BNG and PSOE show brotherhood against Rueda, "the absentee" from the debate on RTVE: "They didn't have much desire to discuss"

NATALIA PUGA Pontevedra

Pontevedra

Updated Thursday, February 15, 2024-00:11

Xabier Fortes, presenter of 'The Night in 24 Hours', returned as moderator in the debate for the Galician elections on RTVE, as happened in July before the general elections and, as then, he regretted the absence of the PP candidate, Alfonso Rueda , but, unlike what happened seven months ago, on this occasion, moderation was practically not necessary, given the absence of confrontations between the candidates. He himself recorded during the final stretch of the 'face to face' between Ana Pontón (BNG) and José Ramón Gómez Besteiro (PSOE): "They didn't really want to argue."

And the BNG and PSOE candidates limited themselves to presenting their programs and ideas, but without mutual reproaches or attacks and with a joint enemy, Alfonso Rueda, whom both referred to for an hour and ten minutes as "the absent candidate" or "the one who is not there", and who was criticized for his absence and his "disastrous management" at the head of the Xunta de Galicia, in the last year and a half as president and in the previous thirteen years as a member of the Government of Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

Alfonso Rueda, who did participate in the debate of five on Galician public television, refused to participate in it and the two candidates who did attend disgraced him for an activity that they called undemocratic. "Today, the PP candidate is not standing up to TVE or me or Mr. Besteiro, but to the Galician citizens," said Ana Pontón, while Besteiro pointed out that in this absence "lies the main problem that this country has, which "During the last few years there was an absent government."

"Either he is hiding something, or he has nothing to say. My first commitment is that I am going to be a president who will not escape from debates, by hard means or by any means," Besteiro proclaimed. Pontón, for his part, said that "the candidate escapes because his management is based on lies", "he has no project" and his management "is difficult to defend in the debates."

While both accused Rueda of "hiding", they showed a spirit of mutual non-aggression, both aware that the only opportunity they will have to govern in Galicia starting next February 18 will be if the PP does not add the 38 deputies it establish an absolute majority and create a coalition government.

Who will lead that government remains up in the air. The polls nominate Pontón, with a boosted BNG that confirms its position as second force in Galicia, but both refused to draw that hypothetical coalition scenario. "Those who have to speak are the Galician men and women on February 18, we are going to let that happen," said Besteiro. Not very different was Pontón's message: "the one who chooses is the voter, it is the Galicians."

In their final golden minute, both appealed to the current "historic" and "change" moment. The socialist recalled that there are two paths, either "four more years of resigned political stance, cuts and lies" or "four more years of change, hope and future." The nationalist recalled that "there are moments in which history can be touched with our hands" and "next Sunday we can make history" with a female president.

Territorial model

Coincident in energy policy, in the linguistic model or in public services, the only obvious discrepancy that both brought to the debate was the territorial model, with Ana Pontón more focused on a self-managed Galicia and Gómez Besteiro focused on improving relations with the outside. towards Spain and Europe.

Ana Pontón offers "a Galicia that needs to have its hands free" to defend the interests of its citizens, in which she is committed to a government to "leave subordination and useless confrontation behind" and achieve, for example, free highways. AP-9, in which they achieved discounts as part of the 2019 and 2023 investiture pacts with the PSOE. "We have already demonstrated the capacity we have to defend the interests of our country. We did it with the AP-9 tolls, the regeneration of the Burgo estuary or the commuter train," she said.

Faced with this territorial model design, Besteiro is committed to the need to "regain prominence in Spain and Europe" and "look more outward than inward", with more ambition. "More than having my hands free, I hope to have my hands full," "more than demanding the AP-9, bringing the AP-9 to Galicia," defended Besteiro, convinced that it is necessary to "go out and claim opportunities." And he took advantage of the great achievements of the socialist government in the State.

Both agreed that it is necessary to claim more powers than those recognized in the current Statute of Autonomy of Galicia. Ana Pontón claims them all after in the 15 years of the PP's Xunta none were claimed while Andalusia obtained the "record" of 15, and she demanded more financial autonomy and its own taxation. Besteiro, those that "the PP did not use", such as the one on the coast, which led the Xunta, during the pellet crisis, to "throw balls out, the beaches belonged to the town councils, the sea belonged to the State and the air We don't know, from the UN," he ironized.