“We have Nadia, they have no one”. With this slogan, the economic vice president, Nadia Calviño, broke into the PSOE campaign yesterday. To the surprise of the socialist ranks, Pedro Sánchez's two gave a press conference from Ferraz street. The confusion, according to party sources, was enormous, given that Calviño, in addition to not being a militant, is not on the lists. From socialism, they interpret that if she had wanted to lead the candidacy for Madrid together with Sánchez, she would have done so and, therefore, her withdrawal is read as “desertion”.. “She has left us stranded”, they lament from the territories, where the “excessive” role of a “technocrat without a license” is not understood. Sánchez has already placed Calviño on the Federal Committee. The vice president will be in El intermedio today, an unusual format.

There are those who use irony to question a decision that they attribute directly to the president. “Nadia is nobody”, they stand out in a play on words that circulated like wildfire in the chats of those most critical of sanchismo. Sánchez has once again given a script twist to the strategy. If just a week ago the message was to stop the “reactionary wave” that 28-M has left territorial power in the hands of the PP, now the slogan is to focus on the economy. The president has assumed in first person the planning and messages for 23-J. The setback of 28-M has led him to distrust his closest team. The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, and his chief of staff, Óscar López, limit themselves to agreeing, as confirmed by Moncloa.

There is no counterweight to the president and from Ferraz they regret that he falls into the same errors of the May elections. They warn that the economic discourse and management were “innocuous” to mobilize the electorate. In the campaign, they remember, there were promises for all groups, from retirees to young people and women. The Council of Ministers also approved aid for farmers. “It did not work”, sentence socialist barons, who attribute it to the fact that the PP is the one that has a reputation for “good management”. The same sources explain that Alberto Núñez Feijóo does not need to present an economic guru for citizens to trust his brand as a synonym of stability.

“They don't have to debate with anyone,” they say, alluding to the ordeal that the vice president has launched at the PP so that “someone” will star in an economic face-to-face with her, like that of Pedro Solbes and Manuel Pizarro. In the PP, they rule out moving a file in this sense. They agree with the PSOE on how “ridiculous” it is for someone who does not even show up to ask for a debate so that the Spanish can judge their work in recent years. The socialist cadres have their own theory about Calviño's plan for after 23-J. The polls are not very encouraging and, except for a last-minute comeback, it seems difficult for Sánchez to repeat. In this scenario, they point out that the first vice president would have the intention of returning to Brussels as commissioner for the Social Democratic quota.

Calviño has been a fundamental piece in carving out the positive image that Europe has of Sánchez. Her past as general director of the EU Budget has opened many doors for the president and has been the perfect transmission belt for the arrival of funds in Spain.. In fact, his team at that stage is the one that today accompanies Valdis Dombrovskis, responsible for financing. After 23-J, if there is no socialist government, he will ask for the favors to be returned, taking advantage of the fact that Sánchez is the current president of the Socialist International.

Their relationship has grown stronger over the years.. The vice president has had notorious clashes with the ministers of Podemos. The departure of Pablo Iglesias from the Executive was a respite for her, although she kept up with José Luis Escrivá and Yolanda Díaz. With the last one, he has been smoothing out rough edges and both became the “essential” of the president in the Council of Ministers. Although yesterday he disdained the role of Díaz and Podemos in the economic work of the coalition government. “It has had practically no influence,” he said from the Ferraz press room.

In the game, it does not arouse sympathy, less at a time when spirits are low. Despite the fact that Calviño has been forging a political profile and has defended the position with more enthusiasm from the blue bench than many fellow militants, she is viewed with suspicion, according to socialist officials who are in every man for himself mode.. In the territories, you look at Moncloa from a distance. A large mobilization of the cadres in the campaign is not expected. Sánchez is aware and will handle the spaces and times of his rallies well. At the moment, she takes selfies with the coordinators of the electoral program: Cristina Narbona, María Jesús Montero, Idoia Mendia, Félix Bolaños, Teresa Ribera, José Luis Escrivá and Calviño herself. “The gravediggers”, they were renamed in internal chats.