The photo of the popular bench of Congress, swollen with some senators, standing applauding, is the triumph that Alberto Núñez Feijóo has taken from his failed investiture. The leader of the PP considered it well spent, despite not achieving the presidency. He himself confessed that his objective was to remind the Spanish that he had won the elections. The photo reflects the muscle of 152 deputies, an absolute majority in the Senate and power in 13 of the 17 autonomies. Feijóo’s other intention, less confessable, was to gain credit in his own party. His interventions seemed to reassure all sectors, hard and moderate. Especially the first ones, who have been trying to write the script for him since he took over the leadership. The failed investiture has also served Feijóo to better face the two possible scenarios: electoral repetition or his debut as head of the opposition, which will seek to underline the instability of a new Pedro Sánchez executive.
The harshness of the popular candidate against Sánchez on account of the amnesty overwhelmed those who, led by José María Aznar and Isabel Díaz Ayuso, demand a strong hand, aggressive language and not even a hint of weakness. Thanks to Vox, no concessions on co-official languages ??or on “fits” of Catalonia in the Spanish State. Feijóo stuck to the script with the amnesty defined as the greatest political attack on democracy and Sánchez as the “immoral” socialist who sells the country for power. If the negotiation between the PSOE and Junts does not bear fruit and elections are repeated in January, Feijóo has half of the campaign done.
Once this preamble was accepted, the candidate showed his most versatile facet so as not to scare the moderates of his party, with social democratic programmatic winks, appeals to PSOE voters who do not understand Sánchez’s approach to the independence movement or constant and resounding promises to the different autonomies to compete with peripheral nationalisms. But the initial framework was well defined.
Now, Feijóo also prepared for the scenario of a Sánchez government supported by a myriad of parties even more diverse than the one built in the previous legislature. That is, he began to work to pierce an unstable legislature. He implemented a strategy of division among those potential allies. He made trouble between ERC and Junts, something not very difficult. Also within Junts by recreating the times when CiU was hegemonic and set the tone in Spanish politics. And above all, he worked hard to sow discord between the PNV and the PSOE on behalf of Bildu. Viciously, even.
Feijóo, who happens to maintain an excellent relationship with Lehendakari Íñigo Urkullu, and who is convinced that in the future he can understand perfectly with the PNV and even with Junts (once the issue of the amnesty is resolved and the situation in Catalunya), made Andoni Ortuzar angry. First, he responded at the same time to the PNV and Bildu. A single reply in which he directly dealt with the pro-ETA formation seconds. And second, he fondly reminded the jetzales that they are losing the support of the Basques in favor of Bildu for staying with Sánchez. Just where it hurts the penisuistas the most.
Time and time again, Feijóo reproached the PNV for competing with Bildu for the favors of the PSOE, for defending the amnesty for Carles Puigdemont more than the interests of Euskadi and insisted that this only favors the nationalist left, which is gaining ground until the point that they could snatch the lehendakaritza from him in a few months. Feijóo assured Ortuzar that, with him in Moncloa, Euskadi would already have high speed and that he is betraying his voters by supporting a government in which Podemos is. “Do you want to continue being Sánchez’s Kleenex in the coming years?” He snapped.
Feijóo’s message to the Peneuvistas and Junts is summarized in one of his phrases: “When Sánchez doesn’t need you, he will go against you. Listen to me. “I am trustworthy.” The difficulty that Sánchez will have in combining the demands of parties that compete in their territories and that diverge ideologically, such as PNV and Bildu on the one hand, and ERC and Junts on the other, is the element to be exploited by the PP in the next legislature , if it sees the light.
In this desire to divide the majority that supports Sánchez, Feijóo closed some doors with the PNV, which he hopes to seduce in the future. Ortuzar reproached him for having come to look for them “in a hurry” and reminded him that building trust with his team is like “a marathon,” a long-distance race that he invited him to run. In other words, the PNV does not rule out reaching an agreement with the PP later, but now Feijóo’s position against the amnesty and his alliance with Vox are insurmountable obstacles. Despite that promising invitation, Ortuzar told him that yesterday he hadn’t exactly made many friends.
Feijóo followed the same tactic with Junts on Tuesday, in the first session. In a fit of nostalgia, he commented on the income that the peix al cove once provided to CiU. He recalled the ideological incompatibility of the Catalan nationalists with a government that includes Podemos. “There is nothing left of CiU in you? Really?” A question not so much directed at Miriam Nogueras, an exponent of the new batches of Junts – who she replied that CiU no longer exists – but rather at those within that party who long for a pragmatic turn.
In short, Feijóo came out satisfied, but he did not manage to break the corset of his meager alliances (with Vox, Canarian Coalition and UPN), insufficient to govern. The first vote ended with 178 votes against and 172 in favor, a result that will probably be repeated tomorrow in the final round. Once the fiasco of this investiture is over, it will be Pedro Sánchez’s turn. The socialist has avoided possible slips by not intervening in this debate. He will not be a slave to his words. At least the recent ones. If he finally does not reach an agreement with Junts and is forced into elections, his argument will be that he did not want to bow to the excessive demands of the independentistas. Defending the amnesty in parliament and then distancing yourself in the campaign was risky.
Even so, Sánchez will have to begin to explain his intentions to prevent the PP’s arguments about giving in to independence blackmail in exchange for power. As soon as he receives the order from the King to attempt the investiture, in a little less than a week, Sánchez will have to face a certain pedagogy on the amnesty. These are the days that he will have time to test with Junts if there is water in the pool.
