Two Pages for victory: Emiliano and his twin, both against the PP and against Sánchez

Emiliano's mother – now we will see – had to lie to the priest once. Actually, he had to hide a little bit of truth from her.. In the case of an electoral campaign, we will be satisfied if we manage to hear a story with characteristics similar to that of the García-Page matriarch and her priest. Almost the whole truth.

“A more intimate profile”, was the request transferred to the cabinet of the president of Castilla-La Mancha. He first accepted his team and now he seems to accept it when he tells about his eye. It is an opportunity to open the way to a different talk, to what the eyes do not see.

García-Page is the villain most feared by Ferraz. The good left through the prism of the right. The left complexed in the imaginary of Podemos. What turns life gives! Page became president of his land with the support of Podemos. But that is another life, politics, which will be of little interest here.. Everything goes very fast, everything is complex. Everything is that “ceremony of confusion” that Arrabal wrote.

Before coming, we have opened the photo album of the García-Page family. There are some in which it is impossible to distinguish Emiliano from Javier, his twin brother. Emiliano knows how to tell us who is who because his mother told him so.

Twin brothers are determined. Even more those who get along. “I cannot comment on what it means not to have it, but I look at others and it does seem very different,” he greets.

The most beautiful place in the room is a large stone fireplace, but it is very hot and the president's office prefers to sit in front of us, next to the window, because “it is summer and it would seem strange”. But Page looks at the fireplace when he talks about his family, like he's singing a Christmas song.

“It is a truly precious thing. You never feel alone in life. In addition, it establishes a relational hierarchy order. We are five brothers, but the other three know that Javier and I are on one side; and then the others”, he says.

In the photos you can see some children already grown, but immersed in the amazement of the sea. Leaning from the balcony of a very tall building, in Cullera. His parents, children of the war, took a long time to go on vacation. Emiliano did not see the widest blue until he was fifteen.

-Five brothers.

–My parents, since they had no money, only looked for the first. Then the rest of us were born… My mother, very practicing, went to see the priest and told him: “I don't want to have any more children.”. I was already five! The priest was one of those of the Council of Trent: “You will have what God sends you.”

But he didn't have more, right?

-That's the same thing we ask him: “Mother, how did you fix it?”. She replied: “I stopped going to confession until I got older and couldn't get pregnant anymore.”. There yes, he confessed again.

-Brave.

-It was tremendous!

He died two years ago.

–The death of a mother is one of the worst loneliness, but I never felt alone at all. For my twin brother. I know it's hard to explain.

–Try it.

–That feeling that you know what he thinks about everything and at all times… Not by telepathy or anything like that, but by a very special empathy. it makes sense. It's a prenatal empathy. That, as I was saying, marks a point of difference with respect to the other brothers. It doesn't diminish the affection by any means, but it's different. They get it.

Doña Gregoria, García-Page's mother, died in the middle of the pandemic. She tested positive for coronavirus. She was admitted and overcame the disease. On her return home, she relapsed, was admitted again and died.

At that time, a video went viral in which the president of Castilla-La Mancha appeared strange, as if altered. His detractors called him “drunk”. He would end up confessing that he was full of medication. He did not sleep. Page, in fact, has been an insomniac for years, but the four or five hours a day of rest was reduced to three.

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The pandemic pushed him into the stirrup. A place he had never been before. It was also at that time that his divorce was reported in the media. It is he himself who, after a few seconds of silence, continues the conversation: “I had a terrible time with the pandemic.. I was very medicated, I didn't sleep at all. And you know what?

– Say.

–When I have had such hard problems, my brothers talked to my twin instead of me. They believed, and they were right, that this was the most effective way to find out how I was, what I needed.

It works the other way too, sure.

-That is. When it was Javier who was wrong, my brothers asked me. It's very beautiful, all this is very beautiful, what am I going to say.

[Even at the risk of breaking the chimney climate, we shoot an arrow to see what happens]

–But Pedro Sánchez, for example, if he wants to know your concerns, does he also call his twin brother?

-No no! [lets out a laugh]. But I'm going to tell you something: one day, my brother came with me to a meeting I had with Sánchez in Ferraz.

-Come now.

-Yes Yes. It was after those generals in which the PSOE tried to investiture through a pact with Ciudadanos. We had to support him from outside Podemos, but they did not and the operation failed. Well, at that time, we first had to decide what came first: whether to agree with Ciudadanos and then ask Podemos for support; or agree with Podemos and then ask Ciudadanos for support.

–And what did you and your brother tell Sánchez?

–We asked him to agree first with Ciudadanos [he finally did, although later it was useless because Podemos voted against]. On occasion, Pedro has met my brother at a meeting and has greeted him.

–But did you greet him by mistake thinking it was you or do you recognize him?

Yes, it does distinguish us.. It's easier as adults. For children, it was very complicated. We were always in the same cart. As a joke, I usually say that we carried the PSOE pennant in the cart. Our hobby of politics is very vocational.

Does your brother also have that vocation?

Yes, my brother is also a socialist.. And it has a political vocation, but with another vital approach.

The same vision of Sánchez

The Page brothers were never able to impersonate each other. because they went places together. To school, to university, with friends. “If there was an exam, we both had it.”

The worst thing for Javier –says the president of Castilla-La Mancha– is that the Civil Guard is squared off. Javier goes so calm through any town in his land and, plas!, they square up to him. “He doesn't dislike it, he says it's fine, but it worries him!”

–They have told us that your twin brother has political influence over you, that your opinion matters to him.

-Yes it's correct. Among the opinions that one receives, there are those of First, Second and Third. My brother's are from Champions. Also, in our case, and it shouldn't have to happen, we share a very similar perspective on things.

Is he going to campaign with you?

-Maybe he will come to a rally, but I don't know. Normally, he does not like to go. Because, although people know that he is my brother, they end up asking him for the photo and even asking him for more things. In the end, you don't have much to gain from those places [he breaks out laughing].

–You and your twin brother are from the PSOE. Does he also share the “drift” of the national leadership?

Yes, my brother thinks like me.. He is very clear that, in my decision-making, I combine factors that he does not control. In other words: I accumulate more pieces of the puzzle. But it helps me compose it.

–Damn, in case Sánchez didn't have enough with one Page… now he has two!

–There is much more than two Pages. Many people [referring to socialists] who think in a different direction. And it should be normal. The PSOE has to win in heterogeneity. There have been moments where different opinions were more tolerated. If a party withdraws, it is considered the navel of the world and ends up in a process of self-absorption.

–As for example, always granting interviews to the same station.

– I attend to all. Not in the same way because obviously there are codes of behavior based on what you expect. But don't be afraid of the media. Opposite the freedom to ask is the freedom in the answer.

–We have seen the three of them in a photo. Pedro and the two Pages: Emiliano and Javier. still the relationship was good. You said: “Pedro is so big that he needs two like me.”

–Hey, but did I send you that photo?

No, but it's around. It is from several years ago.

How have things changed, yes?. Pedro is tall. My brother Javier and I are the highest part of the family, but still…

–Are the rest of your brothers also socialists? There will have to be someone on the right!

–Everyone votes PSOE [the certainty with which he says it is overwhelming]. It may be, to a large extent, by my presence. We share a certain mentality. It is not that they instilled it in us at home because my parents are from that generation that has the trauma of war tattooed on it.

We have talked about your mother before.. Now talk about your father, Doroteo.

–He was orphaned at the age of seven because my grandfather was shot by the Republicans. It's not that he was convinced of the cause or anything like that. He had a very good relationship with the Carmelite friars and protected them. In the end, they shot the friars and my grandfather. At the age of seven, my father was collecting potato peelings and cigarette butts to survive [for a moment, he gets excited].

He didn't talk about politics, I imagine.

He wasn't even looking for democracy.. He had an atrocious fear of politics. Then, after a long time, he was proud of me and supported me.

–On her mother's side, the war also left an indelible mark on her.

Yes, in this case the other way around.. The Francoists had my other grandfather retaliated for four years, building a swamp. Neither of them inoculated me with hatred or rancor. Politics was absent from family discussions. When they found out I was starting to go to meetings, they would tell me, “Be very careful.”

-These war wounds determine the family history.

-Yeah. Above all, in those children of the war who were our fathers and mothers. His only approach was that his children lived a better life than his.. Everything was effort and absolute dedication. They were the “just in case” generation.

–Always with the feeling that they were going to lack something: money, food…

–Already stabilized, retired, my parents did not want to go on vacation. We encouraged them, but it was very difficult. “You have to save in case we get sick, in case something happens to you.”

–You and your four brothers were able to study.

–Thanks to the scholarships approved by the government of Felipe González. I say it very proud. All the brothers got a career thanks to that. My parents couldn't help us with the studies. Already in EGB we handled concepts superior to what they knew.

His father was a bookbinder.

–Printer and bookbinder, yes. a very nice profession. He made truly precious books. He always told us: “I dedicate myself to taking care of the books on the outside, but you have to learn what is inside”.

the altar boy

On one of those occasions when Page spoke of the lack of internal democracy in the PSOE, he went on to say that, with the exception of Sánchez, all the others in the party were “altar boys”.

It was a hindsight truth. Because little Emiliano attended the priest of a convent in Toledo as an altar boy, the city of which he was mayor between 2007 and 2015, when he made the leap to the presidency of the Autonomous Community.

It's very hot this morning in Toledo. The old streets have been flooded with tourists. Page has forgotten that he was very hot when he entered the room. high ceilings, white walls. An interior patio. The verses are missing, they are coming, we are going to talk about God.

–Have you kept the faith of the altar boy? Do you still believe in God?

–I am a believer. If one day it is not possible to reconcile my personal convictions with my militancy, I would choose to leave the PSOE. There are many believers in this party. Practitioners, surely less. But not only in the PSOE, but in society in general. Religious beliefs, in form, suffer from a tremendous level of hypocrisy.

–Go on.

–The PSOE sometimes confuses. It is not the same to question the Catholic hierarchy than the symbols.

–Translate.

–It is not the same to criticize what a bishop says than to mess with the Virgen del Prado de Talavera. Respect for symbols is a symptom of democratic and intellectual maturity. I'll tell you something: the two big funds for the church came from the PSOE. The first was from González. The second, from Zapatero, who is by far the democratic president who has given the church the best economic treatment.

– Now an agreement has just been closed according to which the privileges of the church are extended to the rest of confessions.

–After what was heard and said that the PSOE was going to end the concordat. In the end, the PSOE has an extraordinary ideological code, but also a practical sense of things. It is clear that places cannot be beaten and that it is necessary to govern for all. I'm talking about the vast majority, huh? [when he does the nuance, we think what you, the reader, are also thinking].

–Translate again: now the code and the practical sense.

–If I went to an act and said that the concordat must be ended, everyone would applaud me. But when it was over, almost all those people would come up to ask me to go to such a pilgrimage and such a procession.

–Did you want to become a priest or was it not a big deal?

-No. Because, at a certain age, it was clear to me that I wanted to get a girlfriend. When you ask yourself that question and answer in the affirmative, the rest is superfluous.

A national Page?

When the elections approach, the ruling party usually faces the polls threatened by attrition. We already know what Page thinks of Moncloa, but we don't know what Page thinks of what will come next in Ferraz if Sánchez falls. Because whether it's now or in the future, that time will come. Then what? What is “pajismo”? It was he who introduced the term in an interview with Alsina, but immediately realized how bad it sounded and…

Who among the protest leaders has the ambition to reach the general secretary of the PSOE? Actually, in that category we could only include Javier Lambán and Emiliano García-Page. The second is before us.

– Are your friends or party leaders asking you to take that step?

–On the contrary, I find more people asking me not to leave here. And I value that more than the opposite. You have to be useful where you are. If they don't want me to go, that's a good message.

–But, would you consider taking that step to lead the PSOE?

I don't know what will happen and I don't think anyone does.

– Do you have a vocation as a national politician?

What I don't have is anxiety. For the way I am, for the life I have led, I am enormously satisfied to have come this far.. With the good and with the bad. If it is for vanity, I will not take that step.

And if it's for politics?

–If someone likes politics and says they do not want to intervene in the national debate, they are cheating. I care and am affected by national politics. ambition would not move me. But I will lend myself to help as much as possible so that things go well in this country.. I have it very clear.

–With that phrase, many will headline: “Page threatens to make the leap to the general secretariat of the PSOE”.

–I do not feint, I speak clearly. I will contribute and push in any direction. But there are many competent people in Spain, even younger ones.. Each generation has an obligation to try to solve the problems before it. It is important that we get out of this feeling of exclusive frontism.

–Speak clearly.

-That thing that what the government does is hated by the other half. It gives the impression that some ministers want to be hated by the other half of the country that does not think like them. So can not be. The general interests of a country are never those of one half. That is the key to the schizophrenia in which we live. Those who do not have an ideology seem as dangerous to me as those who think that their ideology is the only one that counts.

How is Sanchez?

–And since we are talking about privacy: what is Sánchez really like? Does he correspond in the short distance with that archetype of a cryptic and cold man?

–The Sánchez that I know is basically the one that is seen on TV. I wish I had the chance to go further. Knowing the people who have these positions is very important. Some criticized me for going to that dinner with Bono, Zapatero, Iglesias and Errejón [when Podemos was a media phenomenon].. How could I not go?

–Sanchez.

–I would have liked to have a space of personal trust with him, if anyone has had it. Of course, it has not been my case.

– Did you try it?

I am naturally very expansive. I enter right away with whom they allow themselves to be friends. The image I have of him is, 99%, the one that everyone has. We have not had a level of camaraderie to talk about family, friends… No. I am not a good witness to answer your question.

Feijóo and Ayuso

Internal criticism has rained down on Page for not having spoken ill of Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Isabel Díaz Ayuso. He does not share a political creed with them, but he likes them. and does not hide it. In these times, the fact that a politician speaks well personally of a rival is much more morbid than the opposite.

In an interview with 13TV, Page was asked which rival he would choose to go on a rural getaway. He chose Ayuso. With the Madrilenian president, one can’t get bored. She is a scandalous politician, as if born in Raphael’s song.

 -How do you get on with her?

 -How do you get on with her?

-We get along well. I don’t agree politically with a lot of the things she says. I guess she doesn’t agree with me either. But one thing doesn’t take away from the other. It’s not just that we have to understand each other because we are neighbors of an autonomous community. Ayuso is a character who was born recently in politics and who makes a great effort to define her own space. I am interested in these profiles. I do not consider her a direct adversary.

-And Feijóo? 

– What about Feijóo?

-When he was president of Galicia, we signed important agreements. And I think they were sincere. He was given a touch of attention by the leaders of Genoa when he signed them. They threatened to criticize me in Ferraz. Lambán and I signed those agreements with Feijóo above partisan discipline and in favor of our regions.

-AND?

–They began to say in my party: “Why doesn't Page mess with Feijóo?”. Because Feijóo has never given me an excuse to do it. Furthermore, if you are Prime Minister, I am interested in being able to remind you of the agreements you signed.

–With Feijóo did you cross that ice barrier that you did not cross with Sánchez?

–We have talked about the vicissitudes of each one within his party. The problems that each one had at home could be extrapolated.

-There was complicity, then.

–Yes, enough. They criticized me for not calling him “insolvent”. Bad things can be said about everyone, but how can I say that about someone who has been president of Galicia for so many years, against all odds, and with exceptionally good relations with the PSOE governments? Many ministers from my party told me that Feijóo was a valid interlocutor with whom one worked very well.

The Page's twerking

Page doesn't like to dance, but he listens to Bruce Springsteen and it shows. He also collects maps. What for most people is a pain in the ass, give them maps! For the president of Castilla-La Mancha it is a delight.

Stroll through the International Tourism Fair with the avidity of a politician in campaign. He keeps everything. He came to have two storage rooms. He collects maps, his friends call him, because of his initials: Garcia-Page Sanchez, GPS.

Page has two children, a girl of 24 and a boy of 19. She is a doctor, just passed the MIR. He is still studying. We have talked about the whole family, but not about them. 

-We ended up talking about the future. Your children.

-You have me thrilled, so proud. When they call me, it pops up on the cell phone, “Crack Daughter” and “David Top.” They are very different from each other. But they’re both taller and smarter than their father.. Those were the two conditions I put on them as children and they have fulfilled them. Being tall and handsome helps a lot, huh? We know that we are not. My children are the definitive argument to say that life is more positive than negative.

–The last name weighs. And more in small cities, like Toledo.

They had a hard time at school.. They had to listen to some comments that… They are different. My daughter has suffered more. The kid takes it differently. They both already drive, but logically they don't if they drink. Still, believe it or not, they have me going at three in the morning to look for them.

–Do the people of Toledo meet the president of Castilla-La Mancha when they leave the disco? There, standing at the door.

–And what is worse: in sneakers and shorts. I play a taxi driver. My children know that I have a good character. They are also aware that the family name complicates their lives. That’s why they ask me for things. They know that I will accept to make it up to them. They end up abusing me.

-What about in the car? 

– How about in the car?

-I pick up five or six and give them a ride. I hope they don’t read the interview, but I confess that it’s very good for me to take them. Because I learn, it connects me with those generations. I know what they call making love now and it’s not what they used to say in my day. There is one thing I do get wrong.

-Which one. 

-When they ride, they change the music for me. They play the perreo.. I find it lively, it’s fine, but the lyrics are infamous. Especially for women.

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-If we come to party in Toledo, we’ll call him to come pick us up. That way we save the cab. 

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-Perfect. I won’t be lazy or have the slightest problem. Look, on Saturdays, when I’m free, I sometimes get up at six in the morning and go with my twin brother to lunch in Lisbon. In the evening we’re back. See? We had started the interview talking about him. It all starts and ends with my brother.