Feijoo: "We have not had a minimum of empathy to show our proposals in Catalonia"

Feijóo has assured in the interview that Catalonia is one of the “four great electoral engines” of Spain along with Andalusia, Madrid and “the Valencian Country”. An engine in which he has recognized that “surely” that the PP has “made mistakes”, although he has charged against the “generation of bad politicians” that Catalonia has had “in recent years” whom he has blamed for having “divided society” and not complying with the laws. “But our objective is to represent the space of the Catalan constitutionalist: all those who feel Catalan without this making it difficult to feel Spanish are invited.”

Asked about the Government’s energy saving measures, Feijóo has assured that it is an “act of authoritarianism unbecoming of an autonomous State”: “The decree is half improvisation and half swallow it.”

The decree approved by the Government includes measures such as a maximum temperature for heating (19 degrees) and a minimum for air conditioning (27 degrees) in public buildings and in some commercial premises; automatic locks on access doors to prevent them from being left open permanently; or the turning off of shop window lights and the revision of boilers.

The PP called for the “immediate withdrawal” of the energy saving plan on Monday, August 8, while the Government held a meeting with the Autonomous Communities to explain the approved measures. The Community of Madrid announced that it would present an appeal before the Constitutional Court, although 48 hours later it clarified that it would wait until November 1 before doing so. The Deputy Secretary of Organization of the PP, Miguel Tellado, assured on August 11 that his formation would wait to see if the Executive “reconsidered” its position, although he encouraged the autonomies to challenge the decree if they believed that it invaded their powers. Even so, Feijóo assures that “the PP is not going to disobey” the measures of the decree and stresses that, despite the statements of the president of the Madrid Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, her counselor said that she is going to comply with them.

Asked about his party’s decision to take the decree to the Constitutional Court, the PP leader assures that he was “the first to propose mandatory measures for the Administration and voluntary for citizens” and that he received no response from the Government. “That decree is published without talking to anyone. The autonomies are called when it is already in force, and no allegation is accepted.

Feijóo has assured that “all the autonomies have complained about the measures” and it has only been considered “disloyalty” when the PP has done so: “When the PNV criticizes them, nothing happens.” The leader of the PP has asked himself “why can’t a merchant keep the window on at least until one in the morning” and has assured that “Sánchez’s energy policy is based on ideology, not technology”.