EPP leader Weber slams Sánchez for ‘reflection days’ on leadership

European People’s Party (EPP) President Manfred Weber on Thursday criticised Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (PSOE/S&D) for deciding to take five days to consider whether to resign or stay in office, saying “Spain needs a statesman, not a showman”.

“Sánchez was absent for a weekend, he was not in his office, he was not governing the country,” Weber lamented at an event of Spain’s conservative Partido Popular (PP/EPP) in Barcelona, Euractiv’s partner EFE reported.

Weber participated in the presentation of the PP’s EU election candidates, along with PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo and the party’s leading candidate in the EU elections, Dolors Montserrat.

The EPP chief stressed that being absent for five days would be “unthinkable” in France, Germany and other European countries.

“Spain needs a statesman, not a showman. Spain needs Feijóo, not Sánchez,” he said.

In this sense, the German politician highlighted the “strong leadership” represented by Feijóo, who “won the (snap) general elections” last year (23 July), although he was unable to govern because he did not have a parliamentary majority.

Commenting on Sánchez, Weber said that in negotiating with the Catalan separatist forces – crucial to securing his parliamentary support to remain in power – the Spanish prime minister had “opted for selfishness, for his personal career, not for the interest of the country.”

According to a recent Sigma Dos poll for El Mundo, the PP would win 35.7% of the votes in June’s European elections, equivalent to 23 seats, compared to the 20.2% vote and 12 seats the conservative formation won in the 2019 European race.

The poll shows that Sánchez’s ruling PSOE would come second, with 28.9% of the vote and 19 seats, compared to the progressive formation’s 32.9% of the vote and 20 seats in 2019

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)

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