The midterm debate in Congress concluded after nearly six hours. It has been difficult and tough in many moments, due to the relentless attacks of the PP and VOX against the government of Pedro Sánchez for corruption, and due to the multiple and varied warnings from almost all the usual partners, but the legislature continues. This strange mandate continues despite Junz’s declarations about banning all kinds of projects and initiatives, despite the threats of the more extreme exhaustion of Podemos and the more moderate dire warnings of the PNV, the ERC, the Canary Alliance or the BNG. Nothing is over. A hypothetical motion of no-confidence from the right and far-right has not been announced, nor has the president been given a vote of confidence or an electoral lead. The president confronted the leader of the PP, Alberto Nuñez Viejo, over his commitment to public services in the face of cuts, privatization and mismanagement of the PP barons in their autonomous regions. “Don’t depend on me at all,” Feijóo stated.
At the end of the morning, after more than five hours of frantic interventions, British National Police spokesman Nestor Rigo admitted that they were encountering a look that was at least “curious.” Debate on so many topical issues (international summits, corruption, parliamentary instability, quality of public services) was so scheduled and at a specific time (mid-term) that it could be used for almost anything, which it did.
The President thus issued a preliminary 60 Minutes speech in which he avoided any self-criticism regarding the situations and problems threatening his government and the Socialist Workers’ Party and made a point of confronting his ideological model of millionaire support for public services, especially in health and education, to show that despite the transfer of more than 300 thousand million euros during the seven years of his term to all autonomous communities, the top PP barons in those areas did not know how to manage it well. They launched a plan to dismantle it and promote its privatization. Sanchez also made Figo “co-responsible” for that strategy. He then scorned Figo’s “destructive” and useless opposition and asserted that, despite his parliamentary shortcomings, he had a “stable minority coalition government, functioning and progressing” in line with what is already happening in many European democracies around us. In the face of the corruption that his last two organizational secretaries in the Socialist Workers Party point out, the party president got away with listing all the plans to combat this scourge announced or implemented and, above all, the blame that persecutes the People’s Party due to its conviction and the presence of more than 30 cases still on trial.
As soon as the debate began in these terms, Figo felt challenged by Sánchez as “opposition leader of the PP” and demonstrated the degree of personal and political hostility to which the two leaders of the country’s most important parties had reached when he said in the notes of the session: “Do not count on me at all.” The PP president accused Sánchez of gradually deteriorating the country’s outlook until it placed it in a historic “moral crisis”, and there he pointed to the partners of the executive to rebuke the PNV and Junts very directly because they were “normalizing what is unacceptable”. Figo then depicted Spain losing in the worst poverty data, recounting the cases now affecting the PSOE, but peppering them with allusions to Sánchez’s deceased father-in-law, his brother and his wife, and unleashing a moment of laughter in the room when he promised that when he governed he would devote his first vice-president to the housing area. Some Socialist deputies said jokingly, amid general laughter, that “Abascal already has a portfolio.” In the chapter on Declarations and Promises, Feijóo presents another decision he would make if he reached La Moncloa: “I will not give pardon to you or to you.”
Vox leader Santiago Abascal called a government “mired in corruption” and waiting for Sánchez to “avoid prison,” but he was more ambiguous when he advised Figo not to start distributing ministries now so that what happened in the 2023 elections would not happen to him. For Abascal, who is now negotiating with the National People’s Party over the future of Valencia’s government after the final fall of Carlos Mazón, the popular parties are the same as the Socialist Workers’ Party, and they are together in Brussels and in Ceuta, and they have agreed to increase the number of Deputies in Castilla-La Mancha share the General Council of the Judiciary.
Sánchez’s usual remaining allies in Congress did not listen to him either, despite Vigo’s disdain. Somar’s spokeswoman, Veronica Martinez Barbero, reminded her coalition partner of the outstanding issues that should not be included under pressure on Palestine, housing, and the timeline for closing the nuclear plant. Gabriel Ruffian, of the ERC, insisted on these demands, but spent more time attacking Figo very harshly for his support of the “miserable Mazzone” this year and above all against the Junts, their interests and the counterclaims with which they are regularly accused of supporting this government “for nothing”.
The Juntes representative began and ended by ignoring Ruffian as PSOE spokesperson, reiterating her message in recent weeks after the collapse of her parliamentary support for Sánchez. His spokeswoman, Miriam Nogueras, asked Sánchez to appear explaining how he intends to continue in legislative power without his support, reiterated that the president “does not have a say, does not comply, and is only interested in power,” and again listed laws and initiatives that had been blocked in Parliament. Regarding the approved and controversial amnesty law granting amnesty to leaders Operations The independence movement did not mention anything.
Sánchez, later, responded to Juntes and others who had pointed out the apparent parliamentary instability, by admitting that he was not “impressed” by the reality of the current calculations in Congress either, but he assumed that this was what the Spaniards had decided on at the ballot box and emphasized that he was not willing to consult with them every time the PP and Vox asked for it. He also asked Juntes for a reasoning that has no return: “My group needs your votes, but your parliamentary group also needs our votes. Or will you negotiate with those who aspire to ban Catalanism and end your autonomy?” Yes, Sánchez demanded that the PP and VOX allow elections to be held now but in the Valencian Community.
For its part, EH Bildu, BNG, Podemos and Compromís, from the mixed group, expressed their regret for not taking advantage of this critical moment in the Legislative Council to reset everything and launch more courageous measures in different areas, but especially in the field of housing. Ione Pillara, of Podemos, even listed six points to “frustrate the right and the far right” that resonated more with the PP and Vox than with Sánchez. The PNV had been warning for some time about the dire state of the “theatrical and circus” that the Cortes had become, even drawing attention to the fact that progress was being made in terms of its bilateral agreements “but not as much as it should be.” Cristina Valledo, of the Canary Islands Coalition, tried in vain to impose some order on the controversial chaos, but ended up assuming that she would leave the debate without a motion of censure, a question of confidence, or a snap election.
Feijóo called Sánchez “tertuliano” and identified him as the presenter of a morning magazine on TVE or some news program about their regional separation. Abascal called him a “moderate cardinal” because the president referred to papal rule. Ruffian was tempted to go further and imagine TVE controlled by PP and Vox with Bertin Osborne at the helm of the news programme, now hosted by Pippa Bueno, and Andalusian singer José Manuel Soto replacing David Broncano at Revolution. Ruffian finally challenged Viggo to clarify whether he had said he was the first to speak to Mazzone on the night of the Dana disaster and whether he had advised him not to request a declaration of emergency. Figo did not clarify the matter, but what he indicated in his speech was that he spoke “first” from Sanchez that night to Mazzone and had visited the area before.
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