The PSOE faces a profound renewal process in practically the entire territory and in some federations, you can almost see how the wound that began to open in the 2023 regional elections is bleeding. But in La Rioja, at least for the moment, it seems that the crack has been cauterized. There will be no primaries because there was only one candidate.
Javier García, spokesperson for the party in the Parliament of La Rioja and mayor of Arnedo since 2015, has already been proclaimed general secretary of the PSOE of La Rioja and, from his newly opened office at the Martínez Zaporta headquarters, he attends to this medium to reveal some of his intentions for the new stage that begins.
It is evident that the Arnedan arrives with the intention of opening the windows.
At what moment do you take control of the game? How is the PSOE?
The round of contacts that I have made these months since I announced my intention to take a step forward in July has helped me to gauge the state of militancy and organic and institutional positions, especially in city councils. The party is calm, it is true that after the electoral defeat, it is emotionally worse than in May 2023, but it is calm and wants unity. The party wants us to focus on institutional work. The mayors and spokespersons in the opposition want political and legal advice, they want the Socialist Party to work and that is what I am going to do, fine-tune the PSOE so that it is at the service first of its members and its cadres and second of the Riojans, who are the ones we owe.
Have you already spoken with Concha Andreu to begin the succession?
Concha called me the same morning of the proclamation and the transfer of the office has already been made, I have already occupied the office of general secretary at the headquarters. She is in Madrid and we have not been able to focus physically to make the transfer and everything is very good, very cordial and correct.
There will be no primaries in La Rioja. Yes, there will be them in other territories, also with some conflict.
I would summarize it in one sentence: La Rioja is not the thorn in Ferraz’s side. Now the party has to face processes in some federations that are more divided, there will be more competition, which in itself is not bad. The primaries are a guaranteeing process that makes the PSOE the most democratic party in the national political sphere. There are other parties that hold telematic primaries with guarantees that are not very good as has been proven.
I have spoken personally with Ferraz. President Sánchez congratulated me and I have had a conversation with Santos Cerdán and they are very happy that in La Rioja we have been able to not open ourselves up and we have carried out a guarantee process in which whoever wanted to has been able to present themselves, but in which My candidacy has attracted the support of many different and current sensitivities that have determined that I be the general secretary without the need to vote.
I deduce, therefore, that although he has not been able to count the support in a primary process, he does feel majority support from the party and believes that the strength of his candidacy has meant that another has not been presented.
Obviously. I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that my team had a strategy drawn up since July and it has been fulfilled. We have been adding support. The manifestos that have been made public in recent weeks were not contemplated, but what I perceive in the mayors is that they are afraid that the party will open up. They are breaking their faces in their municipalities with a Government of the Popular Party in the Palace and they asked me please not to have to vote, that being mayor, knowing the party, throwing myself into the arena very early, being young, it was the person they needed. From them came the need to make a manifesto. And then the historic ones wanted to participate, they no longer have organic and institutional positions or aspirations for it, but they wanted to participate in some way and they have had a great time because they have met again, there have been phone calls and they have felt useful in the primary process and that seemed super nice to me and that’s what I took away. Before the proclamation I was already happy because I had attracted the support of older people, young people, militants, sympathizers, mayors, spokespersons, former presidents, former general secretaries… And that is beautiful and good news for the PSOE and perhaps bad for other political adversaries who expected us to break apart, but we are united and whatever remains to be sewn, I will sew.
Take the reins of the main opposition party in La Rioja. Do you think good work is being done in this regard or are changes needed?
The opposition work that we have done in Parliament is positive, there is very important coordination and political direction recognized by the deputies. There are proposals, initiatives and seriousness at work. But he needed to grease the party, the organic matter of the party and we can do that much better. That is why starting with the February congress there will be a very political leadership, but with very qualified profiles who will lead the opposition from the party, therefore, the opposition strategy will no longer pivot on the parliamentary group, but rather decisions will be made since the match. We have been in a somewhat transitional period and that has been noticed.
The Logroño group is one of the most influential and there have also been tensions in the past. How are things in the capital now? Could there be any change in the municipal group?
In the municipal group no. Luis Alonso will continue with his work. It was a correct decision by the local committee and its general secretary, Víctor Moratinos, with which I am in tune, so he will continue to be the spokesperson.
The Logroño group is better today than a week ago, there is happiness. This week we had an event, a Christmas wine, and the Moderno was packed, never before had so many people remembered and that is because there is renewed enthusiasm and there is a clear and evident recognition in this proclamation. We must respect the autonomy of the PSOE of Logroño and I am going to do it. It is a very important group with many sensitivities that are practically united today. I want to strengthen them to compete within two and a half years and achieve the mayorship of Logroño, which I believe is feasible.
Will the party’s general secretary and Logroño’s spokesperson be candidates in those elections?
The PSOE has two primary processes: one to elect its organic leaders and another to elect its candidates. We still have to be cautious because there is still time for these candidate primaries to be held in 2026 and, therefore, the job now of Luis Alonso and Javier García is to lead the opposition and in my case to lead the party.
He has spoken of more political profiles at the head of the party. Will his arrival mean changes in all the party’s leadership lines?
Practically the entire Executive will be new except for some people who repeat. It is going to be a smaller, smaller Executive because I intend for it to be more operational and effective. There will be qualified profiles, I want to surround myself with the best, with people better than me because I have always done better making teams of people better than the leader because that is a guaranteed success for me and for the party.
This direction will be complemented with what I already advanced at the time: a council of mayors and spokespersons in the opposition, a think tank and an online training school. The tank and the council of mayors will be like two ‘bis’ directorates, they will greatly influence what the directorate does. What I want to say is that the most important thing is not who is in the Executive, but who is also going to make up those bodies that are going to influence and participate in the meetings of the regional Executive.
I have my team in mind, but I haven’t spoken to anyone yet. I prefer Christmas to pass because I want everyone to say yes to me and the closer Congress is, the easier it is for them to say yes to me. There are some areas that resist me a little, but I already have 95% of the names in my head.
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