Feijóo: "Spain does not need an 'influencer' but someone who knows how to govern"

MadridAlberto Núñez Feijóo addressed his supporters this Monday to set the party's course in the pre-campaign following the railway accident in Toledo. From now on, "management" becomes the central message of the PP. It is the word that was written on the lectern from which he spoke and was the axis of his speech, in which he positioned himself as the guarantor of a Spanish government that acts with "rigor" and based on "experience." "I claim seriousness, which is a form of respect," he emphasized. The leader of the Popular Party thus distanced himself from the "frivolity" he attributes to Pedro Sánchez and also from the "arrogance" of Santiago Abascal, who, unlike the PP president and the rest of the candidates for 29-N, did not interrupt the pre-campaign during the days of mourning for the tragedy on the high-speed line that has left at least 69 victims dead. "Spain does not need an influencer at the head of its institutions. It needs someone who wants to govern and knows how to. I do know how," he defended.

Sources from the party's leadership consider that this is the framework with which they can stand out in relation to their electoral rivals both on the left and on the right. "In management, neither Abascal nor Sánchez will surpass us," they argue in Génova, where even before the accident they had detected in their internal polls a significant transfer of votes from the PSOE towards them, of around 8%. Although they do not have updated data, they point out that it is expected to grow even more after the railway accident. Relevant voices of the party from other territories also consider that it will have an "important impact" and will translate into a "punishment vote for the PSOE." "It is more important to be serious than to know how to dance," they underline in the same line as Feijóo. Although the tragedy has meant having to redo the agenda and the pre-campaign message, in Génova they maintain that the strategic shake-up is less severe for them than for other parties because their line was already to bet on an "institutional tone" and focus on "management."

At the entrance of the meeting of the PP's executive committee, the party's highest body between congresses, attended by some regional presidents, the message was unanimous. "Bad management puts lives at risk [...]. We need a Feijóo government," said the Castilian-Leonese Alfonso Fernández Mañueco. The Murcian Fernando López Miras also defended that on 29-N what the Spanish people will have to judge is "the management." The candidate for Barcelona and mayor of Badalona, Xavier García Albiol, argued that the "reckless statements" about closing the high-speed rail line between Madrid and the Catalan capital are also a demonstration that the Spanish government "is lost" and "has no idea." In this sense, Feijóo has asked his candidates and the party leaders to explain "what they want power for." "To manage our country and for it to be what it once was [...]. Others are the ones who have treated it as a joke," he stated.

One more step in the attack on Sánchez

The popular leader has raised the tone against Sánchez and the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, who this Tuesday will appear before the standing committee of Congress. "It is no longer just evident that they are not good managers, but I also doubt that they are good people, because this attitude is infamous, cruel and mean," he stressed. Feijóo wanted to distance himself from the politics of "spectacle", of "announcements", of "high decibels" and of "headlines", which he believes is "devastating" Spain, and he called for "national reconstruction". "I know how to create budgets, I know how to comply with them, I know how to work for public services," he insisted.

This week, Feijóo will focus on giving interviews and informative meetings in Madrid, and will not resume massive political events until next weekend. On Saturday he will hold his first rally since the accident in Valladolid, which is precisely the constituency for which Puente is running with the PSOE, whom the PP has criticized so much not only for the management of the railway network but also for his profile as an influencer on social media.