Nacho Martín Blanco (Barcelona, ??1982) has just made the jump from Ciutadans to the PP, but he says that he didn’t fall asleep liberal one night and wake up conservative the next, but that Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s project integrates several sensibilities. An admirer of Josep Piqué, he asks to recover the consensuses of the transition in view of extremism and civil war and hopes that on July 23, “a sensible PP government will emerge from the polls, with the support it requires but if possible with an agreement that tends to the center”.
Why did he leave Citizens?
Its political viability was very complicated. It seemed to me that in order to leave behind the climate of tension that Sanchism has brought, it was entirely consistent to join Feijóo’s lists, with whom I fully agree. The intersection between liberalism and conservatism is an old one. I remain a liberal, and the party that best embodies the defense of the liberal values ??of the Enlightenment today is Feijóo’s PP. I will do my bit to reach Moncloa.
Even if that’s why he has to agree with the ultra-right?
Due to my moderate and pragmatic nature, I have always been in favor of the agreement, but in the current situation the PSOE has decided to normalize the pacts with seditious parties, such as ERC and Junts, and with the political arm of terrorism, EH Bildu.
I was asking him about Vox…
The PSOE is the first to rip up the letters of the consensus of the transition, with pacts towards the center and moderate policies for the benefit of all Spaniards. And he does it with absolute irresponsibility, because it makes no sense to rule a country by the hands of those who want to break it up. Despite being a strategic party, it has not been up to it. For me, the ideal is pacts towards the center, which is why I admire politicians like Adolfo Suárez.
Is this spirit dead?
I detect him in Feijóo and not in Pedro Sánchez. Many socialists share the idea that the bridges of the transition have been blown. That is why it is necessary to recover the capacity for consensus and prevent the two major parties from ending up in the hands of formations that approach politics in a civil war key, contemptuous of the adversary, Cainite.
Does he mean the far right?
Yes. I don’t think you can do politics through insult, contempt, stridency or exaggeration in the gestures towards the gallery like Vox does, with excesses of testosterone.
But the PP agrees with her…
I like Daniel Sirera’s model in Barcelona. His high-mindedness has made him a socialist mayor, even if it is not ideal for PP voters, but it is a lesser evil. Taking these risks is brave.
The PP reached agreements with the nationalists and today excludes them.
It is different to agree with CiU in 1996 than to do so after the process with ERC. There is a pause in 2017, when the parties of supposedly moderate nationalism, a term I question, raise an aggressive confrontation that necessarily ends up fracturing society. This deep irresponsibility is difficult to suture in a short time.
What solution does it propose?
You need to turn a page, but that doesn’t mean giving up because of the demands. The PSOE has made a qualitative leap with Sánchez in unacceptable moral terms and assumes the theses of radical nationalism. The PP does not deal with this. The PSOE should correct it and I hope it will.
Don’t you think that the situation will worsen in Catalonia if the PP governs with the support of Vox?
Nationalism always uses any element to appeal again to fear, to victimhood, on this it bases its social hegemony. They have been saying for 40 years that Catalan is persecuted, that this is an oppressed territory, a colony. It’s nonsense. They will return to the threat if they are not told yes to everything.
Is coexistence possible?
The Catalan issue needs relevance: we all need to understand the importance of Catalonia for Spain and the importance of Spain for Catalonia, but this does not mean accepting the nationalists’ theses. Just as Spain is diverse and plural, so is Catalonia. I don’t quite understand what income the PSOE gets from giving in so much to the nationalists instead of exploring the path of the grand coalition.
Would the PP support a PSC Government?
It would be a historic commitment. I have great respect for Salvador Illa and I prefer a government led by a socialist than a nationalist.
And what would you propose to do with Carles Puigdemont?
Let him surrender to justice and assume his responsibilities. We must not accept a three-way game for political interest.
No pardons?
It is not reasonable to pardon them so that they support you because of your stay in Moncloa.
Was this the real interest?
Sánchez’s decision was not inspired by noble goals. He demanded no repentance.
If so, how does he explain the good results of the PSC?
After the 2017 crisis, Catalan society is fed up with tension and is leaning towards less belligerent positions.
And isn’t that positive?
Non-belligerence with nationalism can bring dire consequences, give rise to another onslaught. I would like legitimate Catalanist parties to continue participating in the Spanish collective project, but this breaks the process: Junts per Catalunya cannibalizes historical Catalanism.
