Sánchez brings the pre-campaign to Catalonia and asks for a "broad majority" to stop PP and Vox

TarragonaPedro Sánchez brought the pre-campaign for November 29th to Catalonia this Saturday. The Spanish Prime Minister and leader of the PSOE landed in Tarragona to call for a "broad majority" that would allow them to curb the aspirations of the PP and Vox to reach the Spanish government. "If we vote in mass, we send Feijóo and Abascal home," shouted Sánchez. However, despite being in Catalonia, the Spanish Prime Minister made no specific reference to any of the issues he opened during his term, such as the amnesty or regional financing (which has become a dead letter). The socialist leader wanted his speech to be focused on a national level and once again appealed to the choice of a progressive government against the "far-right international" that he believes the PP and Vox represent in Spain.

In fact, the socialist leader warned that if Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago Abascal were in the Spanish government, the State would end up being governed by countries like the USA or Russia: "We will not be the backyard of the far-right international." And, in this sense, he again championed the slogan that the socialists circulated on social networks a few weeks ago: "We are proud to be leftists." He reinforced this, moreover, with the stance of Pope Leo XIII against the far right and also with the singer Patti Smith, whom Sánchez called "the punk," and her People have the power that played at this Saturday's event in Tarragona.

To confront the policies of the right and the far right, Sánchez poked at the debate the PP has opened in this pre-campaign regarding the right to abortion. The socialist leader believes that November 29th is also about defending "conquered rights," such as the right of women to vote or the right to abortion. That is why he has promised again, for example, to shield the right to abortion in the Constitution, an initiative he already tried to push forward during this legislature, but which did not succeed because it required a reinforced majority to change the Magna Carta, that is, for the PP to also be in favor. However, it is also true that this promise generated legal doubts about to what extent this right would be more shielded if it were incorporated into the Constitution. Be that as it may, Sánchez wanted to appeal for a massive mobilization of progressivism: "It is not enough to have a simple majority, it is not enough to stop the PP and Vox, but a broad and progressive majority is needed".

Sánchez's event in Tarragona comes the day after the socialist leader resumed the pre-campaign in Valencia following the tragic train accident in Urda (Toledo), in which 69 people died and which led the socialists—and all parties except Vox—to suspend all pre-campaign events. In Valencia, Sánchez defended the "dignity and exemplariness" of Óscar Puente after his resignation following the Toledo accident. This Saturday, Sánchez did not refer to it, but he did defend the Spanish government's management in the face of that of the PP. "We have always done the same, we have stood up to those who turned their backs on the victims and their responsibilities," he stated, to once again criticize the policies of the popular party regarding railway matters.

Illa and Hereu call for a massive mobilization

In one of the venues of the Port of Tarragona that has hosted about 2000 people, according to the organization, Sánchez was accompanied by the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa; the PSC candidate for the general elections, Jordi Hereu; the head of the list of Catalan socialists for Tarragona, Ione Montalvo, and the mayor of Tarragona, Rubén Viñuales.

The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa —who alternated between Catalan and Spanish in his speech—, called for a "massive mobilization" ahead of November 29 and sent a barb at Junts: "How can it be in the middle?", he retorted in reference to the position of the Junts members, distant between the PSOE and also the PP and Vox. Illa, in this sense, defended Tarragona as the "zero kilometer of the surrender of PP and Vox". The president of the Generalitat said this to attack the pact between the populars and the far-right because only one Vox senator is running in this constituency. In this sense, he claimed that "we are not all the same" and highlighted the defense of public services.

In turn, Jordi Hereu, PSC candidate for November 29, appealed to mobilize the "hope movement" to combat "hatred". Appealing to the tradition of human towers (castells) of the Camp de Tarragona, Hereu took the opportunity to use their values to contrast them with those of the far-right. And in this sense, he stated: "PP and Vox is the unit of universal dismissal [...] They are coming for us, for our rights, for the transformative government action". Hereu highlighted the work of Pedro Sánchez at the head of the Spanish government: "He has been the president who has stood up the most for the return of coexistence in Catalonia".