Moncloa. Four Seasons. A “cursed” documentary marked by controversy since its filming was announced. No platform streaming wanted to take charge of the product directed by Curro Sánchez Varela and produced by The Pool and Secuoya Studios.
The right accused the Government of Pedro Sanchez to commission a documentary to whitewash his work. Meanwhile, the director has defended that his objective is “to discover how the Government machinery works and who are the people behind that complex, Moncloa, made up of more than 2,000 people from different departments.”
These statements were made in The Countrya medium that has finally exclusively published the four chapters of which the documentary is made up and which was released this week. It contains testimonies from many workers, from waiters, office managers, assistants, secretaries and even a falconer who controls the pigeon population in Moncloa.
Ministers and senior government officials also appear. Sánchez’s personal side can be seen in conversations with his wife Begoña Gómeztaking the dogs out, running through the countryside or having a conversation with his then chief of staff Óscar López about the extraordinary grades of one of his daughters.
The (difficult) conciliation between work and family is also put on the table by ministers such as Felix Bolaños reflected with a video call with his son. “Being a minister is making rules,” Bolaños says he tells him to explain what his job entails. In Public We collect some of the most striking scenes from the documentary.
Sánchez’s “outrage” with Podemos
First chapter. The backbone is the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and also the approval of the Iberian exception in Brussels. But at one point a meeting appears in Moncloa de Sánchez with his closest people. The so-called “matins”. ““What Ione Belarra said made me very angry.”confesses the President of the Government. The leader of Podemos and then Minister of Social Rights had called the PSOE a “party of war” in the context of the situation in Ukraine and its objectives of increasing military spending.
March 8 was close and Sánchez doubted, due to these criticisms, whether to accompany Irene Montero. Adriana Lastra, then deputy general secretary of the PSOE, recommends not going. “People would understand it,” he says. The socialist leader reflects for a few seconds and decides to go because the feminist movement is above what the Minister of Equality represented then.
The challenge of the NATO summit and Javier Solana’s walk
The second chapter focuses especially on the holding of the NATO summit in Madrid, in June 2022. The protagonist is Fran Martin Aguirrecurrent delegate of the Government in the Community of Madrid and then general secretary of the Presidency of the Government. The documentary reflects the logistical challenge of organizing this event and explains some fundamental issues such as security in the preparations.
In this context, Sánchez receives several international leaders. One of them is Jacinda Ardernthen Prime Minister of New Zealand. “Stay strong,” he wrote to Sánchez in the honor book. The former Secretary General of NATO Javier Solana also plays a leading role by receiving all the leaders one by one at the doors of the Prado Museum. Everyone shows their surprise at finding him and great complicity. Even Boris Johnson, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, to whom Solana tells him he should comb his hair…
Joe Biden’s excessive delegation
“My team is not going to want to go home.” These are the words of Joe Biden, president of the United States, upon being received in Moncloa and praise for Spain and the treatment received. The documentary comments on the American president that he brings an “excessive” delegation that It even included a person who had to serve him water exclusively.
“He is an extraordinary politician and public relations person,” Emma Aparici, one of the main international negotiators on Sánchez’s team, highlights him. Sánchez and Biden show their complicity. “Personal relationships They also count in international relations,” highlights Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares.
The letters to Sánchez: “This is Spain”
In the third episode the axis is Moncloa Abierta program and citizen visits to the complex. The documentary penetrates the department in charge of being in contact with citizens and explains the system for receiving letters to Sánchez. “What is debated in the media has little to do with the concerns of citizens,” the president points out about the content of the letters.
One of the workers tells an anecdote that when Franco was taken out of Cuelgamuros An “avalanche” of writings were received, both for and against. “This is Spain,” he says about it.
Nerves about the General State Budgets
The fourth and final chapter focuses especially on the budget negotiations for the 2023 accounts, which are currently in force. Bolaños, María Jesús Montero or Yolanda Díaz They have their particular prominence. These last two reveal their “great personal harmony.” The minister explains the Budgets like this: “It is about converting literature into mathematics.”
“To change things you have to be in the Government,” says Díaz. Bolaños conveys peace of mind to Sánchez in the last hours of negotiation although he tells him that he still has to tie up ERC. “If you want me to make a call, tell me,” Sánchez responds. When the accounts are approved in Congress, the feeling is one of relief and celebration. “He has suffered,” they say about Montero at the end of the session.
The trip to Ukraine
Finally, the documentary focuses on the trip to Ukraine that Sánchez made coinciding with the first year of war. “We never thought we would see again tanks on European soil“, reflects the president. The leader of the Executive defines the speech he gave in the Ukrainian Parliament as one of the “most exciting moments” since he has been in Moncloa.
The documentary closes with a message that Sánchez gives to the workers and that also serves as the political point. “If we learned a lesson from the pandemic, it is that a strong and vigorous public service is necessary.”
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