The general coordinator of the national PP, Elías Bendodo, and the general secretary of the party, Cuca Gamarra, this Thursday at an event in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz). Román Ríos (EFE)
The energy saving plan approved on Monday in the Council of Ministers has opened a war between the PSOE and the PP, monopolizing the political debate, and both parties are trying to equip themselves to defend their respective theses.
The so-called arguments, the texts that the leaders receive every morning to know what they should say in public, are their arsenal of words.
EL PAÍS has had access to both documents and analyzed the differences, not only between the government party and the main opposition party, but also between the national PP and the Madrid PP, the one that started the battle.
“Once again, Sánchez against Madrid”
The Government's energy saving plan follows a European commitment.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission and member of the European PP, said a few days ago: “Russia is using gas as a weapon.
We have to address our energy security at a European level.”
Brussels agreed last July – with the possibility of exceptions depending on the degree of dependence on the Russian supply – a 15% cut in gas consumption among the Member States at a time of maximum uncertainty due to the war in Ukraine and what Vladimir could do Putin.
The argument of the Madrid PP says it is "aligned with the EU guidelines", but poses the savings plan as "a measure by Sánchez to harm Madrid", which they say, has "special circumstances".
Following the Ayuso doctrine that the community he presides over “is Spain”,
the text assures: “It is not about Madrid being unsupportive, but about common sense.
If the activity of the economic engine of Spain is damaged, the economy of the entire country is damaged”.
The argument of the national PP does not include that the plan is a measure against a specific autonomous community, although it does criticize "the lack of consensus".
Ayuso and Trump
The argument of the PSOE, for its part, ensures that, "once again, the president of the Community of Madrid is placed at the tail of solidarity in Spain and Europe."
While measures are being taken in other countries "so as not to give in to Putin's blackmail", they add, "Ayuso once again chooses Donald Trump's strategy and prefers decorative lights to the well-being of the people of Madrid".
About the presentation, this week, of the Christmas lighting in Vigo, where the socialist Abel Caballero governs, the party says nothing in its answer guide.
The councilor has defended himself against criticism by assuring that, although the 11 million LED lights will be placed in some 400 streets, more than in 2021, this year they will be on one hour less to "reduce energy consumption by 14%".
The decree law of the Government does not contemplate Christmas lighting.
References to the pandemic: “Madrid resisted and will resist again”
Unlike the argument of the national PP, that of the Madrid PP includes references to the coronavirus crisis.
"How many families endured the stoppage of economic activity during the pandemic?"
they wonder, ignoring that the restrictions were applied in many countries around the world.
The popular people of Madrid boast of their rebellion: “We already demonstrated it during the pandemic, keeping the hotel industry open.
Total closure was the easiest measure to apply, but also the most damaging.
Now Sánchez also intends to apply measures that directly harm the business fabric.
Madrid resisted and will resist again”, they assure.
Von der Leyen put precisely the coronavirus as an example of the opposite: “We learned during the pandemic that if we act together, we can tackle any crisis.
To comply or not to comply: The PP tries to back down
Isabel Díaz Ayuso's tweet on Monday threatening to breach the decree law - "Madrid does not turn off" - dragged the national PP that, by not disavowing her, encouraged refusal despite the fact that days before, Feijóo had proposed similar measures and had even gone further than the Government, by proposing savings in night lighting, with more impact on safety.
Said Elías Bendodo, general coordinator of the party, on Tuesday: "It is the autonomous communities and municipalities that have to decide whether to apply it or not."
And Cuca Gamarra, general secretary, said this Thursday: "When things are imposed on people instead of dialoguing, they rebel."
But both the national PP and the Madrid PP try to reduce little by little their threats of non-compliance,
aware of its seriousness and its incompatibility with the image of a "state party" that they claim every day.
From "Madrid does not go out" the Madrid PP has gone on to: "Everything that is mandatory, we will comply, but where the decree does not oblige us because it is within the scope of our powers and harms the people of Madrid, we will not apply it" .
And from the "freedom" to decide whether or not what Bendodo said is fulfilled, the national PP has gone to "we understand the anger of autonomous communities and city councils", each autonomy can "defend its interests" and it is still not clear how going to apply
Nor mu about possible resources against the norm in the last guide of Genoa.
but where the decree does not oblige us because it is within the scope of our powers and harms the people of Madrid, we will not apply it”.
And from the "freedom" to decide whether or not what Bendodo said is fulfilled, the national PP has gone to "we understand the anger of autonomous communities and city councils", each autonomy can "defend its interests" and it is still not clear how going to apply
Nor mu about possible resources against the norm in the last guide of Genoa.
but where the decree does not oblige us because it is within the scope of our powers and harms the people of Madrid, we will not apply it”.
And from the "freedom" to decide whether or not what Bendodo said is fulfilled, the national PP has gone to "we understand the anger of autonomous communities and city councils", each autonomy can "defend its interests" and it is still not clear how going to apply
Nor mu about possible resources against the norm in the last guide of Genoa.
Gamarra leaned this Thursday on the Basque nationalists, recalling that the Government of Euskadi is also opposed to the energy saving plan, although he announced that he is going to comply with it.
“Is the PNV selfish too?” he asked.
The general secretary rejected that the Executive gives them "lessons on compliance with the law" when "it speaks of dejudicializing politics so that those who have fled from justice are not accountable to it" and "does not urge law enforcement in Catalonia to those who violate education in Spanish”.
In the first case, she was referring to the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont, who fled from justice after the
procés
, with a judicial procedure that continues its course and without any state institution having taken any decision that prevents him from being tried in Spain if he is handed over.
As for the possible reform of the crime of sedition, which would reduce his sentence, the Government does not have a sufficient majority for its approval.
It is true that the Executive has shielded the Catalan rule on languages in the classrooms with which the application of the ruling of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia, which set 25% of classes in Spanish, was stopped by not resorting to the Court Constitutional.
Both arguments, both that of the national PP and that of Madrid, maintain that there are experts who question the saving measures approved by the Government.
The Madrid vice president, Enrique Ossorio, declared this Thursday that they have found "faults, some of them blundering" in the decree and that according to professors, the sanctioning regime "has been poorly articulated" and "probably" is unconstitutional.
The one from the PSOE points directly to Feijóo, “hidden, like every time Ayuso speaks”: “Do you agree with Ayuso's decision not to collaborate with Europe so as not to give in to Putin and continue supporting Ukraine?
Either he is with Europe or he is with Putin”, they stress.
Around with the Falcon
Another of the issues in which the arguments of the national PP and that of Ayuso coincide is in linking the savings that citizens are asked for with the waste that, in their opinion, the Executive makes.
"The most expensive government and with more ministries does not get off the Falcon and continues to increase its advisers," reads the Madrid text.
"It is pure inconsistency and selfishness with all the letters," declared Gamarra, "that Sánchez wants energy savings by taking off his tie and then getting on a Falcon and a helicopter."
The presidents of the Government travel in the planes that the State has to guarantee their safety.
50% off
Subscribe to continue reading
read without limits
Keep reading
I'm already a subscriber