"Management, rigor and experience": the scenery with which Feijóo seeks to project an alternative to Sánchez after Urda

A work table, several specialists in railway infrastructure, and three carefully chosen words on a dark background. "Management, rigor and experience". Alberto Núñez Feijóo appeared this Friday at the national headquarters of the Partido Popular after meeting with experts from the sector to analyze the railway crisis opened by the Urda (Toledo) accident. However, the message of the opposition leader was not limited to his statements. The arrangement of the participants, the profiles that accompanied him, and the chosen staging were also part of the political communication of the day.

The meeting was held just two days after the accident that has caused at least 69 deaths and when one month remains until the general elections of November 29. In that context, the PP has sought to accompany its demands for political responsibility with an image of technical preparation and management capacity, moving away from the usual aesthetics of party events to adopt the appearance of an institutional working meeting.

Three words to summarize the alternative that the PP wants to project

The choice of "management", "rigor" and "experience" is not solely a matter of aesthetics. They are the three concepts with which Feijóo has been questioning the appointments and decisions of the Executive in railway matters, and which he had already used on Thursday during his visit to Urda.

The popular leader then defended that positions of responsibility should be occupied by people with knowledge and proven track record, a criticism aimed at the appointment policy of the Government of Pedro Sánchez.

One day later, those same ideas have moved from the speech to the substance of the appearance.

Each term serves a different function. "Management" refers to the ability to solve problems and combat the deterioration of public services; "rigor" appeals to technical knowledge and informed decision-making; and "experience" reinforces Feijóo's trajectory as former president of the Xunta de Galicia.

The choice of words also allows the PP to partially shift the discussion. Faced with a debate centered on who should resign because of the accident, Feijóo tries to introduce another question: who has the knowledge and the necessary teams to manage the country's infrastructure.

Ethel Vázquez, the technical profile that reinforces Feijóo's image

Among the participants in the meeting stands out Ethel Vázquez, civil engineer and former conselleira of Infraestruturas e Mobilidade of the Xunta de Galicia during Feijóo's governments.

Her presence provides a concrete element to the PP's message. Vázquez appears not only as a former political collaborator of the popular leader, but as a professional with technical training and experience in the administration of public infrastructure.

During her time in the Xunta, she worked on the planning and management of roads, transport and mobility, responsibilities that the PP now uses to support its discourse on the importance of specialized profiles.

The image of Feijóo accompanied by Vázquez thus allows the concept of experience to be associated with an identifiable administrative trajectory.

Also participating in the meeting were leaders from the party's national structure, among them Alma Ezcurra, deputy secretary for Sectoral Affairs, and Juan Bravo, deputy secretary for Finance, Housing and Infrastructure.

The combination of political leaders and specialists helps build a team image, in which Feijóo appears accompanied by people he could turn to to develop government proposals.

The Urda crisis leads the PP to reinforce Feijóo's managerial profile

The staging accompanies an intervention in which Feijóo has accused the Government of abandoning the "culture of safety" and has called for political responsibility from both Óscar Puente and Pedro Sánchez.

"It has been badly managed. It has been badly managed continuously and the Government has abandoned the culture of safety," he declared after the meeting.

The president of the PP has also announced some of the measures he would promote if he were to reach La Moncloa, among them an independent technical review of the railway network, audits of management and spending, and greater priority for the maintenance of existing infrastructure.

Feijóo has defended that safety must prevail even when this entails reducing speeds, temporarily interrupting certain services, or postponing new inaugurations.

These proposals make it possible for the image of the meeting not to be isolated from the political content. The party is trying to back the promise of rigor with commitments that, if applied, would affect the organization and priorities of Renfe and Adif.