feijóo avoided commenting on it and charged Sánchez. “The President of the Commission has limited responsibility”, but “the next Government will find the effects of five years of populism of the current Government, and this is not ethical for the Spanish or for the EU”, he said .
However, the spokesperson for Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, explained that, since it is a meeting between members of the same political group, they do not report on the conversations that have taken place.
In any case, Feijóo praised the pension reform approved by decree in France and praised Emmanuel Macron for not giving in to the protests it has caused and for having done “the opposite” of the Spanish Government. In other words, promote changes in favor of “sustainability” and assume “social tension” and not limit ourselves to “a patch” until 2025. “One of the two is wrong, and I feel that we are making the mistake of postponing an essential debate to create employment and ensure the work of the more than three million unemployed in Spain, and, of course, current and future pensions, stated the leader of the PP shortly before the meeting with the European Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, with whom Minister José Luis Escrivá has agreed on the reform of pensions. Escrivá, also passing through Brussels, described Feijóo’s comments as “frivolity, insolvency and lack of patriotism”, which, in his opinion, had a “sliver of sincerity” when he supported the cut in rights and benefits approved in France.
Sources of the PP trust that the contacts with Von der Leyen will soon result in a stricter attitude from the president of the Commission towards the Spanish Government, which has received the endorsement of the three requests for aid from the EU recovery fund, valued at 37,000 million, according to the opposition, because the supervision of the Spanish economic reforms by the EC has been more lax than would be desired.
But beyond the manifest good personal harmony of Von der Leyen with Sánchez, neither the PP nor the popular Europeans hide their discomfort with the political support – in their opinion, excessive – that the President of the Commission gives to the Spanish Government for its rapid deployment of the recovery plan, and the head of the opposition was interested in clarifying several issues with her.
“The relationship with the president of the Commission is correct and trust and friendship are deepening every day”, assured Feijóo. “An example of this”, he said, is that, despite the fact that his plane broke down and arrived late, he waited for him for dinner. It was a quarter to nine when they sat down at the table, a late hour for European customs. “This proves the interest in getting to know, connecting and deepening the president’s relationship”.
However, Feijóo did not guarantee that the PP will support the German leader so that she is the candidate to run for another term as president of the Commission. A part of the European conservative family prefers to defend the Maltese Roberta Metsola, current president of the Eurochamber, and Feijóo does not plan to take a position until the general elections have passed.
Yesterday the leader of the PP also met with the vice-president of the European Commission, the Greek conservative Margaritis Skhinàs, whom he defined as a “friend”; the Internal Market and Economy Commissioners, Thierry Breton and Paolo Gentiloni; members of the European liberal and socialist families, as well as the Prime Minister of Latvia, Arturs Krisjanis, a member of the EPP, to whom he guaranteed that his party, unlike the Sánchez Government, has “a clear commitment” to the defense of baltic country
