They maintained their forms, but the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the leader of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo confirmed in their first face-to-face meeting in the Senate that understanding is practically impossible, that agreements are far away, and that they talk different languages, have different goals, and understand politics very differently.
Everything started well. Once the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and the president of the Government, saw each other in the plenary session of the Senate, courtesy was what he commanded, Sánchez went to the recently opened seat of the leader of the opposition to shake his hand. They exchanged brief greetings, all in good harmony. And even the two began very smoothly, one offering agreements and a state opposition, Feijóo, and Sánchez expressing his desire for agreements.
But the ice was broken, and in a second shift, both Feijóo and Sánchez went for each other’s jugular to discredit the policies of the Government and the opposition, and the President of the Government even brought up words from the Vice President of the Junta de Castilla and León, to show that the PP is the same as always.
The first intervention of Alberto Núñez Feijóo in the first control session in which he faces Pedro Sánchez in the Senate, the leader of the opposition came to make a declaration of intent. “I want to take advantage of my first words in the Cortes Generales to vindicate useful politics”, said Feijóo, who rejected the politics of “twitching, disqualifications, insults, few proposals and few reflections”, and assured that “I have not come here to insult, to oppose” what he has already seen, he said, that “some of his ministers” help him a lot.
What he intends as leader of the opposition is, he said, “to add, build and make Spain deserve a better government”, and that is why he offered him his economic plan, with “reasonable proposals” And that is why he invited the Prime Minister to ” ignore the minorities when they are wrong and listen to the majorities”.
Pedro Sánchez’s response seemed to start a new stage in which understanding was possible. welcomed the Senate and recalled that they have been able to understand each other at the conferences of presidents, and expressed his wish that “we could extend it. That is the spirit of the Government,” he said, while expressing his desire to “work to achieve the maximum of consensus”, as the Government has done with the social agents, and other social sectors.
But the reproaches began. “The government has managed to reach agreements with all the forces except the extreme right and you”, for which he asked him to make “a state opposition and a useful opposition”, something that he has not seen in the two months that Feijóo has been in office presidency of the PP, and Sánchez brought up what they always put Feijóo as a litmus test: “You always give us lessons in constitutionalism, but this is a government that complies with the constitution” and asked him: “Are you willing or not to comply with the Constitution and renew the constitutional bodies, referring to the General Council of the Judiciary and the Constitutional Court, while asking Feijóo that the PP “stop hindering the legislature.”
Feijóo guaranteed that “state opposition” and stressed that “the problem is that it does not have state partners, and that is its main problem.” But going down to the economic field, Feijóo made an amendment to the entire economic policy of the Government: “Families are upset with their triumphalism” and compared him to the driver who is going in the opposite direction and believes that it is the others who are wrong. “You are going in the opposite direction to Spain, and you are going with two co-drivers who do not believe in Spain.”
For this reason, and in response to Sánchez’s summons, Feijóo affirmed that his opposition is not in the way, “but you always beat me with insults.” That is why he insisted on his economic alternative, and that is based on the fact that if 4,000 million euros more than expected throughout the year have already been collected, that money be returned to families, lowering VAT on electricity and hydrocarbons and lower personal income tax to 75% taxpayers, that is, to low and medium incomes, because the 20-cent help for gasoline “has been eaten by the increase in prices.”
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, before finishing his first face-to-face meeting with Pedro Sánchez, extended his hand again and recommended “forget about the Feijoo effect and focus on the inflation effect”.
Sánchez’s last shift was also very critical of the PP’s way of opposing the popular policies in the Government, in terms of pensions, labor reform, to conclude that the Spanish will have to choose “Either social rights or setbacks social” and concluded that “you are for social backwardness”. Among the things he cited was “non-intrafamily” gender violence, he warned Feijóo, and reminded him of the words of the vice president of Castilla y León, of Vox, about the disabled “something aberrant” and for that reason he asked the president of the PP ” speak clearly”.
