Pablo Casado arrives today in Orense to wrap Alberto Núñez Feijóo ahead of the Galician regional elections on April 5. This is the first pre-campaign rally in which both will coincide, and the presentation of the popular candidacy in the home province of the president of the Xunta . Feijóo will also celebrate the anniversary of its 11 years of political hegemony in Galicia . And he will do it in tune with a married man who has agreed with him the "global" strategy to absorb citizens in the medium term, as EL MUNDO has been able to know.

In the town of As Burgas -and with Mariano Rajoy completing the list-, it will be noted that, despite the strong profile that distills Feijóo's strategy, the PP of Galicia and the national leadership of the party have achieved an entertaining cordial to maximize the results at the polls. Results that are as vital for the baron as transcendental for the head of the opposition.

If the PP achieves its fourth consecutive absolute majority, Casado will maintain a significant share of territorial power that will serve as a counterweight to the Executive of Pedro Sánchez and as an advance in the reunification of the center and right electorate. And Feijóo, meanwhile, will be glimpsed again as the only possible alternative for Casado. If the result is negative, both will have lost a crucial battle.

Therefore, and given the common interests (crossed or not) of both, Casado and Feijóo have agreed on the strategy to face the challenge of "recasting" with Citizens. Genoa needs to recover, at the national level, a hegemony similar to that held by Feijóo in Galicia. And, although the operation of absorption of Vox seems "very long term", as they think in the national PP, the truth is that the popular have seen in Inés Arrimadas an ally to complete the merger with Citizens in advantageous conditions. Those that derive from the low political flow of oranges.

"Better tuning than ever"

And there Feijóo takes action, who is living a period of close proximity to Casado, according to various sources around them: "They have better tuning than ever." "In the long term, this agreement we have signed with Cs greatly benefits Feijóo," says a source from Genoa. "The Basque agreement is a first step in a global environment" that goes "far beyond" April 5, he adds. And that "they have spoken and agreed" both leaders.

On the table there is a complete operation of absorption of Cs in the medium term, in three years, as this newspaper has been able to know. And that has favored the interests of the Galician baron, who has been able to get rid of the coalition with Cs and will present himself as the only useful vote against Galician nationalism. In return, Feijóo plans to include some orange leader in government responsibilities if he reissues the absolute majority. This is confirmed by this newspaper sources of their environment.

The other counterpart of the Galician baron is that he supports Casado and does not interfere in the Basque crisis. Not even before the defenestration of Alfonso Alonso, a moderate leader and very close to him. But the Galician president has limited himself to ensuring that he deeply regrets his march and applauds the appointment of Carlos Iturgaiz.

In fact, from the national direction of the PP they consulted with the Galician baron the cessation of Alfonso Alonso. Feijóo assured them that he supported the candidacy of the former Basque leader and that he would campaign with Alonso if he remained in office, but also critical of the "ways" with which he had faced Casado. Singularly, for giving him a seat at Genoa headquarters at the meeting where the agreement with Citizens for the Euskadi elections was improved.

"End of the soap opera"

Feijóo has squared the circle. Why? Because Arrimadas cannot allow his strategy for the future leadership of Citizens to debut with an absorption, point-blank, of his training in Galicia. Hence, Feijóo offered him, with Casado's approval, to be integrated into his list. Cs has rejected it and will present itself separately to the elections ... for now (the deadline closes tomorrow). "End of the soap opera", celebrated in the PP of Galicia.

Feijóo has kept in permanent contact with the national leadership of the party since they signed the Celtic Porco Pact , in September 2019 at the Mamá Lela de Cotobade restaurant (where they ate Celtic porco loin, a Galician native breed). "Everything we do is agreed", they say in the Galician PP when talking about their firm refusal to converge with Citizens. "They get along very well and talk a lot. Better now than before," they add to Casado's team.

From that "tune", which is obviously not complete, but of convenience, Feijóo and Casado will try to kill two birds with one stone: if they achieve an absolute majority in Galicia, they can underpin their leadership and, at the same time, absorb Cs. But, of course, this leaves an important final chapter unresolved. And that is none other than the ideological course of the party, just where Casado and Feijóo diverge significantly.

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  • Citizens
  • PP
  • Galicia
  • Inés Arrimadas
  • Alberto Nunez Feijoo
  • Pablo Casado
  • Galicia Elections

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