Feijóo clings in front of thousands of people to a "plebiscite" in the European elections that forces Sánchez to call elections

“I ask you to withdraw the amnesty law, the legislature is lost. Put an end to it, dissolve the Cortes, call elections and let’s move forward with the truth. Let him do it so that he lets us speak because he has deceived us, all of us.” This is how the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has demanded a great “mobilization” for the European elections on June 9. Feijóo has insisted that the elections in two weeks are a plebiscite between him and Sánchez in a rally-protest that has brought together thousands of people in Madrid and in which the candidate, Dolors Montserrat, has not had a single second of participation. .

The PP claims to have gathered 80,000 people this Sunday on Alcalá Street, with the Puerta de Alcalá in the background and the emblematic song performed by Ana Belén as the soundtrack. The Government Delegation reduces the figure to “a maximum of 20,000” people.

It would be one of the worst capacity achieved by the PP leader since he began calling rallies against the amnesty law in September 2023. Official data indicated that there were 40,000 people at that rally in the Plaza de Felipe II; in Sol, with the assistance of Vox, about 80,000. And in the two called by civil society, Colón and Cibeles, 100,000 and 170,000 people respectively.

All in all, Feijóo has said that this Sunday’s event is “the most massive event that has ever been held, ever, in Spain.” Of course, he has clarified, “a European election campaign.” The PP has replicated the official data, which is based on the information provided by the National Police. “Today, 80,000 people have asked to call general elections. The PSOE would do well not to downplay the importance of the opposition to its policies,” the party defended in a brief statement.

The PP thus clings to the amnesty law, whose final approval is scheduled for next Thursday, as a mobilizing element for the European elections on June 9, after the PSOE and Vox have endured more than they had planned both in the Basque Country as in Catalonia. In the party there is fear of a too close result on June 9.

Feijóo has asked for the vote on June 9 to say “no to abuse, no to censorship, no to excesses, to division, to lies. And not to the fucking master.” And to say “a resounding yes to the equality of Spaniards, the independence of Justice, freedom of thought, freedom of information, dignity, democracy and a future together.”

“We are here to win,” he said about the 9J, an election that the PP wants to turn into a referendum on the amnesty law and the first year of the coalition government led by Pedro Sánchez. Feijóo has ignored European issues, which he has barely mentioned in a sentence, and has focused on criticizing the head of the Executive, whom he has accused of “improvising” the recognition of the Palestinian State to “change the headline.” He has also referred to Yolanda Díaz, whom he has accused of “repeating slogans from terrorist groups,” although without citing her by name. Even so, he has provoked one of the biggest whistles from the audience.

Feijóo has chosen not to mention Vox, nor make references to the European extreme right, which he did speak about in the previous days, when he opened an agreement with the ultra Giorgia Meloni. At least directly. The leader of the PP has appealed to “vote united to win” on 9J. “They want to silence us for thinking differently, but we are not going to be silent. “They want us divided to get their way and they are going to find us together,” he said.

Ayuso, shouting: “I like fruit!”

The president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has attacked the president’s wife from the Puerta de Alcalá stage, expressly emulating the Argentine head of state, Javier Milei. Ayuso has described Begoña Gómez’s businesses as “inappropriate actions by the president’s wife in her capacity as the president’s wife.” “They don’t even ask for forgiveness,” she said.

Ayuso has defended the Madrid judge who has opened an investigation against Gómez, Juan Carlos Peinado, despite contrary reports from the Civil Guard. “His activities are being supervised by a judge who will have to wear a UN helmet to enter his court,” he said. “We wish him all the luck,” he added.

The president immediately defended her own “personal environment”, in reference to her brother’s business as a commission agent during the pandemic, and the tax crimes that her partner, Alberto González Amador, has admitted that he committed to avoid paying taxes on his own businesses in the import of medical supplies during the coronavirus health crisis.

Ayuso, who spoke for about 20 minutes, raised his tone to the point of shouting to say, with the PP leadership listening to him, “I like fruit!” with which he tried to camouflage the “son of a bitch” that he blurted out to the president from the Congress rostrum. Ayuso immediately referred to the president of Murcia, Fernando López Miras, to whom he told that his references to fruit are good for the agricultural business of the Region.

The president of Madrid has accused Sánchez of leading Spain to be “Venezuela.” The references to the Latin American country have been continuous in all the participants in this Sunday’s event. In fact, before Ayuso, he intervened with a video message from María Corina Machado, a Venezuelan politician who has not been allowed to run in the presidential elections next summer.

Ayuso has presented the June 9 elections as “a plebiscite for Sánchez’s disruptive project and the voice of Spanish values ​​in Europe”, which he has repeatedly compared to Venezuela. “He is going to do everything to control the CGPJ,” he said.

“This is everyone’s house, damn it!” he blurted out, a very explicit reference to Javier Milei, whom he defended from the stands. Ayuso has defended that on 9J there will be a “plebiscite” to choose: “Spain or Sánchez.” And he concluded: “We are better and we are more.”

Democracy is the PP

The first to intervene was the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, who started with a reference to the insult that Isabel Díaz Ayuso launched against Pedro Sánchez from the guest gallery of Congress. Almeida has dedicated more time to commenting on her boss in Madrid than on Feijóo, and has said of her that she is “the president who makes some eat fruit salt for breakfast every day.”

Almeida, who won the Mayor’s Office in 2019 after losing the elections, has assured that “Sánchez has invented a new political modality: “It is no longer about winning, but about losing as little as possible.” The mayor has said that “Spanish society is represented” at this Sunday’s rally.

Also participating in the event was the philosopher Fernando Savater, who closed the PP lists on 9J and who began his speech by acknowledging that he has “changed parties many times” throughout his life. “But I have always based myself on two things: Spain and democracy. That is why I am here today, here are Spain and democracy,” he noted. “May we get rid of Sánchez in an election,” he wished.