The socialists are already “warming up” for their 41st Federal Congress in Seville, which begins this Friday. Nobody questions the leadership of the Secretary General, Pedro Sánchez, who will have a free hand to create an Executive in “his image and likeness.” The revelations of businessman Víctor de Aldama before the Justice have hit a party that arrives at its conclave discouraged and worried about what may be to come from the “Ábalos case” plot. Given Aldama’s accusations, Sánchez’s decision is to shield his Secretary of Organization, Santos Cerdán, within a congressional process in which a revolution is not expected either programmatically or organically. None of those identified by the alleged achiever of the plot will be touched to reduce their functions because Moncloa’s strategy is to limit the corruption scandal to Ábalos and his “right-hand man”, Koldo García.
The unknown that fills the conversations of the militants is “who or who will be part of their hard core” to face the current legislature and “who is the one who will be the true number two to manage a future stage without Sánchez.” María Jesús Montero, Óscar Puente, Santos Cerdán and Félix Bolaños are placed within this tough group, although it remains to be seen the impact of Aldama’s statements about alleged irregular financing and the political situation of Félix Bolaños, which almost caused the derailment of negotiations on tax reform this past week. According to socialist sources, the negotiation went well due to the intervention of José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero in support of “superbolaños”, as he described it at the 2021 Valencia congress.
No big surprises are expected from the conclave, pending the territorial congresses that will be held next and where the swords are held high, at least in Andalusia, Madrid, Aragon and Castilla y León. In fact, in Seville the absence of Susana Díaz, former president of the Board and current senator, who has not been invited, will be significant.
As LA RAZÓN has learned, the framework paper has 6,742 amendments, with regional financing taking the cake, specifically the unique financing of Catalonia, with 400 amendments. Of which, 63 look directly at Catalonia. The framework presentation sets the objective of “achieving greater territorial balance” due to the increase in differences between autonomies and considers that the current model “continues to present deficiencies in terms of equity and efficiency that must be corrected. “Unjustified inequalities persist in financing per adjusted inhabitant, which generates a redistribution where the autonomous communities with greater fiscal capacity end up receiving fewer resources than other territories.” This direct reference to Catalonia, which is later framed in “territorial singularities”, is what has opened the main Pandora’s Box of the socialist congress.
The PSC has not presented any amendment in the singular financing section because the agreement with ERC “has been agreed upon, approved and fully assumed by the Generalitat”, in the words of Lluisa Moret, the number two of the PSC, who added that “it is a agreement for Catalonia that will be implemented.
The framework presentation does not go into the specifics, beyond generic objectives, but, without a doubt, the Catalan president and first secretary of the PSC, Salvador Illa, will have to work hard on pedagogy because most of the amendments focus on ensuring a model of financing that does not break with the principle of equality between the autonomous communities.
In fact, two of those presented by Aragón are really cool: “Accepting the singularity of a territory will never imply a singular financing regime beyond those already contemplated by the Constitution.” They are not the only ones. Militants from Madrid, Badajoz, Soria and Mallorca have also presented amendments in this regard because, basically, they consider that the agreement between PSC and ERC breaks equality between Spaniards.
Another of the classic themes of socialist congresses is the State model: the republic. Fourteen provinces, Socialist Youth and Socialist Left lead this recurring debate, which always forces the leadership to agree on a wording that does not go too far, as happened in the 2017 congress, where former minister José Luis Ábalos had to work hard with his group, that of Valencia.
Before the PSOE conclave, Sánchez will appear in the Congress of Deputies to talk about the catastrophe of the flood in Valencia, a debate that the opposition will not let pass without looking for a way for Aldama and corruption to also enter again. the parliamentary agenda. And on Thursday there will be an extraordinary Council of Ministers to approve the new aid to those affected by DANA, which Sánchez will announce beforehand in his appearance in the Lower House.