Party review – PPC, the Catalan branch of the Conservative and Spanish Nationalist People’s Party

Barcelona (ACN).- The PPC currently has 14 seats in the Catalan Parliament, which is comprised of 135 seats. This figure reflects the weakness of the People’s Party in Catalonia, a weakness that made its Spanish leader lose to PM Rodríguez Zapatero in 2004 and 2008. After some years with a changing leadership, the People’s Party of Catalonia seems to have found some stability with Alícia Sánchez-Camacho, currently a Senator at the Spanish Senate. Sánchez-Camacho redirected the PPC and put identity, social and economic issues at the forefront of her speech. Polls from the last weeks seem to indicate that she will get some profit, getting up to 3 more seats or at least keeping the current 14 MPs. In the last 5 years, the People’s Party (PP) in the rest of Spain has made some anti-Catalan statements and actions, which has given them good electoral results among Spanish nationalists in Madrid, Castilla, València, Andalucía or other Autonomous Communities. Sánchez-Camacho firmly asked for this to be stopped, as in Catalonia the PP was being seen as a force against Catalan interests, not only in political terms but also economic. Nowadays, Sánchez-Camacho, with her risky speech, could counter-act this trend. The Catalan elections are the People’s Party lab.

The PPC has been flirting with Populist speech regarding immigration for the last few months. Some of its leaders, including Alícia Sánchez-Camacho, distributed pamphlets linking crime and immigration in poor neighbourhoods of the Barcelona metropolitan area. They also talked to residents who were complaining about the presence of Roma people next to their homes. This event ended with the PPC’s Badalona leader testifying in front of a judge for fostering xenophobia. Sánchez-Camacho supported him. Furthermore, just before the official campaign started, she presented an “integration contract for immigrants”, also in a poor neighbourhood with high presence of non-nationals. According to the PPC’s integration contract, if an immigrant person breaks it, they can be sent back to their home countries. A way of breaking it is losing their job and not getting a new one.

However, the greatest controversy came with the videogame where Sánchez-Camacho was shooting illegal immigrants. The PPC’s leader was riding an albatross, the party’s symbol, shooting at what she did not like, illegal immigrants included. Controversy boomed immediately, the videogame was put offline and the PPC blamed the development IT company. The controversy reached the Spanish level and the Socialist Party accused the PP of fostering hate against immigration. The PP at Spanish level also complained to its Catalan branch. It did not do so in the previous episodes.

The PP is weak in Catalonia. It has nothing to lose, as they are not likely to be in the Government. At the most, they may be crucial for the most likely winner of the elections, the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), in order to approve economic measures in the Catalan Parliament. In addition, after the anti-Catalan campaign that the PP displayed throughout Spain, the PPC needs a push in Catalonia and it is making tests. Immigration seems to be the preferred push. On the horizon, there are the Spanish municipal and regional elections in May 2011 and the Spanish elections in early 2012. The PP may use what it is testing in Catalonia. In addition, a stronger PP in Catalonia could give Mariano Rajoy (PP’s leader at Spanish level) the key to finally reach the Spanish Government.

However, other issues are also central to the PPC’s campaign. The defence of the Spanish language and the fight against Catalan separatism is another pillar. The PP has been arguing throughout Spain that the Spanish language is threatened in Catalonia, focusing on the right to bring children to Spanish language only public schools. On the contrary, university studies have shown that the language in a weaker position is Catalan and not Spanish. In addition, the Catalan school model has been praised by UNESCO and the European Commission as an example of best practice in bilingual communities to prevent splitting citizens into two separated language communities. The PP does not have this opinion. In fact, the PP has been using this argument in the entire Spain, with a wide and lively response across Spain.

In addition, because the Catalan independence movement is stronger and more transversal in the last years (as it is the Spanish Nationalism), the PPC pictures itself as a guarantee to stop separatism. The PPC denies that Catalonia is a nation and stresses that the only nation within the Spanish state is Spain. They aim to stop the CiU’s temptation to make agreements with pro-independence parties. In the past, the CiU and PP have had stable government agreements, but it is very unlikely they will repeat this formula now. They may only agree on some economic measures to be approved in the Catalan parliament. In fact, economics is also a campaign pillar for the PPC. Its campaign motto is “Solutions”, in line with mottos at Spanish level. It clearly makes reference to unemployment and the current economic crisis. Alícia Sánchez-Camacho always talks about “the real problems of people”, in opposition to identity or language issues, which by the way she also uses for political purposes unstoppably.