It is a denunciation of the supposed unnatural alliances that power encourages. Just as if she were Felipe González in 1994, when he complained about the “pincer” of the PP and IU against the PSOE, Isabel Díaz Ayuso starts on Thursday in the Madrid Assembly theorizing that the PSOE and Vox feed off each other and thus make it difficult for the conservatives to reach Moncloa. It is a harsh and tough intervention, without any diplomacy, at point-blank range, which begins with the attacks of Rocío Monasterio against unaccompanied migrant minors in the region (“That is how wide the blade of the machetes that the minors buy with the little payments they give them are”) and ends with Díaz Ayuso criticizing her immigration speech for being “not very Catholic” and for “making change in Spain impossible.” “They will eternalize Sánchez in Moncloa,” says the president of the Community of Madrid.
The clash serves as a double portrait: that of how the conservative leader is managing to absorb Vox in Madrid, to consolidate her absolute majority with a mix of conservatism, Catholicism and belligerence against Pedro Sánchez, and that of the difficulties that her counterpart in the ultra party, Monasterio, is having in finding a way out of a trap that in many cases mimics her approaches and therefore leaves her without arguments.
“The invasion of illegal immigrants that you all have caused with your pull effect is already the first concern of the Spanish people,” Monasterio begins, referring to the latest CIS. “When Vox broke the autonomous governments because of the PP’s betrayal when it came to fulfilling the commitment on migration, they set out to demonize us,” she continues. “Now that the magnitude of the migratory invasion is enormous, tell me: What plans does this government have to meet the demand for the reception of illegal minors in Madrid?” she asks.
However, the matter does not end there. Because when Ayuso limits herself to saying that she will comply with the law, Monasterio intervenes again, accuses the minors of “causing panic” at night; criticizes the public spending on caring for them; and says: “That is how wide the blade of the machetes that the minors buy with the little allowances they are given are, and that generate so much insecurity. We demand the closure of the centres for unaccompanied minors [menores migrantes no acompañados] already”.
This is what Díaz Ayuso answers. “I am too busy to attend to your ego,” she says. “Why are you lying?” she asks Monasterio. “What you are looking for with the migration problem is more and more focus, always setting the migration debate on fire, always offending, always lying in an atrocious way and making change in Spain impossible, which is what Sánchez knows, yes, he knows how important you are,” she says. “Don’t you realize how they work to put us in the same bag and demonize you who are prisoners of your incendiary speeches?” she asks. And she finishes: “You are going to keep him in Moncloa forever by doing these things. That is why Sánchez is allowing this migration crisis to multiply, to keep you high up in the CIS. It is not a coincidence.”
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But the clash does not end there. Ayuso, who has always made allusions to the Catholic Church, is now making religious references never seen before in her career. The political gain, whether sought or not, is twofold.
On the one hand, it allows him to confront the central government of Sánchez, which in its plan for democratic regeneration proposes modifying the crime of offending religious feelings.
“Are you aware of what is happening in Spain? How can you be so selfish?” Díaz Ayuso asks Monasterio. “I don’t know how you don’t realize the situation we are facing, the embarrassment of knowing that our government is the main collaborator of the Venezuelan dictatorship, the censorship that will be imposed on the media, on judges, the freedom to offend Catholics, the freedom to insult the King of all (…),” she complains.
On the other hand, these allusions help him to wear down Monasterio, which is like wearing down Vox, a party with which the PP competes when it comes to attracting the same electorate.
“I find your speech very un-Catholic,” Díaz Ayuso tells Monasterio about her words about migrants. “Where do the vulnerable or the migrant who has no resources go? To the social work of the Church, always to a Church. The Church is universal and mixed.”
Wolf and Bergerot
The rest of the opposition spokespeople are waiting for their turn. Juan Lobato demands that the success of Teresa Ribera’s European rise be recognised, and asks Ayuso to detail her proposal for Madrid’s financing.
“When you came to power, there was a debt of 16 billion euros,” Lobato recalls in reference to 2019. “Today it is 36 billion euros,” he stresses. “The problem is that you have already doubled the debt, and yet you continue to underpay doctors and healthcare workers, the public university has no funding…” he continues. “What is the model, the funding proposal, that makes the region the richest in Spain? None,” he adds. And he demands: “Get over your obsession with Pedro Sánchez, dedicate yourself to having institutional loyalty, to working for Madrid.”
For her part, the spokesperson for Más Madrid in the Chamber, Manuela Bergerot, reproaches the president that applying a “comprehensive policy against sexist and sexual violence is incompatible with her obsession with getting the few votes left for Vox”. The controversy over creating a care centre for men who are victims of sexual violence is still alive. Yet another one. A way for Ayuso to ensure a relevance that transcends the borders of Madrid.
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