The Secretary General of the PSOE and President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, on Sunday requested a vote for the progressive candidacy of Miguel Ángel Gallardo against the “two ballots that represent the involution” of Extremadura of the PP and Vox, after admitting that “errors may have been made” in reference to cases of corruption and sexual harassment in his party.
Sánchez, who predicted in Cáceres that Gallardo would open “a new stage” for Extremadura, recognized the harshness of the political situation, asking: “Since when have we socialists had it easy?”
“We are not living in easy times,” said Pedro Sánchez, who reminded PSOE founder Pablo Iglesias and his generation, “that every time they took a step, they risked their freedom and even their lives to always defend, without retreating, the well-being and rights of the majority of ordinary people.”
In his speech, Pedro Sánchez defended the need to fight for the idea of equality: “The idea is very clear, our passion for equality, with all its consequences, in all its derivatives.” The socialist leader assured that his party has “a goal” and that “all the social conquests” have come “from the Socialist Party” both in Extremadura and in Spain, after recognizing that “we will have made mistakes, like everyone else”.
Sánchez recalled that the PSOE is a feminist party and recalled the law promoted by the government to make anti-harassment protocols mandatory in political parties.
The Secretary General of the PSOE also referred in his speech to the interview with the President of the Episcopal Conference this Sunday in La Vanguardia, in which he proposed three options for Spanish politics: motion of censure, motion of confidence or electoral advancement. Sánchez said he found it “curious” that “when the right governs, it is not said that the elections will be brought forward, nor that there will be a motion of censure, nor that there will be a motion of confidence.”
Sánchez spoke directly to Luis Argüello to tell him that “there is a fourth option”: “respect the electoral result even if you do not like it”. After that, he also offered to run for office alongside Christian lawyers and added that “the days of bishops meddling in politics ended with the advent of democracy in this country”, which drew applause from the audience who rose to their feet.
“The Spanish men and women are praised by this government,” said Sánchez, who defended pension increases in accordance with the CPI, scholarships for young people, increases in the interprofessional minimum wage, paternity leave or for victims of gender violence “to have a feminist government that does not back down.” “Of course,” he exclaimed, amid cries of “President, president!”
At another point in his speech, Sánchez went so far as to declare that “Thank God we govern”, after listing some of the crises his governments have faced, referring to the La Palma volcano, the energy crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic or the “two wars”. “Thank God we governed in such a way that when the pandemic arrived, instead of having EREs in companies, there were ERTEs,” said the President of the Government, who defended that his policy “re-industrializes the country”.
Sánchez defended that governing “is an honor” and “showing your face”; “be tough and tough” and face the problems he faced with the government of Mariano Rajoy, whom he said played “the ostrich” in the face of problems. “This attitude of facing debates, of proposing solutions, of choosing the truth even if it hurts and of facing situations even if they are difficult, makes us better as a party. The government does too, and that makes Spain a much better country than the one we inherited,” he added.
The socialist politician stressed that the PSOE acts “strongly” in the face of cases of harassment or corruption, unlike the PP, due to its “connivance” with the cases in question. “We are the first to put this protocol in place and we are doing it with force and transparency. The same thing is happening with corruption, which is a betrayal of the Socialist Party and our principles. We are acting with force and uprooting this matter, while on the right, what we see is collusion,” he criticized.
“Have we forgotten that Mr. Feijóo is president of the Popular Party because Mr. Casado denounced Ms. Ayuso’s corruption and that it was Mr. Feijóo’s connivance that brought him to the head of the Popular Party?” Sánchez exclaimed, after which he insisted: “But what lessons will they give us! »
“Yes, it is worth governing in complex circumstances, because it is profitable for the Spaniards for the Socialist Party to govern with this progressive government coalition,” Sánchez insisted, even if the cost of living “has increased,” to which he recognized that the government’s economic measures are not “sufficient.”
“We already know that this is not enough, because this wonderful State that we have also requires the commitment of the autonomous governments,” said the leader of the PSOE, who recalled the deliveries of economic resources from the Executive to the autonomous communities for education, health or social services and that the PP “delivers to the elites” or to private health.
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