Several government ministers have called on the PP and its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to break all the government pacts it maintains with Vox after its president, Santiago Abascal, stated that there will be a moment in which “the people will want to hang themselves for the feet of Pedro Sánchez”, in an allusion to the death of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. One of them has been the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, who has shown his “total” rejection of the “hate speech” that dates back to “very dark” times in Spain.
“A total rejection of Mr. Abascal’s words, which, sincerely, from my point of view, is a hate speech that does nothing but polarize and incite violence. And I call on Mr. Feijóo and the Popular Party to clearly condemn” – something he has already done – said Albares when asked upon his arrival at the European Foreign Council about the statements made by the president of Vox.
These statements by Abascal “are words that no European leader would dare to second,” Albares stressed, which is why he called on Feijóo to break the “government pacts” that the PP has with Vox in autonomous communities and mayors’ offices. “With a leader like that, one should not go anywhere, much less form a government, as Mr. Feijóo has even attempted in the central government of Spain,” added Albares.
Along the same lines, the vice president and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, described Abascal’s statements as “unworthy” and “serious incitement to hatred.” Isn’t it enough to throw them out of the governments they share? She asks herself on her X account, formerly Twitter, to demand “an immediate condemnation.”
The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, also spoke in after remembering that he experienced firsthand something similar to Abascal’s attacks on Sánchez when he was mayor of Valladolid and by the popular ones.
The first vice president and Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business, Nadia Calviño, urged “de-escalation” and was pleased with the PP’s disengagement from those words.
For his part, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Luis Planas, described as “absolutely unacceptable” the claims of “political hatred”, which had not been seen in Spain “since 1938”.
“I find Mr. Abascal’s statements absolutely unacceptable. I believe they are a manifestation of political hatred that we have not seen in Spain since 1938,” said Planas when asked about the statements upon his arrival at the second day of the European Fisheries Council. of the president of Vox, where he drew attention to the fact that Abascal was destined to be, “if he had gathered a sufficient majority for the Popular Party, the vice president of the Government of Spain.”
And he added: “Do you think that this is the Spain that the majority of Spaniards want? I think not. The majority of Spaniards want a Spain of tolerance and respect, with each other’s political ideas. But obviously, “Those ideas are unacceptable.”
The Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, has also urged Feijoó to break with Vox in the communities and municipalities in which they govern together. According to Morant, these demonstrations by Abascal are a “threat against the integrity and life of the president of the government” and she has stated that “this verbal violence that can translate into direct violence cannot be normalized.”
The Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, warned this Monday of the “very dangerous” words of the Vox leader. Sumar’s spokesperson also started his press conference this Monday at the group’s headquarters by warning that opinions of this type “remind us of past times that we believe abandoned.”
Urtasun has made clear the limit that the PP must set and that, in his opinion, it must go “beyond condemning” the statements of the ultra leader: “It must “immediately” break all the agreements that both formations have in town councils and autonomous communities. “They give wings to this type of declarations that are not tolerable to our democracy,” he remarked.
