The president of the Popular Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, intervenes in the IV Popular Pilgrimage of O Pino (A Coruña), last Saturday. César Arxina (Europa Press)
Alberto Núñez Feijóo wants to attract the spotlight as head of the opposition in Congress during the debate on the state of the nation, which will be held from July 12 to 14.
Although he cannot intervene because he is not a deputy, the president of the PP has decided that he will attend and take a seat in the seat that he has the right to occupy as a senator, a position he accepted on May 25.
The popular president will occupy the seat of the secretary general, Cuca Gamarra, who will intervene to defend the position of the PP.
The second day, yes, Feijóo will be absent during part of the session because the PP celebrates its summer school on the same dates, scheduled previously.
More information
The first State of the Nation Debate since 2015 will be held from July 12 to 14
The PP had studied all the legal options to try to get Feijóo to intervene in the debate on the state of the nation, which is the first since 2015, but found that there was no margin.
The leader of the PP is a senator and the regulations of Congress state that he can only attend without a voice.
However, Feijóo will get the symbolic image of the opposition leadership sitting on the bench.
The head of the conservatives may also make statements before or after on the premises of Congress, and it is likely that he will.
The objective is not to be displaced in the most relevant debate of national politics.
Of course: there will be the paradox that Pedro Sánchez will be able to address him personally when he criticizes the PP, because he will have it in front of him, and Feijóo will not be able to answer him.
In any case, Feijóo will not be present every day in the Chamber.
The party calculates that the popular leader will attend on the 12th, but on the 13th only part of it, before going to the PP's summer school in El Escorial (Madrid).
The popular argue that this forum, organized by the European People's Party, was convened before the days of the debate were known, and that it is not possible to change the dates because there are international guests.
The PP complains that the delay in holding the debate on the state of the nation is "a democratic anomaly" and an "insult to Congress", in the words of the general coordinator, Elías Bendodo, this Monday at a press conference in the national headquarters in calle Génova in Madrid after the management committee.
The last debate was held in 2015, with Mariano Rajoy as Prime Minister.
Rajoy did not call it in 2016, nor in 2017, nor in 2018, and in 2019 the general elections were held —in election years the custom is not to hold it—.
Pedro Sánchez hasn't brought him together for three years either.
"The deterioration of the institutions in Spain that this Government promotes is unstoppable," Bendodo complained.