The president of Ciudadanos, Inés Arrimadas, this Monday, in Seville.JOAQUÍN CORCHERO-EUROPA PRESS (Europa Press)
One week after
number three
of the PP, Elías Bendodo, described as "error" his own statements in which he proclaimed the "plurinationality" of the State and the debate on the territorial model defended by its new leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, broke out within the Popular Party, Ciudadanos Contraataca .
Inés Arrimadas's party, which defines itself as "constitutionalist", has taken the banner of staunch defense of the "unity" of Spain and the "equality" of all the territories one step further by proposing, this Monday, a reform of the Constitution in Congress.
Cs has registered in the lower house a non-law proposal to eliminate from article 2 of the Magna Carta the reference to "nationalities and regions", and introduce a recognition "on an equal footing" of the 17 autonomous communities.
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The debate on Spain revives the two souls of the PP
The initiative has been announced by Arrimadas during an informative breakfast organized by Europa Press together with the candidate for the Board, Juan Marín, in Seville.
“This is the only party that defends the autonomy of Andalusia within a nation of free and equal citizens.
Others do not want Andalusia to have autonomy to decide their things.
And others want there to continue to be first-class and second-class territories ”, underlined the president of Cs during her intervention in the pre-campaign act for the Andalusian elections on June 19.
The party boasts of being the "only one" that defends the unity of Spain —before Feijóo's territorial approach—, and of the Autonomous State, —against Vox, which wants to repeal them—.
Article 2 of the Constitution guarantees “the right to autonomy of the nationalities and regions” that make up Spain (without specifying which communities are one thing and which are another), and without mentioning the concept of a “plurinational” State.
According to the writing of the proposal presented by Cs this Monday, “the wording of the precept accepts the unequivocal existence of the Spanish nation, leaves the door open to a tortuous interpretation of the concept of nationality, beyond due recognition of diversity, to justify non-existent sovereignties and the rupture of the unity of Spain and the constitutional order”.
It also contemplates that "this model, operational at the time, has been overwhelmed by events and the lack of loyalty of the nationalist actors."
Cs's proposal to erase the terms "nationalities and regions" comes less than a month after the regional elections to the Andalusian Government and with an uphill campaign.
The latest study by the Center for Andalusian Studies (Centra), published a month and a half ago – when the electoral advance was already expected before summer – grants two seats to Ciudadanos in the next elections, compared to the 21 that it achieved in 2018.
"We have to get rid of people's idea that the defense of the unity of Spain is something from the right," stresses a party leader.
Ciudadanos was born, precisely, in Catalonia, at the risk of its fight against independence.
And where now it only maintains six deputies in the Parliament, after the collapse in the autonomous polls of February 2021, when it fell from 36 seats.
"We have to recover our hallmark against nationalism to stay afloat," adds another position of the directive.
How many nations does Spain have?
What is this "own language"?
Does language make people?
This and much more this afternoon in Congress.
pic.twitter.com/N8ydrIn5iN
– Guillermo Díaz 🇪🇸 (@GuillermoDiazCs) May 17, 2022
Last week, the party already gave clues about the offensive that it would launch after the words of Bendodo and Feijóo himself, who, in Barcelona, spoke of "Catalan nationality".
On Tuesday, the deputy of Cs Guillermo Díaz criticized the speech of the president of the PP in the tribune of the Congress.
“What is the
cocoa
coming from the recent plurinationality?
Are you clear how many nations Spain has?
Nationalism is the lethal ideology that rots minds and annihilates coexistence”, snapped the Malaga parliamentarian to the popular caucus.