Manfred Weber and Pedro Sánchez were in Catalonia yesterday warming up for the last hundred meters of the campaign. Warming to which BBVA’s senior management also contributed by announcing a hostile takeover bid for Banco Sabadell. Madrid DF couldn’t miss the appointment. Madrid DF never misses the meeting when it is decided, discussed and voted on the distribution of power in Spain.
The president of the European People’s Party visited Barcelona yesterday in support of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the party that runs the risk of falling behind Vox in Sunday’s elections, at least in number of votes. If this were to happen, it would be bad news for Feijóo’s leadership. Six months of unprecedented agitation on the occasion of the Amnesty law, five consecutive demonstrations in Madrid since October (Plaza de Felipe II, Puerta del Sol, Cibeles, Temple of Debod and Plaza d’Espanya), should not have served to neutralize Vox.
In Catalonia, Vox can resist by executing future acrobatic flights with Aliança Catalana, the extreme right of Catalan national obedience that is fighting to enter Parliament. Núñez Feijóo is worried about Sunday’s results, because the European elections on June 9 come immediately after and the numbers are not clear.
In order to heal himself and not repeat the mistakes made in July last year, Narciso Michavila, an electoral analyst widely listened to by the right, declared last week that there could be a tie between the PP and the PSOE in the European elections. “The letter went very well for Sánchez, despite the criticism. At the moment I don’t rule out a draw on points in the Europeans”, he declared to the Cope station.
Falling behind Vox in Catalonia and tying with the PSOE in the European elections would be a bad road for the Galician politician, who has just found himself well in Madrid. Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Miguel Ángel Rodríguez have not thrown in the towel, as was perfectly clear on May Day. Everything is at stake in Spanish politics. All. That is why Manfred Weber visited Barcelona yesterday.
Weber needs a good result from the Spanish PP in June, to compensate for the predictable weakness of the forces attached to the PPE in Italy (Forza Italia) and France (The Republicans). In addition, he has pending accounts with Sánchez, since in July 2019 he was unable to obtain the presidency of the European Commission due to the veto of France and Spain.
Yesterday, Weber described Sánchez as a “showman” for his letter of a husband in love and for the suspense of the five days of April. Feijóo resorted to another style last week, when he compared the president of the Spanish government to Franco. Feijóo is using the trapeze these days and Weber used the telescopic sight yesterday, since the five days of April have weakened Sánchez in European politics. They have weakened it in the superstructural plan and may have strengthened it in the short term electorally, as Michavila supposes.
Sánchez has decided to have a double closing day in Catalonia. He wants to mobilize voters in the metropolitan area of ??Barcelona and is doing particularly well in Catalonia, which is under less pressure. Last week he extended his stay in Barcelona on his own initiative, after the surprise visit to the Feria de Abril in Sant Adrià del Besòs.
Weber-Sánchez will be the fight in June.
