There was not even a greeting between the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the leader of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, during the events in Congress commemorating Constitution Day. Each one as far away as possible, messages were sent through the media.
If Sánchez told journalists that he will call Feijóo before the end of the year, although the president of the PP can also call him, the popular leader responded through media representatives that “in democracy it is the president who calls.” “.
And if the President of the Government pointed out in his conversation with journalists that he wants to speak with Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the General Council of the Judiciary, about the modification of article 49 of the Constitution, and about regional financing, the leader of the main party of the The opposition assures that if they call him, he will attend the meeting, but that he would like to “know his intentions and the agenda in a way other than through the media.”
PP sources assure that Alberto Núñez Feijóo can attend the meeting, but that “if the Government does not want to change the law”, there will be nothing to negotiate. The PP makes its position clear. “If it is about deepening the independence of Justice, as Europe says, we can talk; if what we want is to control Justice, there is nothing to talk about.”
It is the same position that the popular spokesperson, Borja Sémper, expressed last Monday, but with progress in the hardening of the popular position, he will attend if they call him, while on Monday, he was willing to sit down. The fact that Sánchez has put more issues to discuss, such as article 49 of the Constitution and the financing system, makes things easier.
According to the sources consulted, a few days ago, the president of the PP extended his hand to Sánchez to modify this article, which tries to change the diminished term that appears in the Constitution to that of disabled, which was not carried out in the last legislature. , due to the fear that the Government’s partners would gather the number of deputies necessary to request a referendum on the constitutional reform, and turn it into a debate on other issues, from the Monarchy to the right to decide.
What became clear yesterday in the commemorative events for Constitution Day is that the political mistrust between the Government and the PP, between Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo, is abysmal. The leaders of the PP looked closely at the speech of the president of Congress, Francina Armengol, and although they applauded it, even if timidly, the leader of the PP himself showed, at the end of the intervention, his misgivings about a paragraph that the PP interpreted as a defense of the state to be decided. Feijóo did not want to comment until he “re-read it.”
Subsequently, PP sources stressed that Armengol “has once again made a speech in the Congress of Deputies made in Ferraz”, and “on the worst possible day”, the anniversary of the Constitution, “in which we must all honor and defend our constitutional text. Never question it.”
For the PP, “Armengol, who is converting Congress into a branch of the PSOE, has spoken today about the “decision-making process” in the “territorial issue” and “must urgently give explanations regarding this statement.” In his opinion of the popular ones, the president of Congress “is putting herself at the head of the demands of those who have proposed an entire amendment to our Constitution, in the form of an amnesty that is on its way to becoming the first law of the Government in the Legislature” The PP considers that “there is no precedent for a president of Congress to use institutional events, such as the solemn opening of a Legislature or the celebration of Constitution Day, to convey online messages of what Sánchez defends to continue in Moncloa, which involves giving privileges to disruptive formations and enemies of the Magna Carta.” For the PP, the same sources emphasize, “the Constitution represents the greatest contribution to History and represents a guarantee of equality, freedom and harmony. Unfortunately, today Spaniards are no longer equal because, because of Sánchez, there are citizens who do not comply with the law and also have privileges over others.” The popular ones consider that defending the Constitution is incompatible with questioning it.
Immediately, the cabinet of the president of Congress stressed that in the paragraph to which the PP refers “they are talking about the autonomous process, which the Constitution almost does not mention and which has meant decentralizing powers.” A process, the same sources stressed, that has been “a successful process, since no one has returned powers, and that has a long way to go, as we have seen in the processes of recent years and in the requests for new transfers that are debated with “the autonomous communities and the expansion of justice. We are talking about bringing these powers closer. Of strengthening the autonomous state. Bringing decision-making closer to citizens means that the autonomous government is closer to the citizen.”
The paragraph that has been the subject of controversy between the PP and President Armengol is the one that talks about Title Eight of the Constitution, which refers to the territorial issue, which “integrates the diversity that coexists in our country and the wealth that a Plural State and leaves the way open to advance in the process of bringing decision-making closer to citizens. Let us understand each other in this way, assuming the privilege of our differences, embracing the heterogeneous that makes us who we are, as we have also done in Congress, recognizing all the official languages ??of the State.”
