The former vice president of the Government Alfonso Guerra believes that the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, is adopting a “dangerously autocratic” approach and is generating division “between the two Spains” after having taken five days to reflect on whether to resign, in a gesture that the veteran socialist considers that it was nothing more than a “political calculation.”
This is how he spoke in an interview in the British newspaper The Times, in which he disgraces the President of the Government for having kept the country in suspense for five days to finally not only announce that he is continuing but that he will even try to run for a third term.
In his opinion, it is nothing more than a “political calculation” that “is not compatible with a parliamentary democracy” like the Spanish one. “This is a style of presidential government, which recalls the tensions of the 1930s when a leader said ‘I decide and the people listen and applaud’,” stressed Guerra, for whom “it is a sign of his dangerous, increasingly autocratic approach.” .
The former vice president has ridiculed Sánchez’s argument that he decided to continue after seeing the displays of support, in particular the one that occurred in front of the PSOE headquarters in Madrid, stressing that there were “small demonstrations” of support organized by the party. Likewise, he has stressed that the favorable poll published on Monday by the CIS is the work of an entity in question for its polls tailored to the president.
In Guerra’s opinion, “what has happened has caused a serious deterioration in Spain’s international image.” “It took a lot of effort to build Spain’s prestige after a long dictatorship during the transition, which put Spain on the map,” he recalled, ensuring that “recovering it will cost a lot.”
On the other hand, he has warned that “a Government that attacks the press is digging its own grave”, in reference to the criticism made by the president against what he has called “pseudo media” and also against some digital media for publishing information in relationship with the activities of his wife, Begoña Gómez.
“The press is a central element of democracy. There is a Penal Code to deal with defamation, there is no need for more,” said the former socialist leader, for whom Sánchez’s argument that it is up to the Government to undertake the reform of the General Council of Power is not “correct” either. Judicial (CGPJ).
In this sense, he has criticized the “persecution of the judicial system at a time when the pillars of Spanish democracy are shaking due to the events of 2017” in Catalonia by the President of the Government.
On the other hand, Guerra has lamented that the PSOE is “in decline” and that it is “another party” compared to the one that existed when he was deputy secretary general. Before ending the interview, the former vice president showed the journalist a copy of the Constitution that he had with him: “It is a shame that there are now politicians who have not read it.” “It represents the conquest of the two Spains, it unites us,” he emphasizes.
