Alejandro Fernández imposes his plan to control the PP: "Our lives depend on it"

BarcelonaThe most common thing in the political parties of democratic countries is that there are votes in the governing bodies with a periodicity that usually lasts four years. In the Catalan PP, however, this has not been the case. A four-year extension has allowed Alejandro Fernández to accumulate two terms in one: he was elected in 2018 in Sitges, but the party did not convene the congress planned for 2022. Four years late and despite multiple challenges and public clashes with the state leadership of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, he has managed to survive and this Saturday is the day of his re-election at the sixteenth congress of the party, in an enthronement led by Feijóo at the Hotel Grand Marina in Barcelona. Furthermore, he has managed to impose his entire plan thanks to Feijóo's full approval, but according to the Catalan politician, this has been done "from unity".

Alejandro Fernández announced in his speech before being formally re-elected that the current spokesperson in Parliament, Juan Fernández, will be the party's secretary general and that the alejandrist Lorena Roldán will become spokesperson in the Catalan chamber. A key move, as he wished, because Roldán is the deputy most loyal to the Catalan leader, while Juan Fernández does not pose a barrier to him as he maintains fluid communication with him. The main tug-of-war in recent days has been in the general secretariat to replace Santi Rodríguez. There have been upheavals and alternatives to Juan Fernández, the preferred option for Alejandro Fernández, such as appointing the deputy mayor of Castelldefels David Solé, the right-hand man of mayor Manu Reyes, as a third way, had been considered. In the end, however, the Catalan leader's plan has worked out perfectly for his interests and the internal balances have been reflected in the leadership.

The party's brain, Juan Milián, will continue in strategic coordination within the Catalan leadership, while Solé arrives in the vice-secretariat of territorial policy, in a preliminary step to become a deputy in the future. The councilor from Sant Cugat and a staunch "alejandrista" Alfredo Bergua will be in charge of the key organization area, while the chief of staff of the Barcelona councilor Daniel Sirera, Paris Grau, joins the leadership, as does former secretary general Daniel Serrano. In fact, Fernández has asked for an explicit round of applause for Serrano. A group of alejandristas has also joined, such as Fernández's chief of staff, Eduardo Bolaños, the councilor from Sant Feliu, Elisabet Ortega, or the councilor from Barberà del Vallès, Raúl Collbatallé, and the former president of Societat Civil Catalana, Fernando Sánchez Costa, has been consolidated. On the other hand, deputy Hugo Manchón, close to MEP Dolors Montserrat, has joined.

"Newspaper chronicles say it is the most peaceful congress in history," Alejandro Fernández began his speech. In any case, he made an appeal for "unity," which he said was "essential": "If there were open wounds, they are more than closed; if I offended anyone, I apologize here; if anyone offended me, I swear I don't remember," he asserted, with a call for harmony. In fact, he praised the Spanish secretary general, Miguel Tellado, for "achieving a unity that had not been achieved for a very long time." He made a plea for affiliation with the PP and not with Convergència, and asked to "lead change in Spain from Catalonia with Alberto Núñez Feijóo." "Our lives, the nation, and the future of all Spaniards are at stake." Tellado spurred him on, calling him the "best leader" and attacked "all the corruption in the world" surrounding the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez. But with a key mission: "Nothing will be possible without the PP of Catalonia."

With his re-election, Fernández will be able to far surpass the tenure of Alícia Sánchez-Camacho in the party, who, with her nine years as president, had been the leader with the most years in office – the current leader has accumulated almost eight, and in a year she would surpass her and could reach twelve if there are no changes. However, her political influence is minimal in Catalonia – she does not condition government action – unlike that of Camacho in the first government of Artur Mas or the also former popular president Alberto Fernández Díaz in the final stretch of Jordi Pujol.

From maximum instability to calm

In the summer of 2023, Alejandro Fernández declared an all-out war on the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and rejected any contact or meeting with Junts – also any regionalist approach or attempt. At that time, the state leadership had written him off as the leader of the Catalan PP, and was counting down the hours to a replacement that was postponed to avoid an all-out battle at a congress. The struggle continued, but in March 2024, surprisingly, Feijóo discarded other politicians he had sounded out, did not cut off his head, and presented him as a candidate for the Catalan elections. In April of last year, Fernández took a step further in a forceful book against the state leadership, in which he resumed the war, demanding autonomy – his own – for the Catalan PP and criticizing Madrid's position historically. Still in 2025, he stood his ground at the Spanish PP congress to veto pacts with Junts, although he eventually conceded with a generic wording on constitutional values.

In any case, in recent months, however, he has managed to soften relations with the state leadership, with fluid contact with Tellado, and between this, the good results of 2024, and the fact that no one wants to challenge him for the throne, Fernández has achieved the prize of a democratic extension as party president.

A leadership with too many casualties

"Hardliners and moderates end up living the same problems and the same fate: political defenestration." This is what Fernández denounced from the current state leadership and all previous ones in his book A calzón quitao, which surprised Feijóo's team. "The national leadership imposes everything," he lamented. He became regional president in November 2018 with the blessing of Pablo Casado. His executive, however, underwent changes as months passed. Of the leadership appointed in 2018, only Juan Milián remained. Maritxu Hervás was out three years later, General Secretary Daniel Serrano was also out due to an accusation of sexual assault – which came to nothing –, Albert Fernández Saltiveri was dismissed for an accusation of mistreatment of his partner and PP leader – he was also not convicted –; and Àngels Esteller was out, as were Marisa Xandri and Manu Reyes. And Antonio Gallego, who was organizational secretary, went to Vox.

After the setback in the 2021 Catalan elections, with the historic low of three deputies, Santi Rodríguez entered as general secretary to restore order – and to replace Serrano–. Llanos de Luna joined the leadership, alongside the leader in Sant Feliu de Llobregat City Council Elisabet Ortega, the absent Isaac Martín Salvá, and Marcos Sánchez, who resigned after being caught up in the scandal of personal invoices of 61,000 euros as expenses to be borne by the party in his position as councilor, which he also ended up leaving. Rodríguez had already been secretary in the turbulent year of Xavier García Albiol as president, from 2017 to 2018.