The Galician president appreciates the support of the regional leaders of the PP and confirms that he will announce his decision starting tomorrow
The countdown for Pablo Casado is already underway. The leader of the PP will chair today his last meeting of the national board of directors that will approve the road map until the XX National Congress, in which a new stage will be opened in the party led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The still head of the opposition -although it is nominal- will say goodbye to the high officials of the PP with whom he has worked for almost four years. It will be a “state” speech, “up to par”, similar to the one he gave just a week ago at his farewell in Congress, they slip from his environment. The tone will be conciliatory to cauterize wounds and close ranks with the president of the Xunta de Galicia, whom he has asked to take the helm of the party. At first it had been announced that the speeches would be behind closed doors, including that of Casado, but in the end it will not be like that.
However, Feijóo does not want to make a false step, and will not communicate that he aspires to control the formation until the conclave, with an extraordinary character, is officially convened tomorrow. “Starting on Wednesday, which is the first day decisions can be made, I will announce my decision,” said the Galician leader today.
The PP does not consider the scenario that Feijóo does not take a step forward, as happened to the general surprise in 2018. Practically all the regional leaders have made their support public. “He is aware that Spain and the party need him,” the president of Andalusia, Juanma Moreno, assured today. “For me there is a premise that is unity and that is embodied by Feijóo,” said the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida.
THE KEYS:
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Order of the day.
The meeting must approve the convening of the extraordinary congress for April 2 and 3 and its organizing committee. -
Deadlines.
Candidacies to preside over the PP endorsed by at least one hundred militants must be presented before March 16.
The president of the Xunta thanked the explicit support of the leaders of the PP but asked to respect the times of the congress for which, he said, “a lot remains.” «There are two basic issues: the approval of the urgent call for an extraordinary congress, and the appointment of the organizing committee for the management of the congress. From there -he insisted- he, all the members of the PP have the floor».
Pons’s Choice
The more than 400 senior leaders that make up the national board of directors must also approve the appointment of Esteban González Pons as president of the organizing committee of the congress. The Valencian MEP, very close to the Galician baron, is a great connoisseur of the organic structure of the party. In ‘El viaje de Feijóo’ (The Sphere of books, 2020), Fran Balado reveals that he was the person whom the president of the Xunta would have chosen as general secretary of the PP in the event that he had decided to opt for the succession of Mariano Rajoy.
The meeting must also agree on the composition of the organizing committee of the congress, as well as a regulation for the proper conduct of the conclave and decide the place where it will be held. Moreno raised Sevilla to reinforce his candidacy before the elections at the end of the year, but the decision has not yet been made.