The Spanish right organized unity | More than 50 m …

From Madrid

The worst week of the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, since his arrival in Moncloa in June 2018, has ended with more than 50,000 people gathered on Plaza Colón in Madrid to demand that he immediately convene the elections . The Partido Popular (PP) and Ciudadanos (Cs), as well as the right wing Vox, the trident of the far-right forces who promises to rule throughout Spain, had organized a rally in the heart of Salamanca, the richest district of the country. Spanish capital, to reject the negotiation of the executive of Sanchez with the Generalitat de Catalunya, which presides over the independence party Quim Torra.

The line of contention is the figure of the "rapporteur" that the socialist executive agreed to include in a table of Catalan parties, in the framework of a document of proposals agreed between Sanchez and Torra at the meeting of Pedralbes en last December, which laid the foundation for a formal dialogue between the Spanish government and Catalan to resolve the political and territorial crisis in Catalonia.

However, Pablo Casado, leader of the PP, and Albert Rivera, president of Cs, interpreted the figure of the rapporteur as the "international mediator" that Quim Torra had asked for in a document containing 21 requests that he had sent to Sánchez in the same mandate. Pedrables. According to the PP and Cs, this actor would place the Spanish government and the Generalitat on an equal footing, as if it were a conflict between two states. The VOX leader, Santiago Abascal, who has been encouraged in recent months to say what many opponents are silent, said that accepting a rapporteur equates to independence.

The paradox is that the figure of the rapporteur at the Catalan party table, as announced by the Spanish vice-president, Elena Calvo, is not in line with the Generalitat, which was looking for a national mediator, in a non-party table. only from Catalonia, but also from all parties. Spain. In this case, after the convocation of the demonstration by the political and political party in Madrid, the socialist government announced that it was breaking off negotiations with the Generalitat of Catalonia.

In a modest setting surrounded by thousands of people with Spanish flags, Pablo Casado was the first to address the press, a few minutes after noon, the start time of the conference call. "The time of Pedro Sánchez is over, no more socialist capitulation nor more blackmail for independence," said the popular leader in a statement more moderate than the previous days, saying that the order of the day in Catalonia was identical to that of ETA and accused Sanchez of "high treason".

For its part, Rivera insisted that the legislature was exhausted and asked President Sánchez to listen to the clamor of the Spaniards who wished to vote. Although he managed to detach himself from the radical speech of the PP and the leader of Vox, who called for the suspension of the autonomous government (Catalan) in order to restore the constitutional order, he did not avoid one of his biggest fears: to be portrayed next to the president of a far right.

On Castellana Avenue, one of Madrid's main thoroughfares, and lining one of the faces of Plaza Colón, Carlos Enrique López brandishes a large Spanish flag with a group of friends. "We met several very identified colleagues with Spain, and we chartered two buses to come to amiguete plan", explains this professional Andalusian who went to Ubeda (Andalusia) with two hundred people. In principle, I was thinking of traveling on one of the buses offered by the PP to transfer their activists from different parts of Spain free of charge. However, they had to organize themselves because there was no room for them.

"This government is destroying what cost us so much money, namely stability and the union of Spain," said López, referring to the regime of 78 who threw the foundations of the Spanish political system after the Franco dictatorship. "If he holds elections, I will vote for Pablo Casado, he is a great leader who has managed to awaken many people of the pbadivity we had with the government of Mariano Rajoy."

"We are here because we want elections and the unity of Spain," said Blanca Carillo de Albornoz, a lawyer from Madrid, who helped hold a long flag among several other people. "I've voted all my life at PP, but I've been very disappointed because I believe that power is corrupting and it seems to me that Vox is bringing a new initiative that will go very well for Spain." ", did he declare.

The case of Carrillo Albornoz inscribed in a change of electoral trend clearly found in the latest polls: the loss of votes of the PP in favor of Vox. Since the Abascal party held its first big rally last year, calling on Spanish nationalism and a conservative, traditional Catholic discourse, it has grown steadily. Last November, he won 11% of the vote in the elections of the Andalusian Community, which allowed him to form a majority with the PP and the C to lead the board of directors of the largest region of Andalusia. ;Spain.

Guillermo Ariza, a communications engineer and a graduate in philosophy and literature, came alone from the Arguelles district to protest the seriousness of Pedro Sánchez's negotiations with the separatists. However, this is not his only complaint. "Good steps have been taken, such as increasing pensions or the minimum wage, but the money has to come from somewhere," he says, while the people around him are chanting " we want to vote, we want to vote "! Ariza is a traditional voter of the PP, but says that they have become very condescending with the independence movement, which is why they plan to elect Ciudadanos.

At 12:30, the call is over and begins to dissolve. Nevertheless, the collection of Spanish songs by Manolo Escobar to the gypsy kings animates several Spaniards who continue to arrive at the spring that surrounds the statue of Columbus. Marta Polvorosa is one of them and one of the many young people who participated in the call. "I think the rapporteur was the straw that broke the camel's back, but it's only a last mistake of the government, I have not decided who I will vote for, I should read the program Vox, or programs, "said Polvorosa, who only voted once and voted for the PP.

While Cs and PP refute the government delegation and claim that the call has brought together 200,000 people, Pedro Sánchez has been uploaded to Twitter. He said he respected Colón's concentration, but criticized the fact that it had been done against him when, in the unilateral declaration of independence that led to the autonomy of the PP government, he remained at the head of the opposition alongside the PP government.

With the convocation against him and the broken negotiations with the Generalitat, the fate of the Sánchez government seems to have been reversed. Tomorrow, we will begin the debate on the general budgets, which will continue only with the independence votes. It does not seem to be the best place to get the support. Less when a day later the lawsuit begins against the sovereign rulers who promoted the referendum on independence on October 1, 2017. Without a general budget, Sanchez said more than once, "the legislature is shortened" .