It was a celebration of hugs.

Even Felipe González could not escape the new closeness at the party congress of the Spanish Socialists (PSOE).

The almost 80-year-old socialist patriarch took Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in his arms in Valencia.

For years, the first socialist head of government in Spain had fought Sánchez politically.

In May he complained that he felt politically like an "orphan" in his own ranks.

Over the weekend, he assured the PSOE chairman of his loyalty - even if he would continue to say what he thinks.

Hans-Christian Roessler

Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb, based in Madrid.

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At the last PSOE party conference, González had only sent a video message from a distance.

In Valencia, Sánchez and the new party leadership succeeded in creating the long-missed image of unity and continuity.

Former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and all regional presidents were also there to show that the years of trench warfare are over and the party is ready for the elections that are coming up next year.

Reform plans like the SPD and the Greens

“Social democracy, which some said was long gone, is in the best of health. All social and democratic achievements bear the signature of the PSOE, ”said Sánchez at the end of the 40th Congress in Valencia. The day before, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, who is running as a socialist presidential candidate, praised Sánchez as a role model for the European left. After the recent electoral successes in Europe, the Spanish socialists feel on the upswing.

Your new program is reminiscent of the government plans that the SPD and the Greens are currently driving forward in Germany: A tax reform should ensure more social justice, and the economy should become greener. The PSOE wants to reverse the conservative labor market reforms and pass a law against prostitution. The new party leadership is much younger and consists of more than half of women.

Just a few years ago, the PSOE was in the opposition, had to digest the worst election result in its history and prevent the left-wing alternative Podemos party from overtaking it and sidelining it, like the Greek Pasok party. Now, Pedro Sánchez has closed the ranks of the party that had long quibbled with him. Five years ago, Felipe González and other powerful PSOE barons ousted him from the presidency, which he then fought back single-handedly. With the cabinet reshuffle in July, he took another step towards the party.

So he fired his powerful chief adviser Ivan Redondo, who was unpopular in the PSOE.

His new office boss Óscar López is an old party friend.

The new minister in the Prime Minister's office, Félix Bolaños, is firmly rooted in the PSOE and is now so influential in the government that he was hailed as “Super Félix” in Valencia.

At the same time, Sánchez tries to profile himself as the carer who takes the worries of the Spaniards seriously.

He traveled to La Palma four times after the volcano erupted, where he stayed for days.

Social spending at a record level

The PSOE chairman has long been keeping an eye on the upcoming elections: regional elections are due in Andalusia and Valencia in 2022, followed by the super election year in 2023. At the beginning of October, his minority government and the Podemos party approved the draft for the second joint budget. It provides the highest social spending in the history of Spanish democracy. With more than 26 billion euros from the EU's Corona reconstruction fund, the Spanish economy is to be revived after the pandemic and to restore confidence to the Spaniards.

Above all, however, the incessantly rising electricity price is clouding the government's optimistic growth forecasts, which are already being revised downwards.

In surveys, the gap between the conservative People's Party (PP) is narrowing.

After their party congress two weeks ago, PP chairman Pablo Casado deviated from his previous confrontational course: for the first time in many months, both politicians shook hands on Thursday;

they met in the Yuste Monastery, where Angela Merkel received the "Karl V." Prize.

"Contaminated by the extreme right"

Both parties want to settle their dispute over the appointment of the judiciary, which has been paralyzing the judiciary since 2018: in a first step with several posts in the Constitutional Court and the Court of Auditors as well as with the appointment of the state ombudsman and the data protection officer.

In Madrid it is said that the new vigor could also be enough for the Supreme Judicial Council.

But in return the PP is demanding a reform of the electoral process, which the PSOE is not yet ready for.

The most important judicial body in the country, whose mandate has expired more than a thousand days, appoints, among other things, the chairmen of the higher courts and some of the constitutional judges.

On Sunday, Sánchez started attacking again.

He accused the PP of being “disoriented” and “contaminated by the extreme right”.