“Where is the leader of the opposition?, Where is the Socialist candidate for the Junta?, Where is the person who represents the PSOE in the main political debate in Andalusia? The first day of debate on the state of society in the Andalusian Parliament. The person mentioned is the First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Hacienda, Deputy Secretary General of the PSOE, Secretary General of the PSOE and candidate for the presidency of the Junta, María Jesús Montero.
Where was Montero that day? In Madrid, in Congress, he defends from the podium the setting of deficit and public deficit targets for the year 2026. Recently, the Andalusian president must ask in one of his interventions “Why does the Socialist candidate not appear on the second day of the debate”. Montero was closer to the headquarters of the Andalusian Parliament. In the Spanish town of Libriga during the delivery of Reconocimientos Menina Andalucía 2025. There was a message from the organization’s former secretary José Luis Abalos, who was imprisoned the day before: “Ni el Gobierno ni el PSOE se va aa dejar to blackmail por nadie,” he said.
When socialists ask the same question, it raises some concern. Some argue that they should have a more Andalusian agenda, but they also show absolute respect for Montero’s decision to focus on formulating the general assumptions of the state to present only this time to Congress and to develop a proposal to reform the autonomous financing system. There are no guarantees, quite the contrary, that both proposals will be approved. Socialist Workers Party sources admit that Montero seeks, through both projects, to present strong “electoral” proposals for the Andalusian elections. Moreno decided today that it will be celebrated in “seven or eight months.”
“It is difficult to reconcile” the government administration with Moreno’s opposition, confirms many socialist sources, who admit that “above all, the question of independent financing poses difficulties for the party in Andalusia.” The agreement between the European Council for Reform and the Peace Council to approve unique financing for Catalonia and to incorporate the principle of ordinality (communities should receive resources in proportion to what they contribute to the common fund) comes as the biggest surprise to the Andalusian socialists, because it raises their contradictions.
In 2018, the Andalusian Parliament approved the proposal that Monteiro, the farm’s official, rejected this ordination criterion because it “could jeopardize the principle of justice.” The popularity followed the newspaper library as it was rejected by the incumbent Socialist candidate, as well as the leaders of the Socialist Workers’ Party who then stated that they would “never” and “never” be included in the future model.
Now, the position of the Socialist Workers Party in this regard is not clear. It’s in the profile, but Nadi admits he details what comes out of the “hacienda bunker.” In public appearances, the Socialists have avoided speaking out, and today they abstained from voting on the resolution proposed by Adelante Andalusia rejecting ordinalism. There was also a vote against another similar resolution from the People’s Party. What was “jamas” a few years ago has now turned into “we’ll see”.
The absence of the General Secretariat of the Andalusian Socialist Workers Party from the demonstrations in defense of public health, against the backdrop of Amma’s denunciations of his fall into the hands of breast cancer victims, also surprised the leaders of the trade union movement. “Montero, why aren’t you?” said collective leaders at the recent demonstration in Seville. About 56,000 demonstrators gathered in the streets last November in the Andalusian capitals, according to government department data.
Montero, who was also counsel to the Board of Health, did not assist in this or any other previous case because he decided it that way. He did not want to be at the forefront, nor did he want to be accused of politicizing the demonstrations, according to Socialist Party sources. It also avoids focusing on the alleged corruption conspiracy in the Mascarilla case in Almeria that affected the Popular Party, because it raises questions in the opposite direction about the alleged issues revolving around the Prime Minister and the Socialist Workers Party, as happened today.
A PSOE spokesperson confirmed that “María Jesús Montero retaining her position in Madrid is a strategic decision with which the entire party leadership agrees. This matter has been analyzed and decided upon.” In this solid core, there is no contradiction in this regard, even outside this circle, there are other opinions base, although at present no one dares to raise their voice. According to this analysis, her position as vice president and minister of the Hacienda region had “positive returns for Andalusia and the party, because she had a presence that could not be the case here.” Another source confirms that everything is measured “in terms of influence and potential, as the vice president and the secretary are brutal.”
The candidate, according to what she said several times, will not leave her positions in the executive authority – except in accordance with an opinion contrary to Pedro Sanchez – as she said that President Moreno will dismiss Parliament, and this is what was decided 54 days before the elections. There is a fantasy at the regional headquarters in San Vicente that has only happened before, but for another reason: that Pedro Sánchez will call general elections in March. The same interlocutor who expresses this desire acknowledges its improbability: “Not if I’m dreaming.” The socialists want this coincidence because they believe the movement benefits them: in the 2023 general election they received almost half a million more votes than they did in the June 2022 election.
Moreno’s questions about the absence of his socialist rival in Andalusia will be more. Today, they placed on a tray the Deputy Secretary General of the Socialist Party of Workers and spokesperson for the Socialist Group, María Márquez, while she was absent from the plenary session with the Deputy Spokesperson, Ángeles Ferrez, and the intervention leader of the Popular Group Spokesperson, Toni Martin. They remained absent when the Andalusian president came to respond and closed the discussion.
Moreno gives the sensation of a body search with Montero in a sensitive moment for him because of the Cribados crisis, the case that conceals the martyrdom of his Sostenibilidad Council and the former Deputy Health Councilor, Catalina García, before the judge investigating emergency health contracts. “In this case, the most important thing is the absence of Montero’s spokesman, who is absent from the discussion,” says Moreno. “It is impossible to have the number of the PSOE, the government and the Secretariat. It is a disdain for Andalusia.” When the Andalusian president intervened, Márquez and Ferrez returned to their hideouts. The PP bench gave them a huge applause.