Feijóo, on negotiating with Puigdemont in Waterloo? "We are talking about serious things"

Barcelona / MadridThe Secretary General of Junts, Jordi Turull, has challenged Alberto Núñez Feijóo to meet with Carles Puigdemont in Waterloo if he wants to convince the party to join an instrumental motion of no confidence to bring down Pedro Sánchez and call elections. "If he has a serious offer, serious things are explained in meetings, and he [Feijóo] knows that meetings with Junts, with the highest leadership [...], must be held in Waterloo," he told El matí de Catalunya Ràdio. The proposal caught Feijóo at the Cercle d'Economia, but he did not want to explicitly respond to Turull's request. The popular leader once again defended the motion of no confidence, but warned: "I am not coming to ask for favors nor to give them away."

While the Junts members know that Feijóo will hardly take the step of traveling to Waterloo to meet with the former president in exile, Turull has not ruled out joining an initiative by the popular party, which would also include Vox, to put an end to the legislature. The Junts leader argued that, given the onslaught of judicial cases that are splashing the PSOE, it is the Spanish president who should call elections. It would be the "quickest and easiest" option, he said, but he opened the door to seeking an alternative.

However, he insisted that the details of the popular party's offer must be known, which Feijóo summarized this Monday on Telecinco as "decency and elections." "We need to know if he is serious or not, what he means by an instrumental [motion], what period...", Turull said. And he reiterated that this motion offer should not be made through the media, but in meetings with his party and, specifically, with its leader, Puigdemont. "If he has something serious to explain, he should ask to see us," he concluded, emphasizing that, from the outset, they would not be satisfied with an emissary from Feijóo.

"With help or without"

"We are talking about serious matters," Feijóo said upon leaving the Cercle d'Economia, when journalists directly asked him about Turull's words. The message also did not clarify how far the PP is willing to go to move forward with this motion of no confidence, but according to the words he uttered during his speech at the Cercle, the PP will not cross lines that are red for the party, such as reaching an agreement with independence supporters or meeting with Carles Puigdemont. The popular leader has committed to returning "decency" to Spain, but has warned that he is not willing to do so through "shortcuts" that involve "stirring consciences."

In other words, Feijóo would be willing to move forward with a motion of no confidence if Junts agrees, but if they do not do so without imposing conditions, they will wait for Pedro Sánchez to call elections – for now, the Spanish president has no intention of advancing the state elections, scheduled for next year. "I can guarantee that I will return decency to my country, with or without help," Feijóo added. "I am very clear that the moment is so delicate that it advises against unreflective reflections," he added. In this regard, he thanked the "advice" he receives and added that he will continue to act "with composure and responsibility" and following his "convictions."

After at the weekend Sánchez vowed to resist in Moncloa, Feijóo proposed this Monday that Junts and the PNB join forces for an instrumental motion to bring down the coalition government, besieged by alleged corruption around the PSOE, and call elections "immediately." The opposition leader, in fact, expressed confidence in the possibility of his proposal moving forward. "It seems there is some movement, I am optimistic: from Vox to the PNB, including Junts, UPN and Coalición Canaria," he said.

The spokesperson for the Spanish government, Elma Saiz, has described the PP leader's attitude as "cynical" and "desperate," recalling that the popular party is against the "diversity" represented by Euskadi or Catalonia. "The PP has always attacked self-government agreements," she said at the press conference after the Council of Ministers, referring, for example, to the official status of Catalan in the European Union. Moncloa, on the other hand, has "permanent dialogue" with the partners of the plurinational majority, she argued, even though both the PNB and Junts are calling for early elections because they do not see continuity in the legislature.

Feijóo's background reflection is that there are already 184 deputies in the Spanish lower house, eight more than necessary for an absolute majority, who support the call for early elections in the State. And he considers that both Junts and the PNB would agree to go hand in hand with Vox to achieve it, because it would be an instrumental maneuver that would not imply the direct entry of the far-right into the Spanish government. He insisted on this this Tuesday: "The theory must be put into practice." Feijóo has thus asked Sánchez's partners to prioritize "democratic responsibility" and not "political convenience" in view of the current situation of the State.

Vox's warning

Faced with Turull's proposal, Vox has distanced itself from Junts and the PNB and has warned that "no Spaniard would understand [Feijóo] going to Waterloo". "We absolutely want nothing to do with these people and have absolutely nothing to do with them," warned Vox's spokesperson in Congress, Pepa Millán, at a press conference. Millán urged the leader of the Popular Party to present a motion of no confidence "immediately" instead of feeding "artificial debates that amount to nothing", and showed willingness to support it if the initiative does not involve "any kind of concession to separatists" and entails an immediate call for elections.