The phrases that Borja Sémper inserted in Basque in his speech at the plenary session that debated the proposal to reform the Congressional regulations to allow the use of co-official languages ??have been nothing more than the spur that the PP needed for internal criticism to emerge, a further fruit either from a feeling of orphanhood or from an opposition to the management’s approaches.
The criticism this time does not come from the barons, who maintain unwavering support for Alberto Núñez Feijóo, perhaps because they are participants in the decisions he makes, but from deputies and middle officials of the party, who do not understand the “erratic strategy” of the popular leader. .
The Basque language used by Sémper is the trigger, but not the cause. The sectors of the PP consulted do not criticize the fact that the popular spokesperson spoke in Basque, but rather that he did so after saying the day before that the PP “would not do the trick” and that Cuca Gamarra, the general secretary, asked to speak at the beginning of the plenary session to request compliance with the regulations in force, and to have made it clear that they were going to oppose the use of co-official languages.
This is the example given by the sources with whom La Vanguardia has spoken, to speak of Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s “erratic strategy” since the elections. The deputies knew that Borja Sémper would speak in Basque. They were told at the group meeting prior to the plenary session. They were expressly informed that he would intersperse phrases in Basque.
And that is what they did, the PP leadership defends itself, although perhaps they did not give them all the explanations. First of all, from Genoa it is emphasized that Sémper spoke phrases in Basque, and immediately translated them into Spanish, to explicitly emphasize that with the current regulations you can speak in any co-official language, if you translate it, and that “in order to understand each other “There is no need for translators among Spaniards.”
Furthermore, the popular leadership defends the way in which the debate was resolved, because “we could not allow ourselves to be taken away from a symbol”, that of the language “that the independentists want us to leave to them exclusively.” This is what Alberto Núñez Feijóo did in Galicia, the same sources emphasize, and Galician is normalized throughout the social spectrum, without being seen as typical of nationalists.
But the criticism of those middle officials who are unaware of the popular strategy, and therefore consider it erratic, goes further. They do not understand other decisions that Feijóo is making, and they cite, among others, Sunday’s act. In his speech to the national board of directors of the PP, on Monday, September 11, and to which deputies and senators belong, the popular president did not say anything about his intention to call an event. The next day, José María Aznar called for a civic and institutional mobilization against the amnesty, and Cuca Gamarra rushed to announce a large “open public event” against the pardon measures for the pro-independence supporters, which the leadership itself is reorganizing to leave it at a PP rally, to which it invites whoever wants to go “as in all rallies,” underline the critical voices, who are above all upset because “it seems that Aznar” is the one who sets the tone, if not Isabel Díaz Ayuso, without Feijóo exercising his leadership and imposing himself.
They have the same opinion about the comings and goings about whether or not it was necessary to speak with Junts, maintaining that yes, unlike a dialogue with Bildu, but backing down when Puigdemont raised the demands “that it was known he was going to make and it was accepted to speak “, and always after criticism from the president of the PP of Catalonia, Alejandro Fernández, and some deputies.
The popular leadership accepts the criticism and takes note of it, “we are not going to expel anyone because they say what they think,” although it invites those people who do not agree with the strategy they follow to present their ideas to the leadership. , because they will be welcome, and even more so in a situation “as devilish” as the one the PP is experiencing. He claims to know that there are sectors that would like Feijóo to go into opposition mode, but the popular leader continues to consider it an obligation to appear at the investiture and assert the 172 seats that he has been able to gather.
From the management, these territories are told that they have already formed their governments with Vox, in many cases, and Génova has supported them, even though this could mean Feijóo, as it seems to have, losing votes in the elections. generals, despite which the PP “grew in the center”, while others wanted “it to be cornered in a corner”.
“To form an opposition there are 48 months left,” they emphasize in the PP, but to try to form a government only five days, and Feijóo is in not throwing in the towel and trying until the last moment, because it was his commitment to his voters, to try to get Pedro Sánchez not be president of the government. He simply announced that he would meet with Junts to present his program “because the determining factor is not who you talk to, but what is agreed upon,” and in some territories, they emphasize, “complex things have been agreed upon” and the national leadership has not said nothing.
That is why in Genoa they downplay the importance of the criticism, “because those who say that are the same ones who said a week ago that Feijóo’s speech was fantastic”, and everything is the result of the situation and the nerves they maintain due to the uncertainty.
