The relationship with Vox adds to the list of unsolved dilemmas of the PP | Spain
If any party loads with a backpack of dilemmas and contradictions pending to resolve, this is especially heavy in a large one, one that attells at the same time to the vote of a conservative Catholic frightened by abortion and marriage between two men and that of a liberal that sees private property as irrevocable as reproductive rights and diversity in family models. That is the PP, which since its predecessor, Popular Alliance, has been spinning a series of questions impossible to answer with full success. Should we clarify ideologically or maintain some ambiguity on thorny issues? Should we tend to the center or the right? Is it possible to do both at the same time? Should the opposition only be destructive or also of hand lying? How far do the relationship with Catalan and Basque nationalists?
To these classic questions now adds another. The Gaviota match –Actually, from Charrán« You will be. » In July his first congress with approval of political presentation since 2017in the time of Mariano Rajoy. That is, the first from the Vox electoral irruptionits great headache, to which the PP has been giving improvised answers more than six years. How to deal with the Santiago Abascal party, which is your main partner And at the same time a threat to its status as a dominant training of the Spanish right in a context of ultra boom in the West?
The country has collected diagnosis on the situation of the PP and notes, proposals or ideas for its future of five voices located in the three main ideological areas that have historically tried to cover: liberalism, conservatism and Christian democracy. There are those who defend an economic recipe book inspired by social Catholicism and who looks forward to the Argentine ultraliberal experiment. There are those who want to enter hoz and coz in the Cultural battle and who asks not to take off the manager’s suit, avoiding the bait of ideological rigorism that Vox tends.
The disparity of the views, of which only one comes from a person with militancy in the PP, evidences the impossibility of hitting one hundred percent, of pleased everyone, a problem precisely derived from the amplitude of the spectrum to which it is directed.
Valentina Martínez Ferro: Do not strengthen positions. Although aware that the morbidity of Congress will be in the new names, Martínez Ferro (Santiago de Compostela, 48 years) believes that the PP must take advantage of « updating positions. » And it does not refer to the « manidal themes », but to those who involve looking at 2030 and up to 2050. Specifically, he quotes the artificial intelligencethe Energy transitionthe educational model, immigration –Foreigners explain 80% of the recent growth of the Spanish economyhighlights – and foreign policy, shaken by a Donald Trump’s blow to the « transatlantic bond » that forces, according to Martínez Ferro, to a thorough reflection.
Former PP, party militant and director of Oikosa Think Tank Ecologist who proposes « realistic » solutions, this EU public policy professor at Francisco de Vitoria University rejects that the so -mentioned « ideological clarification » must be done at the expense of « strengthening » positions because the « amplitude » of the look at the topics is a secret of the success of the PP. « The positions should not be closed or dogmatic, » he defends as a guideline to face divisive issues such as abortion.
The party faces, he thinks, to the difficulty of adapting to an environment in which « people want cane », that is, ideological belligerence, when the tradition of the PP is management. How to solve the Sudoku? As in all your answers, you look for a midpoint: you have to refresh the ways to better connect with the vertiginous digital environment, but not let that interfere with the cold exercise of power. And Vox? « The more autonomy we have, the better, » says the former deputy, who states that with Pedro Sánchez a great coalition with the PSOE is unfeasible, but he sees « unfortunate » that her party and the socialists do not reach « a great agreement on five, six or seven major issues. »
Pedro Carlos González Cuevas: Accept the change of era. Historian specialized in the Spanish right“conservative” self -defined without militancy, González Cuevas (Madrid, 65 years) sees the PP in “identity crisis since 2011”, when Mariano Rajoy won by absolute majority but he decided not to touch emblematic laws of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero such as those of the abortion and the Historical Memory And he opted for « not to conflict with peripheral nationalisms. » There was a bankruptcy that, in his opinion, explains the rise of Citizens First and after Vox, who has managed to emerge « all the contradictions » of the popular. A challenge that now, holds, forces-or should force-to the PP to accept that the world in which it was able to dominate the center-right with an ambivalent discourse on multiple themes is a thing of the past.
Although the PP accumulates a great institutional power and leads the surveys, González Cuevas believes that his hegemony in the right -wing field has mud feet, because in times of ideological, his formula of “ambiguity” – which he dislikes – has begun to lose efficacy. Advisor on History of the Dissentation Foundationof Vox, predicts that Feijóo will bet again in Congress for « centrism » and « semitenocracy », in line with Rajoy, aspiring to protect the condition of the PP of the party « trappalotode ». That can work for a while, because « partisan inertia » is difficult to interrupt, he says, but estimates that he will fail because the wind blows « in favor of identities, as the European experience shows. » The « identities », in Spain, are represented with Vox, a party with which the PP must « redefine their relationship », taking into account that a « Great coalition » to the German It is impossible today, he concludes.
Manuel Milián Mestre: treatment with the PNV and Junts.« The PP has lost part of the soul with which Christian humanism was born. Manuel Fraga But in which he stopped military in 2000, disenchanted with Aznar. « Popular Alliance was founded because (Cardinal Vicente Enrique Y) Tarancón We prohibited us from founding Christian democracy. But that is the original spirit and cannot be forgotten, « adds the journalist and writerthat defends a strict centrist PP against abortion and economicly accompany the defense of private property with that of the “fair salary, the participation of workers in the benefit and distributive justice”. « They call me a social democrat to say this, » he laments with a giggle.
Vox attributes the original sin of having been born by personal ambitions, among which he quotes those of Alejo Vidal-Quadras « Who has known for decades, » and Abascal. » With the ultra -right, he asks for « distance. » « They are different things, » he emphasizes. And he regrets that the PP has « broken the cooperation channels » with the PNV and with Junts, an « error » of which « Pedro Sánchez is being used. » To Feijóo, whose opposition strategy sees erratic, reproaches him not to resort to the intellectual contribution of figures such as Miguel Herrero de Miñón, José Manuel García-Margallo either Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón. And laments above all that it is « missed » Manuel Pizarroformer president of Endesa and vice president of FAES.
Pau Vila: Numbers ahead. 29 -year -old Gerundense engineer, Vila presides over the OSTROM Institutea laboratory of ideas in defense of liberalism, an ideological field on which he affirms that in Spain there is a « misunderstanding. » « Many people say they are liberal and do just the opposite of what a liberal would do, » he says. Does it include the PP there? No. Although finer than the conservative, the PP has a liberal vein, he says. In his « letter to the Magi » for the party, she includes « more ambition » in his defense of individual freedom on issues such as abortion and « Subrogated gestation » and « moral coherence » against Vox, which defends « illiberal » positions. « This at the political level is complicated, » he admits, because cutting with Vox prevents de facto govern the PP while the PSOE does agree with « the communists. »
Vila believes that the main contribution that the PP could make to Spanish politics and the liberal cause would always be guided by the data. Defender of what Anglo -Saxons call « Evidence-Based Polies“, Or policies designed from the knowledge of the facts, he believes that the PP should always propose and adopt its measures with numbers ahead, especially when talking about taxation, pensions and economy in general, but also of immigration.“ People are not numbers. But all policies must calculate their cost, ”he says, reproaching the PP that sometimes loses sight of the“ fiscal rigor ”and is carried away by“ populism ”, expressly citing the case of the pensions.
Albert Guivernau: Milei as inspiration. Economist who proclaims himself « liberal » and director of the Civismo Foundationwho has delivered its annual awards among others to Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Judge Manuel García Castellón, Guivernau (Barcelona, 35 years) removes iron to the risk that Vox supposes for the popular. Both the PSOE and the PP, alleges, have already demonstrated the ability to resist the onslaught of the new parties, an « Iberian exception » that believes will be maintained.
What should leave your PP congress? « A great country project, exciting and clear, » he says. And cites as a reference to a figure outside the great Spanish political traditions: the Argentine president, Javier Milei. « Beyond stridency, » he says, He won the elections treating citizens « as adults. » « There said there is no money ‘, we will have to make reforms that will not be simple, we will have a bad time. Even so, people voted, » says Guivernau, who believes that the Milei case It shows that it can be « a good time to be brave » and bet on « structural reforms » that « only a PP government can offer. »
