Sánchez, on Rubiales: "One cannot aspire to represent Spain with attitudes and speeches that embarrass us"

The acting President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, was one of the first representatives of Spanish politics who censured not only the forced kiss that the suspended leader of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, gave to the footballer Jennifer Hermoso, but his lukewarm apology, implicitly urging her resignation, when he warned that forgiveness was not enough. With the controversy revived after knowing that the Higher Sports Council (CSD) will not be able to disqualify the federation leader, the secretary general of the PSOE has insisted on reproaching his conduct. Sánchez also wanted to put the reaction of the players of the national team, as well as society as a whole, as an example of both the progress in the fight for equality in this country and its fragility – in check after the regional and municipal government agreements – at the start of the political course of the Socialists this Saturday in Malaga.

"Spain is a feminist country. Our players have won twice: on the field and giving a lesson in equality between men and women," said Sánchez. "A long time ago there were very few who put themselves at the forefront of the effective struggle for equality of men and women, but today it is an unstoppable wave that has decided not to submit to their boyfriends, husbands, bosses and presidents of sports federations. It's over," said the socialist leader, endorsing the message of support in networks to Hermoso and the rest of the players of the selection.

Although without citing him, Sánchez has reproached the "shameful" behavior of Rubiales, first on August 20, in the box clutching his testicles during the final of the Women's World Cup and with the kiss not consented, and then, with his speech at the RFEF assembly, in which he announced that he was not going to resign and accused "false feminism" of committing "a social murder" against him. "One cannot aspire to represent Spain with attitudes and speeches that embarrass us," he said. However, the acting president has maintained that he does not consider that this behavior has worsened the image of Spain abroad. "All this controversy has not harmed the Spain brand, because the Spain brand is the exemplary reaction of Spanish footballers and the spectacular reaction of Spanish society that has said enough is enough."

The words of the leader of the PSOE come a day after it was confirmed that the Superior Council of Sports can not remove Rubiales from office, after the Administrative Court of Sport (TAD) decided to qualify the facts of the federative leader only as serious, and not very serious, which closes the doors to an immediate deprivation of their responsibilities. A setback for the Government that has now chosen to activate the path of precautionary suspension, of uncertain future.

Sánchez has also taken the opportunity to contrast that commitment in favor of equality – "there are millions of men committed to you, we are going to do it together and together because Spain is a feminist country, regardless of who it weighs," he said – with the danger that the government pacts between the PP and Vox pose for that struggle, the last signed this Friday in the region of Murcia. "If there is an equality that is at risk, it is that of men and women, as a result of the agreements that PP and Vox are reaching." The socialist leader has given as examples the decision of the president of the Valencian Parliament, Llanos Massó, of Vox, to absent herself from the minute of silence for the latest sexist murder in Alzira; or the photographs with the pre-constitutional flag of the Director General of Justice of Aragon, Esmeralda Pastor.

The acting president has also referred to policies developed by regional executives led exclusively by the PP, without the help of the far right: "In Andalusia [Juan Manuel] Moreno Bonilla continues to finance anti-abortion associations and in La Rioja the PP with an absolute majority has removed the name of a library of Almudena Grandes. " "The problem is not Vox, the problem is that the PP has assimilated each and every one of the policies of the far-right party."

"Progressive Spain exists and deserves respect"

Sánchez has lashed out against "the fake investiture" that these days tries the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and has lamented that "with this lie of the investiture is wasting precious time to Spain in order to buy time at the head of the PP ". The acting president also recalled the latest agreement between the parties of Feijóo and Abascal in Murcia to avoid an electoral repetition. "In these weeks there are some certainties that we can draw and, today, after the coalition agreement in Murcia, is that no one doubts that if Feijóo and Abascal had added an absolute majority, it would have been the same as in the municipalities and communities where they add an absolute majority. "

The socialist leader has also claimed his legitimacy to try to form a government: "Progressive Spain exists, demands respect and deserves to be represented." To settle that claim, he has confronted the statements that the popular are making to shore up the right of Feijóo to present himself to the investiture: "They say that we are not a party of State, but they have been blocking the constitution of the General Council of the Judiciary for five years, "said Sánchez, who has again offered the PP to commit, whether he is at the head of the Government or in the opposition, to renew that body before December 31, 2023.

He has also disdained the offer of a two-year legislature, which Feijóo made last Wednesday: "They say they offer stability, we offer a four-year government to continue advancing in rights and social conquests." On the appeal to the support of socialist deputies, Sánchez has been resounding: "They talk about democratic regeneration, but they appeal to transfuguismo and that is corruption, it is altering the result of the polls and that is undignified."

Sánchez has not alluded to the proposal of the lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu to "advance in the plurinational character of the State and in the development of the Basque self-government" and in which the leader of the PNV, Andoni Ortuzar, returned to influence this Friday ensuring that the situation of Spanish politics offers at this time to the leader of the PSOE "a historic opportunity" to "recognize the national realities of the State". The secretary general of the PSOE has referred to the fact that the "Spain that comes is that of coexistence and dialogue between territories".

The socialist leader has again chosen Andalusia as the stage to present his proposals. If at the gates of the general elections he chose Dos Hermanas, in Seville – talisman city for the presidents of the PSOE – to launch the pre-campaign, he has now chosen Malaga to show the socialist militants and sympathizers his roadmap for the coming weeks, at a start of the political course marked by the uncertainty surrounding the investiture and negotiations with the nationalist parties.

Although last 23-J the PP won the elections in Andalusia again, it did not do so as comfortably as expected. The PSOE managed to resist just when it was in a moment of great organic weakness due to the loss of territorial power in the municipalities. That endurance was key for the leader of the popular did not obtain in that community the seats that would have cleared his way to La Moncloa. For the Andalusian Socialists, despite losing deputies with respect to the past general elections, the results of July – where they were 100,000 votes behind the popular – represent a turning point on the path towards their long-awaited recovery in a territory that has traditionally been the fishing ground for votes for the left formation. A path in which Sánchez will be very involved. "I will be very present in Andalusia," he promised.

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