He warns the “communist” forces to the left of the PSOE that their division has already prevented them from governing in Madrid in 2015 and in 2019
MADRID, Dec. 8 (.) –
The general secretary of the PSOE in Madrid and candidate for the regional elections, Juan Lobato thinks that the state of public health will be the Achilles heel of the president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and what will make her lose the elections. He also believes that for the first time in three decades the debate prior to the elections will revolve around public management and not issues of a national nature.
In an interview with Europa Press, Lobato stated that the state of health in Madrid –which is undergoing a process of strikes and protests– will be what produces “a political change” in the regional government in the next elections on 28 May.
Thus, he has indicated that at this moment the people of Madrid do not know if there is a strike by health professionals or not, but they are aware that “for 40 years they had a doctor at their health center at night and today they do not,” he has indicated.
“Today they don’t know, if something happens to their son or their father, they don’t know whether to take him to the health center of the last 40 years or take him to the hospital. And that is what I think will produce a change in the next year in the Community of Madrid”, he maintained.
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT, THE GREAT DEBATE IN MADRID
When asked if he thinks that the health issue will be Ayuso’s Achilles heel in these elections, he replied that “totally” because in Madrid for the first time in the last 30 years the regional policy will be, in his opinion, the one that decides The vote.
Thus, he has stated that for the first time “the great debate in Madrid” will be the management of public affairs, with education and nursing homes, in addition to health, as major issues, as he has highlighted. In his opinion, voters will value whether they are capable of “professionally” managing a budget like Madrid’s to manage the public services that fall under their jurisdiction.
“For the first time this is the great debate in Madrid and we aspire to represent that majority of democrats with social convictions who want Madrid to work,” he added.
FORCES OF “COMMUNIST” IDEOLOGY
On the other hand, the leader of the Madrid socialists has issued a warning to the political forces to the left of the PSOE, which he has described as “communists”. In this way, he has encouraged them to unite and has reminded them that going to the polls separately already prevented them from governing in 2015 in the Community of Madrid and in 2019 in the city council of the capital.
Lobato has warned that “this division of the space of communism with Más Madrid on the one hand and Podemos on the other, separated and in conflict” can prevent them from governing in these two institutions as has already happened in past electoral appointments.
“It caused us to stay one seat away from governing the Community of Madrid in 2015 and that (Manuela) Carmena lost the mayoralty due to that division,” he lamented. In this sense, she has specified that you never know what is going to happen but that “it is not good” for her political space “to face each other as they are right now in Madrid”, she pointed out.
THEY MUST GO TOGETHER FOR CONSISTENCY
“There is a space to the left of the PSOE that ideologically represents communism, said with affection and without any negative tone, rather it is a space that exists” which in his opinion is “that of Izquierda Unida, of Unidas Podemos, of Más País , from Más Madrid, who have more ideological roots in communism”. As he has defended, these formations “for consistency” should go to the elections together.
Along the same lines, he has indicated that he hopes that all political options “will be clear for all elections” because it is logical that this political space has its representativeness “with whatever citizen support it may be.”
“That this space to the left of the PSOE has these confrontations, these confrontations in Madrid and at the national level, it is not good,” he has transferred. “And hopefully for the proper functioning of the institutions and parliaments, that they have a clear, logical and unified commitment as we have the rest of the political spaces” he pointed out.
THE PSOE STRONGER THAN MORE MADRID
Lobato also considers that the PSOE is currently stronger in terms of popular support than Más Madrid, despite the fact that right now the group led by Mónica García is the main opposition force.
“What happened a year and a half ago in the elections was a series of circumstances that were very bad for us and very good for the rest of the parties,” said the socialist candidate who today sees a “quite different” panorama. because the PSOE of Madrid “has taken a step forward with ambition and determination”.
SÁNCHEZ’S “LOGICAL” PRESENCE
He also thinks that the fact that on this occasion the municipal elections coincide with the regional ones will favor the Socialists who have “60 mayors and mayors who govern for two million people from Madrid” in the community.
Regarding the electoral campaign in Madrid and the presence of the President of the Government and Secretary General of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, he has indicated that it will be “logical and natural” since he has to go to all the large municipalities of the country. “He will not be here every week but whatever logical acts are in Madrid we will do with him”, he stated.
10% INCREASE IN HEALTH INVESTMENT
Lobato has also pointed out, in this line, that his first decision if he becomes president of the Community of Madrid would be to increase the budget for Health by 10% to go from being “the last” in financing this public service to being ” in the middle of the table”, as he pointed out.
“But we can’t go crazy either. The first step has to be to recover a minimum financing structure in public health in Madrid,” he added.
In addition, he has indicated that his second priority would be to change the educational model to reverse the “high” youth unemployment suffered by the region, in which there are also “33,000 young people” who have been left without a place in professional training cycles while large companies technological or industrial companies find themselves “without young professionals to hire”.
In his opinion, it is a response that depends 100% on the Community of Madrid, which should generate more professional training places and also “training” to train young people in subjects such as Artificial Intelligence or databases, as companies such as “Google, Oracle or Celonis”, as he has stated.
BUS AND VOX LAW
On the other hand, it has not clarified what the position of the socialist group will be in the Madrid Assembly, where the so-called ‘omnibus law’ will be debated shortly, despite the fact that they had announced that they would appeal it to the Constitutional Court.
Thus, he has indicated that within this norm there are elements with which they can agree, but others will cause harm to many people such as the change to reduce environmental controls in urban developments. Therefore, he has indicated that they are going to wait for final approval and see if any issue is admitted and then they will decide what to do. “It’s still not 100% decided,” he admitted.
Finally, he has described Vox’s decision to present the amendments to the community budget after the deadline as “ridiculous” and has pointed out that the relationship of this formation with the PP “is always the same” both in the Madrid city council and in the Community.
In his opinion, Santiago Abascal’s formation mounts “antics” but in the end he always ends up supporting the “popular” in laws, budgets and important decisions. “It is inexplicable” has complained.
