The president of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, inaugurated this Saturday the political course of his formation in Cerdedo-Cotobade (Pontevedra) with a harsh speech against the Government of Pedro Sánchez in which the migratory crisis of Ceuta occupied a good part of his interventions.
Feijóo has accused the Executive of having left the autonomous city alone during the first weeks of the crisis and has directed a good part of his reproaches directly against Sánchez. "The Government abandoned Ceuta in the hands of the president of the city," he stated, before pointing out that Juan Jesús Vivas had to take charge of "a problem he did not create".
The popular leader has gone a step further by reproaching the president of the Government for starting his vacation while the emergency continued. "Going on vacation, playing the summer music, and abandoning Ceuta", he denounced, also referring to the musical content shared by Sánchez during the summer period. Feijóo has also criticized that the Government took nearly a month to declare the situation of interest to National Security.
Feijóo wants the director of the CNI to appear in the Senate
The second major front opened by Feijóo has to do with what the Government knew before the massive entry of migrants and when it received that information. The president of the PP has demanded the appearance in the Senate of the director of the National Intelligence Center, Esperanza Casteleiro, to clarify the actions of the intelligence services.
"Spaniards have the right to know what happened. They have the right to know the whole truth," defended Feijóo, who has used the differences between the explanations offered by different members of the Executive to raise the pressure on Moncloa.
The popular leader has described the appearances of the ministers as "pathetic" and has assured that there are contradictions between the versions offered about the warnings prior to the crisis. "It is evident that, at a minimum, someone is lying, and I believe they all lie", he stated during his intervention.
The controversy focuses especially on the explanations from the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior. The head of Defense, Margarita Robles, has defended the actions of the intelligence services, while the Interior has maintained that it did not receive a report that would allow anticipating an entry of the dimensions ultimately recorded. The differences between both versions have been fueling the political clash over the prior management of the crisis for several days.
In light of this situation, Feijóo has requested that Casteleiro appear in the Upper Chamber "committing to tell the truth" about when the warnings occurred and what information the Government had.
The PP will join the case in the National Court
Feijóo has also announced that the Popular Party will join the case opened in the National Court to investigate what happened in Ceuta and has warned that the management of the crisis must have "consequences."
"How are we going to accept that the greatest crisis of sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country in centuries has no consequences?" he has raised.
The judge of the National Court María Tardón opened preliminary proceedings on August 3 following a complaint filed by Iustitia Europa. Among other actions, she requested information from the National Police to determine whether the massive entry could have responded to a coordinated action or directed by some criminal group. These are still preliminary proceedings, and the Court itself must determine its competence to continue with the investigation.
Feijóo maintains that his party will participate in the procedure so that those he considers responsible for the "abandonment" of Ceuta must "appear and be held accountable before Justice".
"Ceuta and Melilla are Spain, they are not a piece to negotiate"
The leader of the PP has also taken advantage of his speech to send a message about the sovereignty of the two autonomous cities. "Ceuta and Melilla are Spain, we have known this forever", he has defended, asserting that they are not "peripheries" nor "a piece to negotiate."
Feijóo has also conveyed his support to Vivas and the Ceuta population. "You are not alone, we are not going to abandon you," he has stated, while claiming the role of the Army and the State Security Forces deployed during the crisis.
In his opinion, the agents and military "have fulfilled," while the political responsibility lies with those who direct them. The president of the PP has accused the Executive of not providing them with enough instructions, resources, or support and of having left them "sold and overwhelmed".
Feijóo promises to "pacify Spain" in the new political course
Beyond Ceuta, Feijóo has presented the traditional event of Galicia as the starting point of the new political course of the PP. The leader has assured that his party will work to "pacify Spanish politics" and has appealed for "prudence" despite the high level of confrontation with the Executive.
He has also invited citizens dissatisfied with the Government to transfer that "anger" to the polls. The PP thus enters the new course with the crisis in Ceuta turned into one of its main opposition arguments and with a double offensive already announced: to take the management of the Executive to the courts and force explanations from the CNI in the Senate.
Feijóo's message from Galicia has made clear the strategy with which he intends to face the coming months: to place the Government's response to Ceuta at the center of the political debate and directly link it to the responsibility of Pedro Sánchez, whom he accuses of having been "on vacation" while the city faced one of its greatest recent crises.