Alberto Núñez Feijóo has put on the table all the cards which he hope will form a winning hand for the PP in the July 23rd election. The key idea, as he has been repeating for weeks, will be the "repeal of Sanchism" - that is, the annulment or reform of the main iconic laws of the government of Pedro Sánchez, such as the Democratic Memory law and that of sexual freedom, 'Only yes means yes'. However, the People's Party (PP) action plan will also emphasize policies that will have a major impact on Catalonia if he ends up governing. The PP's electoral manifesto, presented this Tuesday at noon in Madrid, and consisting of 365 measures, has a strong focus on the Catalan conflict, will attempt to scratch the itch of the Catalan school system and, as well, foresees a swag of measures to stop another hypothetical Catalan independence challenge.
A return to sedition, tougher on misuse of funds, and punishment for "illegal referendums"
In its package of propsed measures, the PP promises to bring back the crime of sedition and restore the offence of misuse of public funds as it was worded in the previous Penal Code before the reform agreed between the Spanish government and the Catalan Republican Left. That law change replaced the offence of sedition with one of aggravated disorder and softened the definition of misuse of public funds if there was no personal gain involved. "We will improve and update the classification [of crimes] in order to punish the most serious forms of institutional disloyalty", explains the PP electoral programme, which also promises to reimpose the crime of holding an "illegal referendum": "We will regulate other institutional disloyalty aimed at endangering the peace and the constitutional order, whether through an unauthorized referendum or consultations, or machinations aimed at damaging Spain's credit in the international community".
Spanish language, vehicular in schools
The other flank on which the PP seeks to make ground is that of the Catalan school system and the 40-year-old Catalan linguistic immersion policy. The proposal of the PP is to also make the Spanish language vehicular in classrooms, although it does not specify whether a specific percentage will be applied to the school. In this regard, according to the text, the party is committed to guaranteeing that, in the autonomous communities where there is more than one co-official language (Catalonia, Euskadi and Galicia), both "will be considered vehicular in accordance with the pattern of linguistic balance", emulating the Galician model of 50% and 50%. "We will ensure that all students write and express themselves correctly in Spanish and in the corresponding co-official language". In his speech, Feijóo expressed this idea in an ambiguous and erratic way: "The knowledge of the languages of Spain will be guaranteed in all the schools of our nation". He spoke with greater clarity on one of the package's other goals: it "will go against the independence movement", he said. "Our duty is not to continue subjecting the general interest to those who want to fracture Spain", he said.
Make it harder to give pardons
The PP is still targeting the pardons granted to the pro-independence leaders by the Spanish government because, as the party puts it, it is "a partisan use of the instruments of the state". For this reason, the action plan of the PP if it reaches government also envisages amending the pardon law, which dates from 1870, so that the executive's granting of the measure must be justified more strongly. "We will do it to strengthen the government's motivation to grant the measure of grace."
All in all, the will of the main party of the Spanish right, which most polls say is in the lead, is to block the Catalan and Basque pro-independence parties from playing a role in Spain's governability. For this reason, he asks "whoever leads Socialism after the fall of Sanchismo" to support the PP in "removing EH Bildu and the Catalan independence movement from power". In this respect, in order to avoid a possible alliance with Vox if he does not have an outright majority after the election, the PP's prime ministerial candidate is asserting the importance that the party with the most votes be allowed to govern: "If I win the elections I will call the leader of the PSOE to let me govern. If he doesn't take my call, I'll call all the PSOE regional barons to convince him."
The end of "all the errors of the government"
The PP action plan proposes to reverse "all the errors of the government", personified in the repeal of Sanchism. "Repealing Sanchism means repealing mistaken laws and measures, but I don't want to govern to practice revenge of any kind. I want to defeat Sánchez decisively, but I don't want to take revenge", he said. In this respect, Feijóo pledged to end the leadership by José Félix Tezanos of the Spanish public polling agency, the CIS. He said he would do it "in the first cabinet meeting". He also defended that "the authoritarianism of ruling by decree law" will end, promised to form a "smaller government at all levels" and stated that he will not use the president's plane, the Falcon, "for personal or party events”. In addition, Feijóo asserted that he will not appoint ministers "opposed to the European Union, nor to NATO, nor to support for Ukraine or the very defence of national sovereignty". "They will only be ministers if they show they are well-prepared and non-sectarian," he said.
Sexist violence has been a major headache for the PP following its pacts with far-right Vox in town halls and autonomous communities, because the PP have ended up assuming the ideology and extremist language of "intrafamilial violence" in the agreements signed between the two parties. To counteract this message, the PP general secretary, Cuca Gamarra, stressed this Tuesday that her party "has an unwavering commitment to eradicating gender violence": "It is an undeniable reality that we must combat". The programme states that the PP will fulfill "the state pact against gender violence" and will do so "by evaluating each of its measures and updating the contents for greater effectiveness".
Moreover, the party manifesto also states that a "deep" review of the Penal Code will be made to repair "the defective partial reforms proposed in the last legislature", referring to the controversial 'Only yes means yes' law. In the legal field, the PP is committed to imposing sentences of permanent reviewable prison for those convicted of murder with concealment of a body. On the other hand, the PP also assures that it will repeal another key Socialist-Unidas Podemos pieces of legislation, the law of Democratic Memory.