Zapatero avoids his defense of amnesty in the Galician campaign to focus on the economy and social issues: "Don't they ever talk about this?"

Marta Belver Madrid

Madrid

Updated Tuesday, February 6, 2024-20:34

• Justice The Supreme Court prosecutors support by a very large majority to open a case against Puigdemont for terrorism

• Congress The senior lawyer will stand up to the Venice Commission for not giving explanations about the Amnesty law

As always when there is a significant event for the PSOE,

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

made an appearance this Tuesday in the Galicia election campaign to try to reverse the poll forecasts that place his party in third position in the Regional Parliament. On this occasion, unlike his last public interventions, he has avoided making an explicit defense of the Amnesty Law and the rest of the judicial benefits that the Government of

Pedro Sánchez

has granted to the independentistas to try to focus the message on economic issues. and social.

Specifically, the leader who was in charge of La Moncloa between 2004 and 2011 wanted to highlight that in the last two weeks he has had "three moments of emotion": the reform of the Constitution to replace the diminished term with that of people with disabilities ; that Spain not only did not suspend aid to Gaza but also increased the allocation to the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (

UNRWA

) by 3.5 million euros after learning of the alleged involvement of some workers in the attacks against Israel in the past. October 7; and the approval this Tuesday of a new increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (

SMI

).

"Don't they ever talk about this?" Zapatero asked those attending a meeting at the La Coruña congress palace after displaying an extensive list of data such as the "record" of employment and tourists, which "families are saving more than ever" and that businessmen have also obtained unprecedented benefits while in the media "the playing field is tilted." "Now, we continue with

[Carles] Puigdemont

all day. They are not very original," he added in indirect criticism of the PP, which aspires to revalidate its absolute majority in the Xunta.

According to the former president, "from the authors of Spain or Sánchez comes Galicia or Sánchez, they do not come from there." He has also ironized that the

popular ones

warn that "the wolf is coming" due to the possibility of a sum of the left that could mean an alternation. "It's not like they were Little Red Riding Hood. Rather, they are Little Blue Riding Hood, summer blue," he added in reference to the motto that

Alberto Núñez Feijóo

's team used in the general election campaign that he won but had no chance of achieving the investiture. .

During his speech, Zapatero has tiptoed around the amnesty, although he has stressed that the PSOE is the "only party capable of dialogue, understanding, uniting, reconciling with a desire for shared coexistence and not confrontation for a political interest of short journey", of which he accuses the PP. The comparison of the riots after the sentencing of the

process

with terrorism has also disfigured the leader of the opposition in Congress, he has recalled that under his mandate "ETA was defeated" and has demanded that "memory not be trivialized" or " the social consensus" on the matter is broken.

Furthermore, he has referred to the "

ad hominem

" attacks to "blur" the politicians, of whom he himself says that he did not particularly suffer because of his "spirit", but his socialist successor at the head of the Executive did. "With Sánchez it has been excessive, unbearable, unacceptable (...). They criticized him even before he was born (...). And now they are again, Galicia or Sánchez, again with Sanchismo

.

Well,

Sanchismo

with potatoes will swallow it", he added, convinced that there may be a "comeback" in Galicia for his party like that of 23-J with the candidacy headed by

José Ramón Gómez Besteiro

.

"Asset of maximum relevance"

Since the PSOE elevated Zapatero as a "most relevant asset", the former president of the Government has actively participated in all the electoral campaigns and relevant events of his party. He has also become the maximum public defender of the concessions that Sánchez has been making to the independence movement after his arrival at La Moncloa, from the pardons to those convicted of the 'procés' to the Amnesty Law.

In contrast to this unwavering support, the other socialist leader who has been at the head of the country, Felipe González, has repeatedly spoken out against the "blackmail" of the secessionists. In an act of tribute to the Constitution held in January in Madrid, Felipe González insisted on his criticism of the forgiveness of crimes linked to the illegal referendum in Catalonia, which he said do not seem "tolerable or acceptable", and he condemned the " insolent and unjustified attacks" against the judges who intervened in the judicial cases after 1-O.

According to the latest survey carried out by Sigma Dos for EL MUNDO, the PSOE would remain in third position in Parliament with its current 14 deputies, or one more, while the BNG would continue to lead the opposition with between 18 and 20 seats - it now has 19 -. The poll confirms that Alfonso Rueda would remain as president, a position he has held since Alberto Núñez Feijóo left Galicia in 2022 to lead the national PP, revalidating his absolute majority.