Nacho Martín Blanco: "Catalonia has always done better with the PP in the Government of Spain"

Nacho Martín Blanco (Barcelona, 1982) left his Ciudadanos seat in Parliament, where he was the spokesman for the liberal formation, when just a few weeks ago Alberto Núñez Feijóo called him with the proposal to head the candidacy of the PP in Catalonia. Martín Blanco did not think about it, considering that the popular leader represented the only center-right alternative that can evict sanchismo. Already in the campaign and with polls indicating that he can obtain a great result in Catalonia, he claims firmness before the nationalists but with “polite ways” and demands that the future Government expand the dialogue in Catalonia to constitutionalist parties and associations.

In this struggle between Sánchez and Feijóo, how do you explain that where socialism is going to get the most advantage over the PP is surely in Catalonia? The PSC, with an exercise of considerable cynicism, has managed to blend in with nationalism and among them claim exclusive representation of Catalanness, convincing a part of the Catalans that they are the ones who best defend their interests. But if you analyze the different governments in Spain, you see that Catalonia has always done better when the PP governs. In fact, when the parameters of the dialogue between the Government and the Generalitat with the PSC are established, they are in the key of “what else do we give to the nationalists”, not to the Catalans as a whole. You say that you have always done well with the PP, but the popular ones have always ended up agreeing with nationalism. Do you think that the solution now is the same: seek an understanding of the PP with the so-called moderate nationalism? In other words, the formula of Aznar and Rajoy. I am very clear that the solution to the problems of Catalonia will come from a fluid and constant dialogue between the government of Spain and Catalan society. It is necessary to dialogue with the whole of Catalan society without exclusions, but also, and very especially, with Catalans who also feel Spanish and who feel forgotten. Because the policy of sanchismo has been to give in to nationalism and despise the feelings of a majority of Catalans. It is what is also demanded by the active forces of the Catalan business community, which are often unfairly criticized for their role in the process. unfair? With the exception of José Manuel Lara, José Luis Bonet and some others, the business community remained silent when Artur Mas launched the process, when he did not applaud with his ears and financed the coup. The fundamental reason that should lead a businessman to signify himself in politics is that the decisions of politicians who govern a community harm the economy of that community. For this reason, when Catalan businessmen see that the process is a disaster for the Catalan economy, I believe that many speak out and stop Artur Mas.. In politics it is very easy to look for scapegoats to find explanations for what is happening in Catalonia. And how does the PP plan to reverse this social engineering apparatus? Well, from Congress and from the Government we must reinforce the presence of the State in Catalonia and the idea of Spain, the importance of Catalonia for the whole of Spain and of the whole of Spain for Catalonia. Doing a lot of pedagogy, but not of hatred, as nationalism has done, but of harmony. There is a very important part of Catalan society that has felt abandoned by the Spanish governments and that, after the process, wants to participate in the common Spanish project. Now that there is so much talk about the emergence of the extreme right and linking Feijóo and you to the supposed ultras, do you think we are in an attempt to transfer the Tinell Pact, with which the PSC and the independence movement excluded the PP from the debate institutional Catalan, to the whole of Spain? Totally. The cordon sanitaire is a profoundly undemocratic practice, because it contravenes one of the fundamental principles of any public debate, but it has deep roots in Catalonia.. Anyone who opposes the dual tyranny of nationalism and the extreme left in Catalonia is called a facha. Speaking of the economy, when things were going well for the PP in Catalonia, with Alicia Sánchez Camacho as president and Rajoy in Moncloa, in 2012 he presented a unique financing proposal for Catalonia. Immediately rejected by Genoa 13. Do you think that this is a way to explore? What we have to aspire to is a fair financing system for all Spanish citizens. Territorial specificities must be taken into account to obtain financing that is equitable. The fundamental aspect is that of equity.. I am not in favor, therefore, of exceptionalities, but I am in favor of improving the system for all the autonomies. Why the Basques and Navarrese yes, but Catalonia cannot have an economic agreement? The Catalan economy is imbricated in that of the whole of Spain in an inseparable way. I remember that Ernest Lluch said that the debate on the fiscal deficit cannot be separated from the debate on the trade surplus. And therefore I am in favor of taking advantage of the strengths of Catalonia, not of nationalist victimhood. We must recover the economic strength of other times, when there was no fiscal pact or concert, but rather an open and enterprising society. When there has been more Generalitat in Catalonia, that mammoth structure, the worse things have been for Catalonia economically. So the priority is for the Generalitat to be loyal to the State. And how is that achieved? We see that the Catalan Government continues to break, for example, all the laws on the guarantee of Spanish as the vehicular language in Catalan education. Well, using all the resources of the rule of law. It is inadmissible that non-compliance with sentences be normalized. Among other things, not only because of the unfairness for those affected, but also because of what it means as a bad image for Catalonia, which has become a lawless territory. In this sense, we cannot have a government in Spain that is constantly discrediting Spanish justice as Pedro Sánchez's has done. He talks about a new stage in Catalonia, but is it possible with Puigdemont? Right now he is a satellite out of orbit in Catalan politics. Flap to try to survive in our public debate. Puigdemont is a legal problem that he has created and that will be solved when he makes himself available to his country, which is Spain.. If you return to Spain and Feijóo governs, would you be in favor of giving him a pardon? Taking into account that Junqueras and the rest of his government in 2017 were pardoned. Under any concept. Pardons for reasons of political interest to people who have attempted against our democracy are an insult to the citizenry. Puigdemont does not deserve a pardon for all the damage he caused to Catalonia and the whole of Spain. But politically, is it very difficult to explain that Puigdemont is in jail and Junqueras is free and leading ERC? It is very easy to explain. With a capitulating government like Sánchez's, that is what happens: pardons and perks.