PSOE warns PP leader of possible ‘betrayal’ by ‘hawkish’ wing

4 months ago 10

The spokeswoman for the ruling Socialist Party (PSOE/S&D), Esther Peña, has warned the leader of Partido Popular (PP/EPP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to be wary of a possible “betrayal” by two of the most relevant members of his party.

Peña was referring to former prime minister José María Aznar and the president of the Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. In a video sent by the PSOE to the Spanish media over the weekend, Peña urges Núñez Feijóo to “watch his back” against “the (Sesame Street puppet stars) ‘Bert and Ernie’ of the Spanish right”.

The socialist party official noted that Aznar and Díaz Ayuso are already “sharpening their knives” to try to oust him from his current position as PP leader, Euractiv´s partner EFE reported.

Aznar, who was prime minister from 1996 to 2004, continues to play a very active role in the Spanish political arena, and he is considered influential within the PP.

Among other activities, Aznar chairs the Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies (FAES), which is linked to the PP and considered “hawkish” within the party.

Díaz Ayuso, who is known for her aggressive and often controversial rhetoric against the Spanish left, is widely seen by many analysts as the most likely candidate to replace Núñez Feijóo in the leadership of the PP, and she also belongs to the most hardline wing of her party.

One of her most controversial measures has been the recent awarding of a decoration from the Community of Madrid to “libertarian” Argentine president Javier Milei, who, last May, at a political event of the far-right VOX party, called Begoña Gómez, wife of Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez (PSOE), “corrupt”.

In the video, Peña harshly lashed out at the PP, winner of the recent EU elections in Spain:

“The leitmotiv of Partido Popular is always the same, to destroy everything they cannot control”, the PSOE official commented, while stressing that her party, which governs in coalition with the left-wing platform Sumar, always has “its hand outstretched to ensure that Spain continues along the right path”.

The PP and VOX have been governing together since May 2023 in several regions and city councils in Spain, although not always in good harmony.

Both formations have been competing for some time to attract the most radical right-wing voters and voters frustrated with the PSOE who are more centre-right than the liberal centre-left currently represented by Pedro Sánchez’s party.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)