The European People's Party will transfer its next summit to Spain to promote Feijóo in his race towards La Moncloa

The PP knows that Pedro Sánchez is going to take advantage of the current presidency of the European Union, from July 1 to December 31, to project his international profile in the campaign for the general elections at the end of the year.

This external profile, cultivated especially by the President of the Government this legislature, is one of its main advantages in the political battle against the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who has just served as president of the Xunta de Galicia for 13 years and barely He has worked on his projection beyond Spain.

But Feijóo will also have help.

The European Popular Party (PPE), aware of the importance of the 2023 Spanish elections, where the PP has options to achieve power, has decided to move its next summit to Malaga to help the popular leader in his race towards La Moncloa,

as confirmed by PPE sources to EL PAÍS.

The conclave, which will be held on June 23 and 24, will be invited by the main figures of the center-right in Europe, from the presidents of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen;

and from the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola;

to European prime ministers and leaders.

The popular Europeans will meet in Spain in June in what is known as an informal summit, that is, a two-day retreat in which they will be locked up to discuss strategies and issues of interest to the party behind closed doors.

In this case, the priority will be to define the strategic approach for the 2024 European Parliament elections, but also the common position of the EPP on immigration or the economy, explain party sources.

The meeting will be held in a context of a crossroads for the center-right, threatened by the rise of the populist extreme right in Europe and without command in any of the main European powers, once Germany has a Social Democratic prime minister, Olaf Scholz;

France is chaired by the centrist Emmanuel Macron,

It does not seem that the PPE is going to cause Feijóo special problems in the event that the PP agrees with Vox, after having already swallowed the Italian toad.

The president of the European conservatives, Manfred Weber, last August blessed Forza Italia's coalition with the far-right parties of the League and Brothers of Italy.

However, the meeting in Malaga will be held just after the municipal and regional elections in May, where Feijóo will face the dilemma of agreements with the extreme right.

It is not by chance that the next PPE summit is being held in Spain.

Party sources acknowledge the importance of the Spanish elections, scheduled for December this year, due to Spain's weight in the EU and the chances that the center-right party led by Feijóo will seize power.

The popular Europeans also have the electoral appointment in Finland (April 2) marked on the calendar, where the conservatives start well placed in front of the Social Democratic Prime Minister, Sanna Marin;

and in Poland (fall), where former Prime Minister Donald Tusk is fighting for his former post against the ultra-conservative ruling party of Law and Justice.

The general secretary of the PPE, the Greek Thanasis Bakolas, has traveled to Madrid this week to meet with Feijóo and other members of the popular leadership, such as the general secretary, Cuca Gamarra;

and the general coordinator, Elías Bendodo;

in order to meet personally and discuss the congress in Malaga.

Feijóo and his team are aware that one of their weak points is the low international profile of the PP leader compared to Sánchez.

Although in Genoa they believe that the elections are not won by external projection, the PP is trying to erode that image of Sánchez.

Feijóo questioned his leadership in Europe in the debate this Tuesday in the Senate arguing that the Spanish economy is the most disadvantaged student of the 27 because it has not recovered its pre-pandemic GDP.

And yesterday, the PP used the fact that the King of Morocco, Mohamed VI, did not receive the president during the XII High Level Meeting in Rabat to criticize his "international featherweight".

“Half of his government stands up to him and the king dispatches him by phone.

It's hard to make a fool of yourself anymore," said Elías Bendodo.

"We are not happy about this, but Spain gives an image of weakness,"

of the popular

But Feijóo still has to open a gap in the European spaces of power, where he is a newcomer and, on the other hand, Sánchez's good relationship with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is known, despite the fact that German politics belongs to the EPP.

In the European conservative party they recognize that Sánchez is a tough rival for Feijóo and well-connected in Europe, and it is admitted, however, as a problem for his European projection that the popular leader does not speak English.

The leadership of the popular Europeans closely follows Spanish politics and Feijóo's latest decisions.

In the leadership of the PPE, his decision to accept the current law on abortion deadlines has been positively valued, despite the PP's appeal against the rule to the Constitutional Court.

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