Although Galicia has so far been a virtually impregnable PP stronghold for the left, after the surprise of the general elections, when the polls failed miserably and left Alberto Núñez Feijóo without the majority needed to reach Moncloa , all caution is too little, must have thought Alfonso Rueda, who yesterday gathered all the barons of his party to give himself momentum in the race to be ratified as president of the Xunta.
The leader of the Galician PP has a revalidation on February 18 in which his political mentor also plays for him, so that both he and Feijóo, with a parallel campaign agenda, will go all out to materialize an absolute majority at the polls which, as of now, the polls predict.
In an example of the importance for the PP of the Galician elections, preamble to the plebiscite on the Government of Pedro Sánchez in which it intends to turn the European elections in June, Rueda, who is making his debut as a candidate in Galicia after Feijóo’s four absolute majorities, he was surrounded by the presidents of the Valencian Community, Castilla y León, Murcia, Aragon, Extremadura and the Balearic Islands, with the Andalusian Juanma Moreno sitting to his left and, to his right, Isabel Díaz Ayuso from Madrid.
In the closing speech of the event, held in a packed A Coruña Congress and Exhibition Hall, Rueda thanked his colleagues for their support, who had been full of praise for his management at the head of the Xunta: “We will build Spain from Galicia with all of you”, he proclaimed.
“Galicia is a land of open doors, with a lot of identity. We are proud to be who we are: our model is to be Galician and feel deeply Spanish, and this will also be discussed on February 18. Indeed, we will talk about this too”, assumed the Galician leader, who predicted in this way that the autonomous campaign will have a clear state dimension due to the “nationalist blackmail” to which the Spanish Government is subjected.
“We continue to build bridges where some want to establish artificial borders. We continue to lend a hand to the rest of Spain”, continued Rueda, for whom the differences between the territories must not undermine the equality of all Spanish citizens.
So, he confronted the “sentidiño” (equivalent to Catalan common sense) that defends the PP with the “dumb” nationalism of the BNG, the second force, in front of the socialists, in the Galician Parliament, and, as an example of this friendly diversity , he alternated between Spanish and Galician, the language in which he criticized the actions of the Spanish Executive in the environmental crisis caused by the dumping of plastic pellets on the coast of Galicia: “I want to ask for applause for the courage of seafarers. Galicia tastes like the sea. Long live the people of the sea”, he exclaimed amid the cheers of the attendees.
“We will raze you”, Ayuso had warned both socialists and “Yolandistas”, which is how he defined the space led by Vice President Yolanda Díaz. “This is especially true of Spain, we need you and we will accompany you from the capital region”, assured the president of the Community of Madrid in case there were any doubts about the state key of 18-F.
In a much more relaxed tone by contrast, Moreno showed off the milestones attributed to him since he has been at the head of the Junta de Andalucía and related them to the model of the PP in Galicia: “Let’s copy everything that the Xunta does well “, he affirmed.
