The president of the PPP, Alberto Núñez Feijóohas shown himself “very proud” this Saturday of “not paying homage to apprentice rulers of autocrats and truly autocrats”, in reference to Pedro Sánchez, during his participation in the act Europe is Hispanicin which he declared that these leaders “use their people not to improve and prosper, but to improve and prosper themselves.”
“I do not miss meeting with some leaders of the Spanish-American nations,” he pointed out, and he was very “very proud” to be meeting “with the Spanish-American people” in this act, which is held at the same time as the Iberoamerican Summit in the Dominican Republic, in which the President of the Spanish Government is participating, Pedro Sanchez.
Given his words, the Government has reminded Feijóo that he forgets that King Felipe VI is also present at the summit and has urged him to respond if it seems wrong to him that the monarch participates in an appointment like this. For this reason, sources from the Executive have branded the leader of the PP as “ignorant and irresponsible.”
His “unfortunate” comment has also been censored by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, who has asked Feijóo to publicly rectify his criticism of attending Ibero-American meetings, which have “profoundly outraged” him because they show “irresponsibility and ignorance” of what a summit of these characteristics represents.
Albares recalled that Spain has promoted these meetings for more than 30 years and participates in them at the highest level, with the King and the President of the Government present. “No one had ever criticized Spain’s attendance at these summits,” he added before urging Feijóo to clarify if he wants the country to leave his chair vacant.
Feijóo, accompanied by Ayuso
Feijóo, who was accompanied at the event by the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has declared that, “if the Government wanted”, the presidency should be used on duty of the European Union for six months to integrate Latin America into Europe.
“We can invest the current presidency in unity”, he added, urging to close “big agreements” and unite “the entire European Union with Argentina, Brazil or Uruguay”, creating “a market of more than 700 million people”. He has also criticized the fact that the summit between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is in Brussels on July 17 and 18 and not in Madrid.
Feijóo has stated that Spain “has to be the fundamental bridge between Europe and Latin America” and that “it must be influential in the decisions of Europe in Latin America”, serving as a gateway to the institutions and markets of the rest of the EU.
In addition, the popular leader has promised to be “the president of all Hispanics in Spain” and has defended that the country “should be a permanent connection between the European Union and Latin America. “I am committed from the first moment and I assure you that I will let you down,” he stressed.
Feijóo has recalled the elimination of the visas for Colombia and Peru, obtained during the stage of Mariano Rajoy and has promised to do the same with Ecuador when he becomes president.
He has also explained that he “does not believe in the policy of trenches or walls”, but in that of “shaking hands, looking into each other’s eyes and moving forward”. In this line, he pointed out that the change “that Spain needs” is to abandon the trenches, the tension and unite on the path of the future”, stressing that “Hispanicity is, without a doubt, a commitment to the past, to the present, but, especially for the future.”
During his speech, he declared himself “one more Hispanic, one more Spaniard, with a family beyond the Atlantic”, and stressed that the guiding principle of foreign policy must be that “Spain is the fundamental bridge between Europe and Latin America“. “Saying this cannot be a slogan,” he added.
He also recalled the Spanish grandparents and parents who went to Latin America, whose children and grandchildren are now making the return trip: “All of them, like you, built the bonds of unbreakable brotherhood that Hispanicity means; of the 500 years shared; and Spanish, the language with the greatest future”.
