The Minister of Science and Universities and General Secretary of the PSPV, Diana Morant, expresses her confidence that Pedro Sánchez will complete the legislature and defends that he continues in Moncloa to stop a possible government of PP and Vox, which she links to "xenophobic and racist policies" and "denialist" positions regarding the climate emergency. At the same time, she avoids entering the debate about a possible replacement of Sánchez at the head of the PSOE and calls to "help everyone so that he continues to govern."
"I want President Sánchez to exhaust the legislature and to be president again in the next legislature because I want the good for my country," she states in an interview with Europa Press, in which she analyzes the political situation of the head of the Executive and his future amid the judicial proceedings affecting former government officials and people from the environment of the also socialist leader.
Morant contrasts the action of the current Executive in recent years, especially in the face of crises such as the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, or the dana, with the proposals of PP and Vox. "I do not want these fanatical climate change deniers governing a country that is one of the most vulnerable in the world in the fight against climate change," she emphasizes.
She insists that this vulnerability is especially pronounced in the Comunitat Valenciana, "because the Mediterranean is beautiful but it is also a focus of very virulent atmospheric and meteorological phenomena that have made us suffer a lot." She cites as an example the dana of October 29, 2024, which left 231 dead, or the fire in Vall d'Uixó, which has burned more than 9,000 hectares in the surroundings of the Parc Natural de la Serra d'Espadà. "And many more that will come," she warns.
In this context, she claims: "I want politicians like Pedro Sánchez proposing a pact against the climate emergency, making the largest investment in science and research that has been made in this country, and that is what the minister says, and I want those progressive policies to continue, not the racist and xenophobic policies."
During the interview, the leader of the PSPV shows the book "Intolerance," published by the Residencia de Estudiantes dependent on the Ministry of Science, which reviews Europe from 1914 to 1946: "It was the Europe of Mussolini, of Hitler, of Franco. Intolerance, denialism, racism, xenophobia... That is what the alternative government to Pedro Sánchez represented by Feijóo and Abascal is proposing, and in this case here in the Comunitat Valenciana also Vox and the PP."
"The president is not going to abandon us"
Asked directly whether the PSOE lacks an alternative plan to Sánchez or if work is being done on another leadership in case he decides not to continue or cannot run in the upcoming elections, she responds emphatically: "The president is not going to abandon us."
She argues that Sánchez "is suffering a tremendous attack, not only from the Spanish right and far-right," but recalls that "he already considered that it was worth it, and it was worth it for the Spaniards." "And he remains in office and will continue to work because he has that commitment to the society that elected him as president, and he still has that commitment to the future of Spaniards. So what I want is for him to complete the legislature and for all of us to help him continue governing," she emphasizes.
As a balance of these years, Morant claims that the current one is "the Government of crises," for having had to face episodes such as the pandemic, Putin's war against Ukraine and the associated energy crisis, or the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. She highlights, in each case, the recovery and resilience funds after covid-19, the "Iberian solution" to limit the price of gas "that the PP criticized so much," and the "aid" to Afghans arriving in Europe that "Von der Leyen recognized."
"Instead of cutting to the people, generating unemployment, generating evictions, which is what the Popular Party did in the previous crisis, we are the country that grows the most, the country that generates the most employment in the European Union," she asserts.
She also emphasizes that the Executive has approved "the largest package of measures in the entire European Union in the United States' war against Iran, which is affecting the pockets of Spanish families." To this context, she adds other recent emergencies such as the eruption of the La Palma volcano, the dana, or the large wildfires of recent years.
"There are so many examples of crises that I feel very fortunate to have had President Pedro Sánchez at the head of these crises," she summarizes, and contrasts it with the management of Isabel Díaz Ayuso during the pandemic in the Community of Madrid, "with her bars open and her protocols for the residences for which it was the region of Europe with the most excess mortality."
In her view, all of this shows that one of the great "privileges" of those who govern is to be able to "make decisions to save lives": "And while we have saved lives, we have seen how others, with their decisions, have cost lives, for example in the Comunitat Valenciana in the dana."
Zapatero and the judicial cases
In the judicial field, when asked how the Government is facing the procedures that affect former President Zapatero or relatives of Sánchez, such as Begoña Gómez or his brother, and whether this can erode the trust of the progressive electorate, the minister maintains that "in society, the impression is taking hold that coincidences do not exist and that justice operates at two speeds." "Indeed, it is the first time that a president of the Government is under judicial investigation," she states in reference to Zapatero.
She finds this situation "surprising" because "in this country, we still do not know who M. Rajoy is" —she says in allusion to the Bárcenas papers and Operation Kitchen— and because "Aznar has had half of the Council of Ministers in prison, among others Zaplana, the minister who was president of the Generalitat Valenciana."
In relation to the Plus Ultra case, in which Zapatero is listed as investigated, she points out "a curious coincidence: that all of this is linked to the intervention of the United States in Venezuela, to the position of Spain and President Sánchez's absolute rejection of the United States' war against Iran and that, suddenly, we are the focus of many countries and many economic and political powers." "That also resonates with the socialist electorate," she affirms.
After that, Morant assures that she shares the public assessment that ERC spokesperson in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, made about Zapatero, in a "very eloquent" way, as she understands that "it summarizes the feeling of many left-wing people in this country."
Questioned whether she still "puts her hand in the fire" for the former president, she responds: "I trust President Zapatero. I would not be in politics without the inspiration of a president who made our country a pioneer, for example, in the fight against violence against women, in allowing people to marry whom they wanted, in that the State took care of those who depend on others to live."
"This country is different since President Zapatero came into our lives, and that will remain forever. And for me, that is President Zapatero and politician Zapatero," she concludes.