Sánchez targets the PP with the 'no to war'

MadridThe beginning of the speech was indicative of what the tone of the debate and the strategy of the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, would be to defend Iran's 'no to war'. A few minutes after taking the podium in Congress, he recited: "There are dates that are not forgotten, that remain marked forever in the collective memory of a country. February 15, 2003 is one. That Saturday, 3 million citizens said no to war", he recalled. In this way, alluding to the citizenry's reaction to the invasion of Iraq twenty years ago, Sánchez contrasted his position with that of the PP government in 2003. "José María Aznar dragged us into a war to feel important and because Bush invited him for a cigar," he stated, guaranteeing that "now Spain will not be an accomplice, not while I am president."

But he didn't stop there. The PSOE leader took advantage of the appearance on his position in the Middle East conflict to prod the PP with everything that the Iraq war entailed, which he defined as the biggest geopolitical disaster after the Vietnam War: 300,000 fatalities; 5 million displaced, and the attacks in Europe in Madrid, Brussels, Barcelona, Paris, and London – he enumerated. Sánchez wanted to hold up a mirror to the PP: he reminded Alberto Núñez Feijóo of his role twenty years ago and urged him to get involved now. "He is not clarifying his position," Sánchez reiterated on numerous occasions to the PP leader, who has not revealed how he will vote this Thursday when the Spanish government's anti-crisis measures package, some of which are tax cuts presented by the popular party itself, is voted on in Congress.

The tone of the debate was bitter, to the point that Feijóo accused the Spanish president of having a "very dangerous dictatorial tic" for sidelining Congress. "We are going to the polls, why don't we let the Spanish people vote?" he said, and concluded: "The majority of Spaniards do not want war and do not want Mr. Sánchez." Nor was the PSOE leader any kinder: "You are not prepared to steer this country, national politics is beyond you or too big for you. The truth hurts."

While the PSOE leader has shown himself proud of "being Spanish" for his international policy in defense of "peace and international law", the PP and Vox have placed him alongside "murderers", alluding to Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran: they have reproached him that Iranian agencies showed missiles thanking Spain for its stance. The thesis of the PP and Vox is that Sánchez uses any disaster to strengthen himself and avoid talking about his internal problems. "You don't care about the war, you take advantage of any disaster to cover up your corruption," Santiago Abascal stated.

On the other side of the political spectrum, on behalf of Sumar, parliamentary spokesperson Verónica Martínez Barbero has expressed comfort with what Sánchez has defended – in her opinion, the PP and Vox are "accomplices of barbarism and cruelty" – while Gabriel Rufián (ERC) has reproached the Spanish and Catalan right and far-right for being "lackeys" of Donald Trump. Only Podemos has pressured the PSOE to make its rejection of war real and put Spain's membership in NATO to a referendum. Míriam Nogueras (JxCat) has complained that Catalans, with socialists in the government of the State and Catalonia, have the feeling "that everything is going to hell".

Reivindication of the social shield

Sánchez, after the amendment in its entirety to Aznar and the PP, has detailed the package of measures that his government has approved and that will be validated this Thursday thanks to the plurinational majority (Junts included). A social shield that he has defined as the "largest" in Europe and that consists of a reduction of up to 10% in the VAT on electricity, gas, and also fuel, to which he has also reduced by 60% the rest of the taxes related to filling the car's tank. "It is not fair that some set the world on fire and others have to swallow their ashes. It is not fair that in Spain we have to pay for it out of our own pocket," he said.

The appearance, at his own request and which Feijóo had also requested, comes four weeks after the start of the war and two days after the popular Juanma Moreno Bonilla called early elections in Andalusia, an event that will lead to a government crisis with the departure of the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero. The also first vice-president of the government starred in her last control session this Wednesday, awaiting the possibility of handing over her portfolio to a successor at the end of the week.