José María Aznar: "Spain is a state in constitutional and institutional regression"

• Opposition. PP barons ask Pablo Casado for "peace of mind": "Management must take precedence over Ayuso's clashes"

• The future after the Covid.Aznar warns that the "eccentric" and "dysfunctional" government of Sánchez will make Spain "a loser" in the EU

Former Prime Minister José María Aznar considers that Spain is "a state in regression in all areas", that "it is experiencing a process of turning back" in its institutional, economic and social life.

A process in which "the convergence effort of years ago" is being thrown overboard and this is causing a "setback of decades".

"We live", he said at an informative meeting organized by Nueva Economía Forum, "a process of constitutional and institutional deconstruction, a very dangerous populist drift and an attempt to regress to the darkest moments in Spain."

Aznar has pointed out as the first cause of this drift, "the populist and authoritarian tendency" which, in his opinion, shows a government that welcomes radical forces and even legitimizes the secessionists and the "children of ETA".

In her opinion, with politicians who want to return to "supposed old identity or racial certainties", who try to affirm "pasts that did not exist", it would have been impossible for Spain to enter Europe, the Constitution and progress.

Aznar advocates undertaking a stage of "reinvention" that implies "making collective decisions as a nation, as was done in the past, after the Franco regime."

"So," he said, "we got it right."

This means, in his opinion, "making a great effort with a generational pact" whose guides must be the Constitution and Europe.

Only in this way could a stage of "political and economic stabilization" begin and then the "recovery" and, finally, the "relaunch to focus on new objectives".

Refoundation of the PP

In relation to the situation in the Popular Party, the former president has emphasized that in the current circumstances each political force must "increase its responsibilities" and that of the PP is "to configure an alternative."

At this point he recalled that his "legacy" was "a totally united center-right", a space that, he lamented, "today is divided, fragmented and sometimes even a space in confrontation."

With these conditions, the expansion of the political alternative in a Spain, he has insisted, "in the process of constitutional deconstruction in which the entire system, including the Crown, is called into question," seems especially difficult for him.

"Now, an exclusionary and fratricidal policy is being proposed. If that circumstance is not well analyzed, things can get complicated. The PP", he warned, "must be very aware of those circumstances that it must face."

In his opinion, Pablo Casado, "needs help, support, understanding and success."

But, he has warned: "Earning the stripes is the responsibility of each one."

Madrid and Díaz Ayuso

Aznar has made a closed defense of the Community of Madrid which he has drawn as a "model of political freedom, tolerance and coexistence".

"In Madrid", he said, "the economy is free, with few taxes and a lot of initiative. It is the most important community in Spain because it accounts for 20% of GDP and it is also the community that contributes the most to solidarity and cohesion" .

For this reason, from his point of view, "sending the message that Madrid is a plagued city in which one should not be, nor live or step on is a very big mistake, as is giving the feeling that there is an obsession for the political control of Madrid. The same would happen ", he added, sending a clear message to Ciudadanos," if the parties that are part of the coalition in Madrid thought that this would not have a domino effect in other parts of Spain. "

Next, he has broken a spear in favor of the Madrid Executive and its president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and has attacked his political adversaries, especially the Government of Pedro Sánchez: "It is criminalized by those who said there was no alternative to the state of alarm, those who still cannot say how many dead there are, those who spoke of experts who did not exist "

"How is it possible to say that with a ministerial order based on a recommendation from the Interterritorial Health Council, a city can be intervened?" He asked.

And the answer that he gives is that "Madrid is being criminalized and those responsible are people who should not have any responsibility in the Government."

Attacks on the King

José María Aznar has insisted on his conviction that Spain vice a "constitutional deconstruction process" that seeks to "dismantle and invalidate" the Magna Carta in order to propose a constitutional process.

To carry out this work, he said, "it is necessary to delegitimize the institutions."

"And that's where we are," he said.

It is, he explained, something "extremely serious because after that comes everything else: delegitimizing the Transition, questioning the model of constitutional monarchy and Felipe VI himself and trying to occupy the Justice and other areas of power."

"Spain", he has warned, "is moving towards an authoritarian populism that is not hidden. The models of Podemos, the separatists and the PSOE that supports them are models that are going towards a change of regime. This government already knew what to do. he was going to dedicate himself, someone defined it as the Frankenstein government. This government is one of regression and arbitrariness. We are risking our regime of freedoms and the government does not shy away from consenting to it. "

The 'procés' and the pardons

The former president of the Government assumes that the Executive of Pedro Sánchez "intends to legitimize the process of independence of Catalonia."

For him, the possible pardons for those convicted of 1-O, "for a coup", would be "something unacceptable."

However, he is pessimistic because he says he is convinced that the claim of Sánchez and his allies is to "incorporate" secessionism "into the political evolution and the new system of multinational Spain."

"When that happens," he said, "it is because the rules of the game are not respected. The failure to dismantle the coup, the pardons, the legitimization of ETA's children, all of this is part of that process of deconstruction and regime change ".

And in line with this reflection, he warned: "Without unity there will be neither freedom nor democracy in Spain. They will not exist. They will be just a dream. Our law of democratic memory is the Constitution. There is no other."

Budgets and EU funds

The former president has shown his perplexity when he sees Pedro Sánchez go to Brussels to urge the EU to boost aid funds to overcome the crisis derived from the pandemic, but does not encourage the Budgets in Spain.

"Has something been presented? Do we know something?" He asked.

Under these conditions, it is not possible, in his opinion, to claim the support, the adhesion, of the opposition.

The situation would be different, he said, if the Government recognized that we need "exceptional" Budgets.

"If the majority that governs cannot carry out some Budgets, the first thing to do is question that majority of the Government and then ask for support from the opposition."

VOX and the motion of no confidence

"If I were a PP deputy," Aznar assured, "I would vote 'no' to Vox's motion of censure".

This is how bluntly the former Prime Minister has expressed himself, for whom the initiative of the party led by Santiago Abascal is "inappropriate."

Aznar considers that there are plenty of reasons to censure the PSOE and United We Can Government, but maintains that at this moment, the motion "is doomed to failure and will only serve to consolidate the process of political fragmentation in Spain and will strengthen the Government."

"My vote", he assured, "would be negative. My opinion is also negative."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• Spain

• Jose Maria Aznar

• PP

• PSOE

• Vox

• ETA

• Citizens

• United we can

• Isabel Diaz Ayuso

• We can

• Pedro Sanchez

• Pablo Casado

• GDP

• Philip VI

• Coronavirus

SpainBarones of the PP ask Pablo Casado for "calm": "Management must prevail over Ayuso's shocks"

Politics57% of Spaniards do not trust the government's management to fight the Covid-19 pandemic

CoronavirusThe PP communities demand from Illa "objective criteria" to confine territories and an "urgent" meeting of all the Autonomous Communities

See links of interest

• News

• Translator

• Programming

• Films

• Topics

• Osasuna - Celta de Vigo

• Girona - Fuenlabrada

• Atalanta - Cagliari

• Raise - Real Madrid

• Barcelona - Seville