Party Review – PPC: “Spain is not for sale, nor likely to be broken”

Barcelona (CNA).- The Catalan branch of the conservative People’s Party, which has ruled the Spanish Government since 2011, has opted for Jorge Fernández Díaz, currently the Spanish Minister for Home Affairs to run for the Spanish Elections in Barcelona province. He urged Catalans to “fill the ballot boxes with national pride, seriousness, rigour and hope”. According to Fernández Díaz, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is the only guarantee “to get rid of the toxic process which is dividing Catalans” and assured that Spain “is not for sale, nor likely to be broken”. PPC’s candidate for Barcelona accused the pro-independence forces of being “traitors” for “breaking the constitutional agreement” and assured that “nobody has ever dared to go this far”. Fernández Díaz expressed his commitment to returning the trust of all those citizens who supported the party in 2011, when the PP obtained an absolute majority. 

“To vote for Mariano Rajoy is to vote for the future” assured PPC’s candidate for Barcelona and described him as the only guarantee “to get rid of this toxic process, once and for all, which irritates friends and divides Catalans”, referring to Catalonia’s push for independence. “Catalans need a strong government in Spain to supply current Catalan President Artur Mas’ paralysed government” he stated. “I’m sure that citizens will give a great victory to the PP and we will all together lead a period of prosperity like never before” he assured and urged Catalans to “fill the ballot boxes with national pride, seriousness, rigour and hope”.   

“Pro-independence forces are traitors”

Fernández Díaz has repeatedly supported the PP’s position regarding Catalonia’s push for independence and its rejection of holding a referendum in Catalonia or reforming the Spanish Constitution “in the terms that President Mas and pro-independence forces suggest”, which according to the PP only led to “breaking the law”. “Nobody has ever dared to go this far” he stated and described the pro-independence forces’ aspirations as a “frontal defiance” of the “constitutional agreement”. “They have skipped the constitutional agreement and they have broken it, and those who break an agreement are traitors” he stated during PPC’s main electoral event and assured that “they won’t get through it”. “A government led by the PP won’t allow anybody to break Spain” he warned “we will not fall for any provocation which may increase the pro-independence forces victimisation”. “Spain is not for sale, nor likely to be broken” he concluded. 

Radical left CUP are “in charge” of the Catalan government

Fernández Díaz also expressed his opposition to a potential agreement between cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left CUP. According to him, CUP, whom are “the antithesis” of cohesion and harmony “are leading the Catalan government” and if this continues “it will be an absolute disaster, a nightmare”. He also accused CUP of being “ignorant” for aiming to take Catalonia “out of the EU, the Euro and NATO”. He hoped that “all this would happen as soon as possible”, referring to Catalonia’s pro-independence process, and accused Mas of “losing his dignity” and “having a divided and broken population”. 

Corruption scandals surrounding the PP

Besides their position regarding Catalonia’s independence, which all the other parties, including anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans, have described as “stagnant”, the corruption scandals surrounding the PP may also have a negative effect on its results. Amongst them, one of the most remarkable points is alleged illegal accounting of the party. It is alleged that Rajoy received €250,000 from former PP party treasurer Luis Bárcenas, now imprisoned, and it has been claimed that some senior PP members were also given payments of between €5,000 and €15,000.

Spain to be “like Greece” if left wing forces would win the elections

Fernández Díaz also referred to the PP’s main rivals at a Spanish scale, Spanish Socialist party, PSOE and alternative-left ‘Podemos’. According to him they are both “building up a post-electoral alliance”, which he baptised as “PSOEMOS”. He called for the “useful vote” to avoid a “left-wing front” which would lead to “freezing bank accounts and economic rescue”.