Feijóo wants to explore his possibilities for the investiture, but he himself knows that today he does not have any. His whole party knows it. That is why the PP is preparing for the only two possible scenarios: repetition of elections or opposition. “Either Sánchez gives in or Junts gives in, and if not, elections”. The president of the popular does not give up leading the investiture process and yesterday he said that he will continue trying to open negotiations, but his team is already preparing, above all, for the scenario of the agreement between the PSOE, Sumar and the nationalist parties and independentistas
Both in the baronies and in Genoa believe that we are facing the “1993 moment” of Alberto Núñez Feijóo. In that year, José María Aznar lost the general elections against Felipe González, despite the fact that many polls, even at the exit, gave him victory. He clearly won the first face-to-face debate with the president, but he was missing in the second, so that his alternative, in the end, died on the edge of the polls.. The PSOE came back in the campaign. Of course, the socialist project would continue to be marked by instability in subsequent years.
There are clear parallels, but also three differences favorable to Feijóo. The first, that he has won. The second, that he has more territorial power than any opposition leader in history. The third, that Sánchez is obliged to agree with at least six formations, some of them openly contrary to the constitutional consensus: Junts, ERC, Bildu, PNV, BNG and Sumar.
«It would be much more difficult for Sánchez to govern, even. We are in a moment of 1993, but with a candidate who has won the elections and with the most intense territorial power that a party in Spain has ever had, “sources from Genoa assure this newspaper.. «We govern in 12 autonomies, plus Ceuta and Melilla, plus the cities of Madrid, Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza…. And we have an absolute majority in the Senate and the key in the Barcelona City Council”, they insist. In addition, they underline, two of the three remaining barons of the PSOE would not agree to sit down to negotiate with Junts if the independence referendum is on the table: Adrián Barbón from Asturias and Emiliano García-Page from Castilla La Mancha.
Greeting in Congress between José María Aznar and Felipe González in 1996.
“We are in a 1993 scenario,” agrees one of the main government barons of the PP. And what does that scenario consist of? “In two or three years of rebuilding Feijóo” from the opposition and, this time, “from Congress” and with his parliamentary team. This baron rejects the repetition of elections: “Sánchez is going to govern losing, he will not miss this”. But he adds: “Frankenstein is going to become the house of monsters and it will not last four years.”. In addition, there will be internal tensions in and adjustments forced by the EU and tolls on the highways; that's going to matter ».
«We have not repealed sanchismo. We have given it a push, but we have not repealed it. Now we will continue to put pressure on Sanchismo from the leadership of the opposition in Congress, with absolute power in the Senate and with 12 autonomies. Feijóo will continue and there will be closing ranks, ”synthesizes another regional president. The analysis is almost identical.
Another parallel with 93 is the activation of the vote of fear. Of the fear of Vox, specifically, which has worked “like the Doberman video” that the PSOE launched against the PP at that time, “but in version 2.0”, another baron intervened.
Faes praises the attempt of the leader of the PP although “it is not comfortable nor does it have guaranteed success
But Feijóo, a leader who came to Madrid under a canopy and thinking of governing as soon as possible, would he last four years in opposition? “It will not be four years of legislature,” add the sources. «For each royal decree, the Government is going to have to sweat ink. Because we have an absolute majority in the Senate and because Bildu and PNV will have to agree among themselves, and then Junts, ERC and the BNG in each and every one of the votes, “they explain in Genoa. “The right adds 171 seats in each decree that there may be”, and the investiture bloc must always exceed that figure. In other words, one of the partners could not be allowed to vote against it.
While governability is elucidated, the question in the PP is another. Would Feijóo really be willing to appear at the investiture even without support? “To say that you do not have support simply because you have spoken with a group seems like a hasty conclusion to me,” he said in statements to the media from Santiago de Compostela.. «UPN and the Canary Islands Coalition are in the best disposition and I will speak next week with the PSOE and with Vox, and from there we will continue working».
On the other hand, Faes, José María Aznar's foundation, assures that Feijóo has done the right thing “assuming a commitment that is probably neither comfortable nor has final success guaranteed”, as is his investiture attempt. Faes considers that the party “is not called to mere resistanceism.” “He can offer the Spanish a proposal that Núñez Feijóo will have the opportunity to detail, with ambition, in the investiture process,” he stresses.
But among the barons there is division of opinion. While Juanma Moreno supports him, others admit in private that “since he presents himself to the investiture without votes, he ends up leaving the Hemicycle as Married…”.