Alejandro Fernández: "I have no doubt that Aliança will end up eating Junts"

Alejandro Fernández (Tarragona, 1976) feels strengthened at the helm of the PP of Catalonia and has left behind his differences with Alberto Núñez Feijóo.Can you explain to us what the PP's position is regarding the war in Iran?

— I refuse to simplify debates and I don't know any sadist who is in favor of war by definition. The issue is that we are facing the alteration of the world order established after World War II. The United States has abandoned the Truman Doctrine, by which it guaranteed the security of Europe, and has replaced it with the Monroe Doctrine, which is classic isolationism. That said, it is evident that what Trump has done goes against international law.

Therefore, are you against it?

— Look what a contentious issue it is that Pedro Sánchez himself, who champions the "No to war", has sent a frigate to fulfill his commitments with NATO.

It is a frigate that is sent to Cyprus for defensive purposes.

— It doesn't matter, John Lennon isn't singing Imagine with a guitar there. It's a war frigate with weaponry. If the PP had done this, they would say the government is participating in the war. Therefore, I'm sorry, but no demagoguery. Our position is that Spain, as a member of NATO, must provide support for the strategic security needs of the Mediterranean and, on the other hand, must publicly denounce that it cannot support an action of these characteristics that is outside international law, and this is what Feijóo has done.

Therefore, would you have done the same as Pedro Sánchez, not ceding the Spanish bases as a platform to attack Iran?

— This is partially untrue because Trump said two days later that they were indeed using them. I believe that in Pedro Sánchez's case, what there is is posturing. His "No to war" is posturing.

And what should I have done, according to you? Deny the use of the bases completely?

— I am not the Minister of Defense of Spain. What I tell you is that we defend international order and we defend our obligations in NATO. This is the position of the PP and we are not moving from here.

Do you remember if you were in favor of the Iraq War in 2003?

— Yes, I was in favor. And I was in favor, among other things, because I considered that Aznar's Atlantic bet was adequate.

And seen in perspective? There is a certain consensus that that invasion turned out to be a geostrategic catastrophe.

— But it is spoken as if the previous situation were idyllic. I can assure you that the number of deaths compared to the era of Saddam Hussein was much lower.

¿Therefore, do you defend the invasion of Iraq and the subsequent management?

— You just asked me a question and I, at the time, as I was a councilor in the Tarragona City Council, positioned myself in favor of what Aznar did.

And how do you value the figure of Donald Trump?

— It is not the Republican Party that I have always liked. Reagan is my favorite politician, and Trump is the complete opposite. Isolationism and protectionism. I am in favor of free trade.

Don't you like Trump, but you do like Javier Milei?

— Javier Milei said he had reincarnated in his dog and that's not my style. I like Reagan and Adenauer, evidently Milei is neither Reagan nor Adenauer. But I think the chainsaw theory is very accurate. Peronism had generated a situation of absolute decadence in Argentina with a policy that is pure left-wing. And I believe that Catalonia also needs a chainsaw.

Trump and Milei are references for Vox. ¿Does the PP have difficulties finding international references?

— I connect a lot with Meloni.

That also comes from the far right.

— Yes, it comes from there, but I think she has been able to create a synthesis between traditional European cultural values, Christian humanism, and a liberal economic policy that I find very attractive. And I have not found any statement from her that offends a sector of her population. I like Meloni a lot.

What is Alejandro Fernández's recipe for relating to Vox?

— The first thing you have to do is self-criticism. What has happened to the European liberal conservative right? I believe that a part of the right has indiscriminately swallowed the woke agenda, the progressive 2030 agenda, and its social base has not swallowed it. The whole issue of the environment, gender equality, historical memory, or in general this idea that right-wing parties have to be like social democrats. Sorry, but no. This was a mistake.

And what would be their differences with Vox?

— Beginning, very many. The first is the Constitution. We are constitutionalists.

And Vox no?

— They say they want to get rid of the entire regional system. Therefore, this is not being very constitutionalist.

And other differences?

— For example, what they call the principle of national priority, we do not defend it. We understand that, at the moment a person is working and is legal, you cannot deny them social assistance because of their origin. Because what is the next step? Starting to analyze surnames or consanguinity? They are one thing and we are another, but I also tell you that I have no qualms about reaching agreements with them.

And on the issue of euthanasia and the right to die with dignity?

— I am totally against euthanasia and in favor of life. And I don't know what the PP will do when they govern, but if they ask for my opinion, I am against this law.

Did you expect an independence party to emerge that was openly xenophobic like Catalan Alliance?

— It is an absolutely predictable phenomenon and in line with the European and Spanish approach. Not only is it predictable, but in a short time it is most likely that they will completely devour Junts.

So, what Vox has not achieved with the PP, do you think Aliança Catalana will achieve with Junts?

— I have no doubt. And why? Because in the end, when you are not yourself, this happens to you. Junts' great drama is that it has betrayed the entire convergent ideology, in detail. If you present yourself as anti-establishment and radical, it is absolutely natural that someone who is genuinely anti-establishment and radical from the outset will come and take your place.

Do you miss Convergence?

— I, as I am not convergent, see more negative things than positive. But I have always explained that I was deputy mayor with Joan Miquel Nadal in Tarragona and vice-president of the Diputación with Josep Poblet. And I always say that I had many, many differences, but they were people who complied with the legal system and who addressed people who did not think like them with respect. For me, this is fundamental. I never heard them talk about colones or nyordos.

Have you reconciled with Alberto Núñez Feijóo yet?

— It's just that we never fight.

At the beginning of his term at the helm of the PP, at some point it seemed that Feijóo was flirting with the idea of approaching Junts. And were you very critical of him? In the end, has he come around to your position?

— You would have to ask him. I, with the authority that negotiating with convergents and socialists in Tarragona gives me, maintain the idea that you cannot negotiate with someone who includes illegal things in their program. It's a red line.

Therefore, would you reach an agreement with the PSC before Junts?

— This is a question from a skillful journalist but it is irrelevant, because the PSC has made it very clear that it wants nothing to do with the PP. Today the scenario is very clear. The PSC is pure sanchismo.

Not only that. You have said that Mr. Salvador Illa is a Marxist with a tie.

— The expression came from housing policy. For me, housing policy is of Marxist inspiration, and as was foreseeable, the effects are exactly the opposite of what was intended.

Would you say the Process has finished?

— No, the Process has mutated. It's a different thing. I believe the short-term goal is no longer immediately independence, but rather a change in the form of state towards a kind of multinational confederation.

I say this because there are also people in his party who still claim today, for example, that ETA is still alive.

— No, I don't know anyone from the party who says that, only Jaime Mayor Oreja, who is not affiliated with the PP. But I tell you one thing. When Mr. Jaime Mayor Oreja said that Batasuna, without condemning terrorism, would end up being a priority partner of the Socialist Party, he was right. Therefore, I believe that, at the very least, he should be listened to.

Are you happy as president of the PP of Catalonia to have made Jaume Collboni mayor of Barcelona?

— At that moment, it was the only possible way. If Mr. Trias had not signed that separatist agreement with ERC, it is likely that the scenario would have been different.

When will there be a congress of the Popular Party of Catalonia?

— Some day soon. We need to look at the election calendar.

Is the party united?

— I believe that there is no political party that is a bed of roses, but right now the People's Party of Catalonia is living a sweet stage in terms of results, atmosphere, future projection, and political project.