The president of the PP and candidate for the Presidency of the Government, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has returned once again to Galicia, the community he governed for 13 years, to present himself to his own as a "manager," relaunch his campaign in the final stretch before the polls, and ask for "help" to "complete the trip to the Moncloa." If he achieves it, he has promised an executive that "serves" and does not "rob" the citizens, and he has reiterated that he will "not fail" Galicia.
To underline his profile as a "manager" and as a "serious" politician, the Os Peares leader has chosen the Multiusos do Sar, in Santiago, a venue linked to key moments in his career. Before some 8,000 attendees, he recalled two dates: an event with young people in 2008, prior to the regional elections in which the PP regained the Xunta in 2009, and the day on which he "asked permission" to make the leap to the national leadership of the PP in the midst of the internal crisis that ended with the leadership of Pablo Casado.
"I didn't tell you that I was running. I came here to ask for permission to do it as a sign of respect. I asked the PP of Galicia for permission to present myself. Today I am not coming to ask for permission, I am coming to ask for work, to ask for support, and to ask for votes," he said, visibly moved in several passages of his speech.
"From Monte Pío (the official residence of the president of the Xunta in Santiago), where I lived for a long time, to the Palacio de la Moncloa there are 600 kilometers and 15 days. Help me to complete this trip and I won't fail you," Feijóo stressed, after his successor in the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, warned that he will be demanding with him if he reaches the Government.
The popular leader has joked about the journey between Santiago and Madrid: "The good thing is that it's the same road; you don't have to detour. You get in the car, keep heading toward Madrid, and there it is," he quipped, and then declared himself "proud" of Rueda. He assured the grassroots that he continues to be "the same" as the one who left Galicia for Madrid in 2022, even if with "more desire" and also more "experience and scars."
He has insisted that he keeps intact his bond with the citizens: "But with the same commitment to honest people, to people who make an effort, who need help but do not ask for privileges," he emphasized. He gave his word that he will not forget "where" he comes from, a message also picked up by the anime video in which he is presented as a superhero and which was shown during the rally.
The leader of the PP has reiterated that he is not going to "forget" his origins and, if he reaches the Moncloa, "who" will have taken him there. "I will govern thinking about the people I owe my allegiance to," he has assured, highlighting that in Galicia "there are no surprises." "You know where I come from and how I have worked," he added.
"Am I serious? Yes. It’s a flaw"
"Am I serious? Yes, it’s a flaw. It’s a form of respect. Joking, whatever you want. But exercising the presidency of a Government, none. And yes, what Alfonso (Rueda) said, I am a manager. It’s what I know how to do, what I want to do and what Spain needs. The rest are dances, lies and bites," he said, asserting his technical profile over other leadership styles.
From there, he highlighted his experience in preparing public accounts: he said that he has made budgets "all his life" and that "whoever renounces presenting" public accounts "renounces managing." He reviewed his beginnings in the health administration, first in the Consellería and then in the Ministry, with José Manuel Romay Beccaría, present at the event.
He also recalled his time in charge of Correos and how Manuel Fraga granted him "the honor" of joining his regional Government, in a Consellería with responsibilities, among others, in the area of Vivenda. From each responsibility, he said he drew the same lesson: problems are solved "with management" and not "with slogans."
Feijóo advanced until 2009, after going through the opposition after succeeding Fraga as leader of the PPdeG. That year he regained the Xunta, which since 2005 had been in the hands of a coalition of socialists and nationalists. As head of the Galician executive, he said he learned "the most important thing": "to govern for everyone."
"The four majorities that we achieved together were not a gift, they were a contract with the Galicians, which we renewed four times. Spain needs rigor and I have it. It needs management and I have it," he defended. He concluded, again with a broken voice, that "the best" of his "experience" does not appear in his curriculum, but in what he has learned from the Galicians: from the sailor who "leaves at dawn without knowing what the net will bring," from the self-employed person or "the young person who studies to carve out a future for himself."