Spanish conservatives criticise the coalition government and amnesty for Carles Puigdemont, urging for a decisive victory in the European Parliament to prompt early elections in Spain.
Spain’s Popular Party (PP) launched its campaign for the European elections on Sunday with a large rally at Madrid’s Puerta de Alcalá, demonstrating their opposition to the Amnesty Law, set for final approval in Congress this Thursday.
Surrounded by a sea of Spanish and European flags, participants voiced their anger over the pardoning of Catalan independence leaders and the policies of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s current coalition government.
“We came to defend the equality of all Spaniards and the primacy of the Constitution,” one demonstrator told Euronews.
The PP leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, called on Sánchez to withdraw the amnesty law and demanded early general elections, arguing that the coalition government lacks sufficient parliamentary support, forcing the government to abandon the general state budgets and the failure of several legislative initiatives in Congress.
“Since this legislature is lost, since this government has the country at a standstill, it’s pointless for it to continue,” Feijóo said at the Puerta de Alcalá.
At the event, which drew around 80,000 people according to organisers and 20,000 according to the government delegation, the PP president urged citizens to reject the current government at the ballot box and resist what he views as Pedro Sánchez’s authoritarian drift.
“They want us to be servants. The prime minister is not the master of anything; he is a public servant,” said Feijóo, claiming that Sánchez resorts to criticising the media and the far-right to silence his political opponents.
“They want us distracted with their theatrical strategies, like servants, as ministers say Sánchez is the master, and demotivated and demobilised. Here we are, more eager than ever. That’s why we’re going to vote united to win,” he added.
The Popular Party framed the European elections as a referendum against the Spanish prime minister, seeking to ensure that the voice of the Spanish people is strongly heard in Europe.
“We’ve had enough of turning the other cheek,” Feijóo said: “We will cast our vote on June 9 to respond to so much outrage.”
The PP seeks to rally its base against the amnesty for Carles Puigdemont. It also aims to gauge its street-level influence against Prime Minister Sánchez’s policies, particularly following the recent election outcomes in Catalonia, which Feijóo argues validate his approach to sovereignty.
The PP hopes the EU elections will signal Sánchez a shift in Spain’s political landscape. Although polls suggest that the PP is set to win the European elections, Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party has managed to narrow the gap in recent weeks.