The president of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, will travel this Sunday to Catalonia to participate in an event with PPC militants in Badalona (Barcelona), where he will be supported by the mayor of the city, Xavier García Albiol, considered a stronghold of the party in its opposition to irregular immigration.
Feijóo's appointment in Catalonia takes place on the eve of his new trip to Ceuta. On Monday, September 21, he will visit the autonomous city for the fourth time, accompanied by a delegation from the European People's Party (EPP) led by its president, Manfred Weber, as part of the PP's strategy to "Europeanize" the crisis and denounce the "negligent" and "disastrous" management of the government of Pedro Sánchez following the assault at the end of July.
The leader of the PP, who last visited Catalonia on June 27 on the occasion of the PPC Congress that revalidated Alejandro Fernández as president, will now return to Badalona to participate in a meeting with members of the Catalan PP. Sources from Feijóo's team emphasize that he can indeed "go out to the street" and have "a bath of masses," unlike Pedro Sánchez.
At the event in Catalonia, Feijóo will be accompanied by the main figures of the PPC, such as its president, Alejandro Fernández, the candidate for the mayoralty of Barcelona, Daniel Fernández, and the mayor of Badalona himself, who has made a hardline stance against illegal immigration one of the fundamental axes of his political discourse.
Almost at the same time, a few kilometers from Barcelona, the president of the government and secretary general of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, will also be present this Sunday, participating alongside the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, in the traditional Rose Festival of the PSC in Gavà.
The PP sets a goal to grow in Catalonia
In the national direction of 'Génova,' they acknowledge that Catalonia is crucial to reach the Moncloa due to the high number of seats it distributes, and they have positioned it as one of the major priorities of the PP ahead of the general elections of 2027. Currently, the 'popular' only have six deputies (five from Barcelona and one from Tarragona), but they aspire to improve their results in the Catalan capital and obtain representation from Lleida and Girona.
Although Catalonia is not among the 12 communities that will hold regional elections on May 23, it does face municipal elections, a call in which the advance of Aliança Catalana, reflected in various polls, is concerning.
Sources from the Catalan PP consulted by Europa Press show their confidence that in the coming weeks, Feijóo's presence in this community will intensify to counteract the pull of Silvia Orriols' party and curb the growth of Vox that the polls indicate. Santiago Abascal's party achieved 11 seats in the 2024 regional elections, only four less than the PP.
Nine days after the Diada and in the middle of the regional tour
This PPC event in Catalonia comes nine days after the Diada. Last week, Feijóo wished a "good Diada" to all Catalans and defended that this community should be "part of the change" that Spain needs to "recover order, freedom, and prosperity." As he emphasized, Catalonia "does not need to continue being a bargaining chip for anything."
With this stop in the province of Barcelona, Feijóo continues the regional tour with which he has inaugurated the political course. At the end of August, he held an event in Cerdedo Cotobade (Pontevedra) alongside the president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, and the former president of the Government, Mariano Rajoy.
On Friday, September 2, he traveled to Andalusia to accompany Juanma Moreno at the traditional fried egg festival in the Málaga municipality of Alhaurín el Grande. And on Saturday, September 3, he participated in an event in Getafe (Madrid) with the president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
With less than 300 days until the general elections, in the 'popular' ranks, they maintain that they face the final stretch of the legislature ready to give Sánchez the "revenge" when he sets the date for the elections, which they see as "a settling of scores." "The PP cadres have returned from vacation emotionally charged and eager to measure themselves against the left at the polls," sources from Feijóo's team admit to Europa Press.