Alberto Núñez Feijóo wants to expand his support in Catalunya without closing the door to an understanding with Vox after the general elections of November 29. In an interview published this Sunday by La Vanguardia, the president of the PP combines an offer aimed at the moderate Catalan voter with a message about his possible parliamentary agreements: he will not establish a sanitary cordon against Santiago Abascal's party.
«You cannot be president of Spain without understanding Catalunya», Feijóo maintains, who presents his experience at the head of the Xunta as a credential for understanding territorial diversity. His most concrete commitment is to go to Catalunya every three months to explain the degree of execution of the State's investments, with special attention to Rodalies.
The conversation was held on Wednesday morning, while the Urda railway accident was becoming known. The interview later incorporates questions about the tragedy, in the face of which Feijóo demands the departure of Óscar Puente and extends political responsibility to Pedro Sánchez.
Feijóo seeks the disappointed socialist voter in Catalunya
The PP leader directs part of his message to those who supported the PSOE and are now dissatisfied. In La Vanguardia he asks them to give an opportunity to a leader who defines himself as «constitutional and autonomist».
His proposal consists of claiming a greater presence of the State compatible with the functioning of autonomy. «I am not coming here to centralize, I am coming here so that autonomy functions and the State has a presence in Catalunya», he states.
Feijóo accuses Sánchez of not having corresponded to the electoral support received in Catalunya and of failing to fulfill investment commitments. These are reproaches from the Popular candidate, who uses that criticism to present a verifiable promise: to periodically report on the budgeted works and their execution.
The promise about Rodalies: explaining the investments four times a year
«If in Rodalies we say that we are going to invest x, four times a year I will come here and explain the degree of execution», assures the president of the PP.
The proposal emphasizes the difference between announcing an appropriation and turning it into completed actions. Feijóo promises to carry out the committed budget and to give quarterly explanations about its fulfillment.
However, he expresses reservations about the transfer of Rodalies to the Generalitat. He does not make a categorical rejection, but questions whether it is convenient for him to take on a service with great investment needs and complex management.
«If I were president of the Generalitat, I would look at it very carefully», he says. His argument is that an insufficiently funded transfer can shift the deficit to the receiving administration.
Vox will continue to be an option for most of the PP
Feijóo justifies the agreement with Vox for the Senate as a response to the alliances of the left and describes it as an operation limited to certain constituencies.
But his position goes beyond that pact. «I am not going to set up a cordon sanitaire neither with the third political force in my country, which is Vox, nor with those parties of a regional scope that want to speak within the Constitution», he declares in La Vanguardia.
The popular leader does not specify a governing formula with Abascal. He does make it clear that his priority is to assemble a majority that will make it possible to replace Sánchez and prevent a failed investiture from being repeated like the one in 2023.
At the same time, he tries to differentiate his project from the current Executive: he assures that he does not want to make «a right-wing sanchismo» and asks for a strong parliamentary group to drive his reforms.
Junts, financing and amnesty: the other signals toward Catalunya
Feijóo reproaches Junts for having facilitated Sánchez's continuity, although he acknowledges that both parties have maintained contacts and coincided in Congress votes.
On regional financing, he defends updating the system and negotiating with the territorial presidents both revenues and expenditures. The interview does not include a detailed economic proposal for Catalunya.
He also maintains his commitment to repeal the Amnesty law, although he admits that that decision would not have retroactive effects. He likewise announces the repeal of the Democratic Memory law.
On linguistic matters, he calls for compliance with judicial rulings on the presence of Spanish in classrooms and presents the Galician model as a reference for his position.
Urda hardens his message: Puente's departure is not enough for him
The final part of the interview shifts the focus toward the railway crisis. Feijóo considers that Óscar Puente's departure is «essential, but insufficient» and directly points to the President of the Government.
The popular candidate links the deterioration he denounces in public services with the appointments and priorities of the Executive. He also rejects that the political explanation of the tragedy be reduced to human error.