Pablo R. Roces Madrid

Madrid

Updated Sunday, March 31, 2024-23:57

«For the third time in four years I have the honor of presiding over the Government of this Community of Madrid, which is the homeland of all. We have a lot to do and for that you have given us another four years.

We will imagine them together and in freedom, without letting discouragement or resentment deceive us or distract us

[...] Today a new political stage begins; "A time of renewal, enthusiasm and new ideas in which the best is yet to come to this unique region in the world which, the more I know, the more I respect and admire."

Those were the words that Isabel Díaz Ayuso said on June 23, 2023, during her inauguration as president of the Community of Madrid, with an absolute majority behind her, surrounded by her nine councilors, all of them debutants in their positions. and with technical profiles, far from some of his predecessors such as Enrique Ossorio or Javier Fernández-Lasquetty, with great political weight in that Cabinet.

From the close core of the popular leader it was recognized at that time that this would open

"a management legislature", "centered in Madrid" and "with a step back in the national focus despite the fact that the capital always has it

. "

All of this was projected on a stage where Alberto Núñez Feijóo arrived at La Moncloa. A month later, the general elections blew up that forecast by illuminating a favorable scenario for a Government of Pedro Sánchez with Sumar, supported by the Basque and, above all, Catalan nationalist forces, which caught the Community on the wrong foot. from Madrid.

From Puerta del Sol and in some sectors of the PP in Madrid they still maintain that if this scenario had been foreseen, "the Government would be the same" as the current one. "The president has always been committed to the idea of ​​renewal and giving way to her generation," Ayuso's entourage points out. However, other

popular

leaders disagree with that vision. "

Some of the old guard would have continued in this scenario, the Government would not have been the same

," remarks one. «If you have to go to war with Moncloa, you need someone who has already been in it. “It cannot always be the president who takes the lead,” says a second.

Because that war has been the general tone of these first nine months of the legislature, where the far-reaching changes approved are summarized in the creation of the Cybersecurity Agency, pending the previous mandate; the withdrawal of the Wealth Tax bonus, in response to the Constitutional Court's endorsement of large fortunes from the Ministry of Finance; the approval of the Omnibus Law, which modified the systems of the Chamber of Accounts, the Transparency Council and Telemadrid, and the reform of the Trans and LGTBI laws, as a reaction to the one approved at the national level.

On the other side of the balance, to cite a few examples, the accusation towards Moncloa of seeking to "submit Madrid out of thirst" with the Tajo Hydrographic Plan or of frustrating 19 investments in data centers "in a sibylline manner"; two appeals before the Constitutional Court against the Housing Law and the state service for foster families; his frontal opposition to the Amnesty Law for being "the most corrupt in democracy"; the slogan "I like fruit" when the Congressional cameras caught her directing the expression "what a son of a bitch" at the President of the Government when mentioning his brother; the hookup with the Government delegate on Constitution Day and the doubts about inviting members of Moncloa to Community events, and, finally, the case of tax fraud for which his partner, the businessman, is accused. Alberto González Amador.

"It has always been the scourge of Pedro Sánchez and now it cannot stop being so with what we are experiencing," details a leader of the Madrid PP. "

If the president and his entire entourage are obsessed with Madrid, we cannot let them intimidate us and not respond to these attacks

," adds another, from the core close to the regional president, who in recent days has developed her agenda from Chile in official trip.

All this in the middle of her partner's case for which several members of Moncloa, including Pedro Sánchez, and the opposition parties in Madrid are calling for the resignation of the

popular

leader and her chief of staff, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, due to "threats." » to journalists after sending a message to a reporter from ElDiario.es with the text “we are going to crush you” or sharing photos of two reporters from El País accusing them of trying to “assault” the home of the regional president.

And, ahead, still three more years of a mandate that is nothing like the one projected in June 2023.