The president of the PP and candidate for the Presidency of the Government, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has warned that, if it is shown that the money earmarked for train security has ended up in the PSOE or in the "pocket of one of their own, it will not be enough for them to leave; they will have to answer to the Justice system", and that, if they have stolen the funds planned to protect citizens' lives, "they will have to leave power to enter prison".
Feijóo delivered this message at an event held in Valladolid before some 5,000 people, according to figures from the party itself, in which he was supported by the PP provincial president, Conrado Íscar; the mayor of Valladolid and candidate for the Senate, Jesús Julio Carnero; the head of the list to Congress, María Pardo, and the party's regional president, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco.
During his speech, the leader of the 'popular' party stressed that the two raids at the Adif headquarters and the new arrests and charges for "kickbacks and rigging are the umpteenth confirmation of just how far the degradation of this Government has gone".
"I will ensure that everyone assumes their responsibilities," he insisted in a speech in which he criticized the PSOE's reaction after the resignation of Óscar Puente, reproaching that "even in tragedy" the Government of Pedro Sánchez "only cared about the narrative" to the point of "reaching to leak the audio of a deceased train operator".
"To feed the narrative they never lack time, but afterward they don't find it to show respect for the dead at a State funeral," he reproached the socialists.
In this context, he promised a comprehensive audit of rail transport. "We will audit the security systems, the backup systems, and even the very last sleeper, because all security guarantees have to be restored".
At the same time, he assured that the "best prepared will once again be in charge of the key posts" and reiterated that he will not appoint anyone "out of favoritism, but for their capacity for management, rigor, and experience".
Along the same lines, he criticized the PSOE's "lamentable attitude" for showing "more concern about elections than about the lives of the Spanish people, replacing morals with opinion polls, and giving more hugs to the minister who resigned than to the victims".
"First they spoke to us about their ordeal, but the ordeal is that of the victims. And now they dare to talk about dignity, but dignity is not going away to the elections after 116 victims; it would have been doing it ten months earlier, reviewing everything, and asking for forgiveness," he has hammered home.
Feijóo has emphasized that Spain should not resign itself to living alongside corrupt politicians, high-ranking deal-makers, and this "madness to which the Spanish are subjected."
In this regard, he has stressed that in a tragedy "it doesn't matter whether it is the minister or the president; only the victims, the people, and the country matter." "We suffer the consequences of a Government more focused on its own affairs than on those of others," he added.
"The necessary change" and the reference to the ballot boxes
At another point in his address, he said that "nobody can trust what the Executive of Sánchez is going to do and say from here until November 29" "to manipulate people."
For this reason, he called on people to go to the ballot boxes on November 29 to "make the necessary change possible and to show that neither Sánchez is Spain, nor Puente is Valladolid," and he pointed out that, if the PP wanted to hold a rally to point to the top person responsible for the accident, it would not do so in Valladolid, but in front of the Palacio de la Moncloa.
"We know where the person responsible for these last eight years, for our infrastructure, and for our insecurity is," he said.
In the final stretch of his speech, the PP leader has promised that with a Government from his party "the theater will be over, governing from television or from social networks, governing in exchange for whatever it may be, and lying as a method." "We are going to pull down the curtain on this deplorable spectacle," he added.
He has nevertheless admitted that "a lot of work is needed—more professionals, management, rigor, and experience; a country with budgets, to fund public services, and to respect the effort of the people; to combat prices, unjust taxes, and corruption; to review the entire rail network and make a deep change."
To conclude, he has asserted his track record as a manager and has stressed that "management is what separates a country that works from a country that wastes time, money, and lives," because "Spain has to start functioning again."