Married, faced with a long journey in opposition to a stable government

The leader of the PP, Pablo Casado, visits the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE). Illustrated Service (Automatic) / Europa Press

“Give up all hope.

There is a government for many years ”.

The PSOE spokeswoman in Congress, Adriana Lastra, launched this message loaded with intention on Thursday to the right-wing bench in Congress.

The approval of the Budgets buried with a stroke the PP's expectations that the Government could fall devastated by the pandemic.

It will not be like that, and Pablo Casado now faces a long journey in the opposition until the next elections.

The PP assumes that the Government has a solid majority and is preparing to mobilize the streets.

The PP has assumed that there is a coalition government for a while.

"The Budgets approved yesterday will be in effect until January 1, 2024," a popular leader ironically says about the long life that public accounts can have.

The main opposition party recognizes the stability of the Executive and its "solid parliamentary support" thanks "to the ability they have shown to arm that majority of allies, even if it is unpresentable", concedes this leader.

The scenario is clear: the Government not only does not fall, but it is stable, and the PP has a long way to go to try to replace it.

Based on that conviction, the popular have readjusted their strategy, undertaking a turn to the center and a break with Vox, and are preparing a mobilization work in the street to try to reach La Moncloa in three years.

"We must have a privileged dialogue with sectors of civil society, with companies, harmed by the Government, and that they see us as an alternative", reflects a leader.

However, the PP is not alone in that purpose: Vox and Ciudadanos fight for the same electorate and the division of the right into three brands, which prevents them from reaching power, leads the way of becoming chronic.

"We have to convince voters that only unification and coexistence under the same umbrella can give rise to the center-right to govern," they insist on the PP leadership.

It is not an easy task.

Since the break with Vox in the motion of censure, the confrontation with the extreme right is almost daily, and causes some ups and downs in the turn to the center of the PP.

Above all, because there are elections in sight in Catalonia and Vox is strong in the polls.

This Thursday, the PP parliamentary spokesperson, Cuca Gamarra, recovered the harsh language against the Government and accused Pedro Sánchez of “betraying Spain and the Spanish” for having agreed on the general budgets with ERC and Bildu.

The PP leader was compared on Wednesday with the opposition of Venezuela and Cuba in the fight for freedom in Spain, which he sees threatened.

“Casado has to do the opposite of what he has done so far.

He has been in a succession of 100-meter races.

He has to realize that a project is built from solidity and serenity ”, analyzes a regional baron, who points out two challenges for the leader of the PP.

One, internal, "integrating everyone."

The leadership has begun to renew the party structures in the provincial congresses and there is a risk that the tension of the primaries will emerge.

The other challenge is external: to consolidate the alternative to Sánchez "presenting a solid economic management project," says this baron.

The challenges accumulate to the leader of the PP, who this Thursday did not have his best day.

Casado preferred to visit the RAE instead of attending Congress on the sweet day of the socialist president, with the approval of some Budgets that grant him three more years in La Moncloa.