25 years have passed since the arrival of the PP to La Moncloa.
And who was the protagonist of that event, José María Aznar, wanted to remember it yesterday in the company of the current president of the party, Pablo Casado, who was also his chief of staff.
For the refounder of the Spanish center-right in the 1990s, the conditions that this political space needs to reconnect with
an electorate that today is torn between discouragement and fragmentation
are three: «identifiable project, a united party and a
l
Leader with a chance of being a winner.
Project, unity and leadership.
It is not only a recipe for success: it is also
the painful diagnosis of everything that the PP lacks today.
Married comes from reaping a disaster in the Catalans and announcing the resignation of the historic headquarters of Genoa, from whose balcony Aznar celebrated that first victory and also the second by an absolute majority.
But
so far the self-criticism necessary to relaunch the party has been conspicuous by its absence.
Rather, it seems that the leadership is reacting to pertinent criticism with an organic retreat
that seeks to shield itself rather than open training to calm debate, experienced talent and the demands of its social bases.
Aznar is right and marks Casado the way so that the PP can celebrate another victory: project, unity and leadership.
The PP project must be recognizable today as it has always been: the wide constitutional space with a liberal roots and a reformist will in which from social democrats scared by sanchismo to conservatives suspicious of populist shortcuts must fit.
To set an identifiable course, avoid lurching,
forget about the competitors, reconcile critical firmness with the responsibility of the State and ultimately summon the voters to join the project instead of moving the project in search of the voters.
A leader attracts and gathers, does not follow.
Once the project is clear and clearly perceived, the polls will begin to move, not the other way around.
And once time passed and
the need for an alternative would be urged by the economic crisis
deflate the moods of which populism lives on both sides, the polls will pick up this demand for management and the party will unite behind the leader who knows how to offer it, surrounded by a credible team.
Casado is right when, citing Aznar himself, he points out the disadvantage with which his leadership starts, wedged between the center of Cs and the hard right of Vox.
But also the PP of Aznar had to regroup disparate ideological families after the implosion of the UCD and the roof of Fraga.
When he appeared in the primaries, Casado was able to excite the rank and file with the promise of reuniting the center-right.
His energetic commitment to the defense of classical principles of liberalism seduced many after the abrupt extinction of an ideologically inane Marianism.
Neither the corruption of previous stages nor the pressure of third parties should exhaust that original impulse.
Only by reuniting with his promise to the militancy and to the voters, Casado will be able to erect the alternative that a Spain dominated by Sánchez and his radical partners urgently needs.
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