The same Senate that seemed like it was going to become a counterweight to Pedro Sánchez after the disaster of 28-M, has ended up transformed into a refuge for the fallen of the PSOE, especially after the resignation this week of Concha Andreu as general secretary of La Rioja and the resignation of Guillermo Fernández Vara from the record of deputy in the Assembly of Extremadura. Both will continue in the Upper House in this new stage.
The landing of four of the regional presidents of the PSOE to whom the tsunami of national politics was carried forward in the last regional and municipal elections – only three out of nine resisted: Emiliano García-Page (Castilla-La Mancha), Adrián Barbón (Asturias) and María Chivite (Navarra) – meant that for a few months The Senate was the space with the most organic weight of Spanish socialism after the federal committee, the main decision-making agora of the PSOE and the Federal Policy Council, the theoretical meeting place of the general secretaries of all the federations. which was last held in September 2022. All that power no longer exists or is in retreat. The only former presidents hit by 23-J with stripes are the Balearic Francina Armengol, president of the Congress of Deputies, and the Canarian Ángel Víctor Torres, Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory.
The result of the general elections on 23-J prevented a change of Government that almost everyone took for granted and that was one of the key factors that led several PSOE heavyweights to take positions in the Senate, in the heart of the politician of Madrid, faced with an internal crisis that would have led to the succession of Sánchez. Up to six general secretaries of some of the most powerful federations have cohabited in the Plaza de la Marina Española Palace in the last year, while in most cases their power was mitigated. Andreu is the only one who was on the 23-J lists, the rest opted for the formula of being senators by autonomous designation. Some controlled their succession and are even no longer senators, like Ximo Puig: the former president of the Valencian Community between 2015 and 2023, who resigned in February from his role as senator by autonomous designation before leaving for Paris as Spain’s ambassador to the OECD. . The socialist baron was on top of the process of replacing him, which was resolved without primaries and in March he appointed Diana Morant, Minister of Science, to the general secretary of the PSPV.
Fernández Vara, at the head of the Extremaduran socialists since 2008, was the longest serving of all the territorial leaders, but in March he also closed his orderly exit in one of the communities most linked to the PSOE. His replacement, through primaries, is Miguel Ángel Gallardo, president of the Badajoz Provincial Council. On Wednesday, the former president registered his resignation as a deputy in the Assembly of Extremadura, a resignation that became effective after the plenary session this Thursday. Fernández Vara has not neglected his responsibilities in the Senate, where he is second vice president and is part of the Board. His fight against cancer has not prevented him from continuing to attend the Tuesday meetings of the body.
Javier Lambán, who is also dealing with the disease, has made it clear that he will not run for re-election as general secretary in Aragon, just what Andreu from Riojan announced on Monday. Unlike Puig and Fernández, neither of them has resolved the change of leadership in their federations nor has set a date for holding a congress that will open a new stage. The intention of the president over the last two legislatures and one of Sánchez’s great critics – with the permission of García-Page – is that it be after the 41st Federal Congress of the PSOE, which should take place in October 2025 at the latest. Until is held, the federations are not obliged to undertake their congresses. Andreu also does not seem interested in bringing forward her organic goodbye.
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The Senate also has the presence of Juan Espadas, general secretary of the Andalusian PSOE, the most populous federation, and Juan Lobato from Madrid. Sánchez recognized his concern about the result of the European elections in both communities in the PSOE executive after 9-J. Espadas has been a senator since 2022 and since the end of last year he combines the role of spokesperson in the chamber with that of head of the main socialist federation. A task that forces him to multiply and that officials from the Andalusian PSOE and the Senate believe very difficult to bear due to the same physical distance between Andalusia and Madrid. Espadas reiterated last week his desire to be a candidate for the Junta de Andalucía before the provincial secretaries.
Espadas was also mayor of Seville and the Upper House has given shelter to its dolphin, Antonio Muñoz, to whom it awarded the baton of command at the beginning of 2022. Only for a year and a half. The addition of the PP with Vox took the Andalusian capital from the PSOE and Muñoz was rescued as three on the list for the Senate for their constituency. It was not the only case: María Amparo Marco, councilor of Castellón since 2015, was also included in the 23-J lists. José Francisco Hila, mayor of Palma until last year, entered by appointment of the Balearic Parliament, like Pilar Zamora, former mayor of Ciudad Real appointed by the Cortes of Castilla-La Mancha.
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