The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, has assured this Friday that Begoña Gómez, the wife of the President of the Government, was "spectacular" during the rally that served as the starting gun for the PSOE’s election campaign.
He has emphasized to the media that "it was a long applauded intervention and I also stay with the fact that those who were there knew how to value it in its measure," statements he made after the meeting of the bilateral commission, in which the co-management of airports was discussed.
In relation to the judicial investigation affecting Gómez, he has indicated that she complies, although he has recalled that in judicial proceedings there is always the possibility of appealing rulings and that in many cases "they end up amounting to nothing," reiterating at all times that he believes in her "innocence."
Torres added, in line with what was expressed by Sánchez, that "as the President has said, what would have happened if she weren’t the President’s wife, if she had had the same public impact and cover page, surely it wouldn’t have, so let’s allow the investigations to reach their conclusion."
The minister has taken advantage of his appearance to ask for "sportsmanship" in the election campaign, arguing that "to win you don’t have to insult the rival, nor do you have to kick them in the ribs, nor do you have to give them a shove, nor do you have to use physical and verbal violence, in any case".
He has stressed that the PSOE aspires to prevail "sportingly" and that for this it is necessary to "convince" the electorate by means of the electoral programs and by explaining what project the party proposes for Spain: to continue being an "economic locomotive" and to expand "more rights" for citizens, including a decent interprofessional minimum wage, indefinite and quality contracts, and the strengthening of public services.
Against this, he has criticized that "some people are what they do is betting on privatization and logically on putting at risk issues like pensions, which are fundamental if we have a welfare state," and he has insisted that the Government will continue to defend human rights in the management of immigration.
Torres has stated that the PSOE believes in going "cutting down" the distance with the PP with a view to elections that it has described as "historic", in which, in his view, citizens have "a lot" at stake because, for the first time, they could reach Government the "remnants of Francoism, of the dictatorship and of totalitarianism, they say so".
Along these lines, he has rejected the idea that "with Franco things were better" by recalling that back then "vernacular languages were hidden" and "women were humiliated", the right of assembly was restricted and the population could not freely choose its representatives.
"We were subject to the consideration of the powerful, and there was a regime that logically installed its premises and its principles, and of course fascism. I do not want to go back to that, but there are some parties that say that with Franco people lived better," he said.
Therefore, he has asserted that society lives better when it can vote and he has defended the democratic "festival" that, he said, will mean the electoral appointment of next November 29. "We are playing for much more than we have played for in earlier elections," he emphasized.