Editor TLN
Pedro Sánchez confesses that he had not seen the images of the massacre at the Melilla fence when last Friday he said that the matter had been “well resolved”. Although he has lamented the death of more than thirty people, the president has insisted that it is also necessary to put himself in the “skin” of the agents of both the Moroccan gendarmerie and the Civil Guard and the National Police, whose actions he has avoided condemn. “We have to put ourselves in the shoes of each and every one of the actors in this tragedy that we have unfortunately suffered”, said the socialist in an interview on Cadena SER in which he assured that we must be “empathetic” with the migrants while he has assured that in the last year “twelve violent attacks” have been perpetrated on the Melilla fence.
“You cannot reason about feelings”, he answered the question of whether these attempts to jump over the fence pose a threat to the territorial integrity of Spain, although he later maintained that the Government’s obligation is to ensure sovereignty as well as for the tranquility in the borders. “To avoid tragedies like the one in Nador, what we have to do is work in Sudan, which is the country from which these migrants come, who we have seen try to violently assault the fence,” said the president, who has opted to work with the countries of origin and transit of migrants, such as Morocco and Mauritania. Sánchez recalled that the EU is the main donor in development cooperation in that region with 24,000 million euros.
The President of the Government has shaken off the pressure exerted by the minority partner to carry out an investigation into what happened last Friday at the Melilla fence and which claimed the lives of 37 people and has left it in the hands of the State Attorney General’s Office and the Ombudsman in Spain. He has also referred to the Moroccan Prosecutor’s Office and recalled that there are 30 people accused of collaboration and human trafficking. Moncloa puts the focus on the mafias. However, Morocco has tried to hide the remains of the bodies and planned to bury them without identifying or performing autopsies. “We have to trust the institutions”, Sánchez has requested, who has assured that there will be “collaboration” on the part of the Government.
“We have to be empathetic and put ourselves in the shoes of the migrants who have suffered and died, but also in the shoes of the State Security Forces and Bodies,” he said before recalling that 40 civil guards and 100 gendarmes were injured and claim the “rights of our compatriots to have their borders secure.”
Sánchez has taken for granted that the new strategic concept that NATO will approve at the summit that is being held these days in Madrid will incorporate the southern flank into the security strategy as a potential threat to the allies currently focused on the east, where Russia has spent in ten years from being a strategic partner to the main risk.
In that sense, in Moncloa they are euphoric with the agreement reached with Joe Biden which, among other issues, will mean an increase in the US presence at the Rota base, where it intends to deploy two additional destroyer ships to the current four. Sánchez has defended the need to strengthen Spain’s deterrence capacity. “No attack”, he has insisted on several occasions.
“There will be a debate, but I am convinced that this important agreement will go ahead”, he acknowledged about the different position that his partners, especially United We Can, have regarding military reinforcement. “I am convinced that we are going to get it out”, he pointed out about that agreement that has to be approved by the Council of Ministers, as it is a change in the current agreement sealed in 1988, and ratified in Congress. “We know that the PP has changed its face but we continue with the same cross, a negationist and destructive opposition; but I understand that there is not going to be a problem in this matter”, he stated.
Sánchez charges against the PP for the appeal against abortion
Despite the fact that he has Alberto Núñez Feijóo for this issue, he has asked for a shift from the parties to his left. “To the left of the PSOE, we must reflect that we must guarantee our security and defense by increasing our capacity to deter, not attack.” However, he has taken it for granted that he will get the agreement approved as “the legislative service record” that the coalition carries behind his back, as he has recalled.
Sánchez has revealed that he spoke with Biden about the ruling of the US Supreme Court that prohibits abortion, he has been convinced that this setback could occur in Spain. “Why not?”, He has replied to Angels Barceló. The president has taken the opportunity to link it to the blockade of the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and the Constitutional Court by Feijóo. “Where is the withdrawal by the PP of its recourse to the law of voluntary interruption of pregnancy? Why does it block the renewal? Why does the Constitutional Court not renew the spurious interest?” he asked.
The socialist has reiterated that the government is “uncomfortable” for the economic, political and media powers of the right. “I am not discovering America, we are changing the pace of the political, economic and media right with a motion of censure”, asserted the president, who has assured that in Spain there are “one or two parties that are not autonomous” in reference to the PP and Vox. “If we ask any citizen who is listening to us, is he in agreement with raising the SMI? with raising pensions? I think most do. So why is it so difficult to pass these issues in Parliament? There are a series of dark interests, they want to return to an old order”, he stated.
“They are not going to break us,” said the president, who has defended the measures that the Government has put in place during the pandemic and now to deal with the economic consequences of the war. Sánchez has recognized that the 10.2% inflation in June is a bad figure, but maintains that it was expected and has attributed it to the gas supply cuts imposed by Putin.
