We need your help to continue reporting
Collaborate with Newtribuna
The European Parliament has finally given its approval to the new Commission that must direct European policy for the next five years.
The dirty work of the Popular Party of Núñez Feijóo and a new change of principles of the socialists he leads Pedro Sanchez have resulted in the extreme right becoming naturalized and now part of the government of the European Union.
Therefore, although some media say that Feijóo has made a fool of himself in Europe, I believe that, in reality, he has developed a masterstroke. For their own benefit, yes, and without taking into account the interests and prestige of Spain.
What Feijóo’s PP was after was not really for Ribera to fall from the Commission. They are not stupid and they knew they were not going to get it. They sought to clear their political space in Spain
The popular Spaniards vetoed Teresa Ribera knowing that Von der Leyen he could not form his Executive without the support of the majority of the European socialist group that depends on the Spanish MEPs; and, at the same time, that Pedro Sánchez would not allow his candidate for vice president to be left out of the Commission. The result has been what was easily foreseen: in exchange for the popular Europeans accepting the Spanish one, the Spanish socialists gave their approval for them to be part of the Commission Raffaele Fittofrom the far-right party of the Italian Giorgia Meloni, and Oliver Várhelyially of the Hungarian Viktor Orban. Of the latter Donald Trump said that “there is no one better, more intelligent or a better leader (…) It is fantastic.”
What Feijóo’s PP was after was not really for Ribera to fall from the Commission. They are not stupid and they knew they were not going to get it. They sought to clear their political space in Spain by showing that the pacts with the extreme right that they need to govern are accepted without problems in Europe, even by their main rival, the PSOE.
The significance of this move and the step taken by the Spanish socialists is manifested in the division they have caused among the members of their own parliamentary group: 25 have voted against and 18 have abstained.
Until a few days ago, the Spanish socialists maintained that the alliance with the extreme right is a danger to democracy and they have condemned the Popular Party for governing with it in various Spanish autonomous communities and city councils. From now on, they will not be able to criticize the agreements between the PP and Vox to govern. Or, who knows, they will do the same again, although they themselves govern with the extreme right in Europe.
What is unacceptable is the lack of coherence and the betrayal of the principles that it claims to defend.
I do not criticize for the sake of criticizing, nor did I establish the criteria that the socialists have been defending and that they have now thrown into the trash. It has been they themselves who have shown once again that their moral principles are removable.
In fact, I believe that the expression and practice of the so-called “cordon sanitaire” that is usually used to exclude the extreme right from democratic pacts is unfortunate. I believe that agreements should be established on substantive and concrete issues and not on a priori qualifications. If something is good, fair and improves the living conditions of the majority of society, it would seem good to me that it be signed through pacts between any type of political formation. I do not believe in disqualification on principle when reaching agreements. What seems important to me is its content, not who remembers it. In fact, what I criticize the extreme right is its totalitarianism, that it acts precisely like this, condemning on principle and considering it an enemy to destroy those who do not share its ideas or interests. I can’t advocate that others do the same.
For that reason, I would not even be against reaching agreements with the extreme right if what is agreed upon is, as I say, democratic, fair and beneficial. And I might even understand whoever argues that, given the way the European Union works, there is no other possible type of governance. What I cannot understand is what the Spanish socialists led by Pedro Sánchez have been doing: defending one thing and its opposite as if they were the same, whenever it suits them. It cannot be said that governing with the extreme right is bad if the other does it and good if one does it.
I believe that people can understand and forgive when a party or government does not achieve the objectives it had set for itself. What is unacceptable is the lack of coherence and the betrayal of the principles it claims to defend.
#principles #trash #socialists #govern #extreme
