«Feijoo's trip», the radiography of one of the great referents of politics in Spain

The Congress of the summer of 2018

The phones of the leaders of the PP throughout Spain throw smoke.One of those multiple calls is produced between the general secretary of the party, María Dolores de Cospedal, and the Galician President, in which the former defense minister asks Feijoo's opinion about when he believes that the succession Congress should be held: if in a wayimmediate or to the conclusion of summer."We were stunned," comment from the closest circle of President Galician.

Feijoo says that "of course, in autumn".He had also had the possibility of transferring Rajoy that the celebration of a short -term congress would greatly limit his chances of registering in the same.

Tuesday, June 5

Rajoy confirms to the National Executive Committee of the party his withdrawal from politics and, in the same speech, the call for an imminent express congress, for July, from which his successor will come out.The announcement causes surprise.Especially coming from someone who, if characterized by something, has been to measure the times extraordinarily well and never rush when making decisions.

In Genoa, tears and applause occurred with the speech of its president: «The time has come to put an end to this story.The PP must continue advancing under the leadership of another person, ”said an excited Rajoy.More applause to fire a person who had been everything in politics.

As he likes to say, he started hitting posters in Sanxenxo, he was councilor, regional deputy, national deputy, minister of several portfolios, vice president of the Government, head of the opposition and president."Fuck, someone stop, pussy," asks for an excited Rajoy.

In the press and in national news, the name of Feijoo appears as the great favorite in all pools to succeed the leader.[...]

Thursday, June 7

Feijoo is questioned in his appearance after a council of the Xunta.The Galician leader tries to mark the times: «The Popular Party Congress is not summoned.When it is convened, all affiliates have to give their opinion, me too, and I will make my decision.But it will not be in this Chamber, because here it is time to talk about the affairs of the Government of Galicia.There is no novelty », Zanja.

From that same room, some national media journalists who usually do not cover this type of weekly appearances are headed with broadcast.«I like seeing them, but do not move with me (following all the acts of their busy official schedule) because they will not find a different response, they have the security.I'm going to summon you for it, ”he advises.[...]

Once again Feijoo is asked again about the primary process.«I will give my opinion throughout the deadline that marks the Board of Directors that calls Congress.I will position myself, because it is my obligation as president of the PPDEG and as a militant, and that is what I am going to do, "he says, but requests" calm to think and hit, because there is plenty of anxiety.I try to be consistent and responsible, but not hidden that is not easy, ”he acknowledges.

Friday, June 8

The day after this bombing Feijoo coincides with Ana Pastor in Vigo.Both are insistent again, but neither one nor the other release garments.The movements are produced in the back room.Friday is an informative blackout day.The political scientist Xosé Luís Barreiro, one of the reference columnists of the voice of Galicia, refers in his article of the day to the PP process."I see him fighting a hard and generous battle between his personal interest - which requires himLoad with another fifteen or twenty years of exposure to the handling of public opinion that will return to Galicia Viejo, tired of carpets and oropeles, and supporting in their meats the end of another cycle of sacrifices that no one will thank you ».

Meanwhile, in the PSOE the days of euphoria continue after the successful motion of censure.Pedro Sánchez presides over the first meeting of his "Council of Ministers".The socialist leader telephone to Feijoo, with whom it is convenient to find a date in summer to meet in Moncloa.One of the few television licenses that Feijoo was allowed was to become the star guest of Land Rober, a night program issued on the TVG that sweeps in a hearing.He did it in September 2016, just a couple of days after being imposed for the third time in the elections.Roberto Vilar, the presenter, who after triumphing on Galician television with a characteristic sense of humor was signed by a national chain, asks for his political future.

"Is it going to Madrid?"

—I'm this last Monday on Antena 3.

"Well, I'm going to tell you one thing.I went, specifically to Telecinco, and gave myself a criminal host.I was here the king, the world champion;They paid me a tremendous amount of money and I didn't have time to take it to Panama.

June 9 and 10 weekend

On Saturday there is a plan, but on Sunday the popular direction tries to accelerate further the deadlines of Congress.The National Board of Directors will set the next day the date of the extraordinary congress from which the next president will leave.Several voices within the party bet on a unique candidacy, for an agreement between the possible candidates that avoids a civil war within the party.

Feijoo continues to claim time to clarify its role within the PP while encouraging others to take the step: «All who believe they can contribute something, work, experience and leadership, and have a commitment to the millions of voters, who present theirproposal, your team », requires.

Monday, June 11

Congress already has a date: July 20 and 21 in Madrid.Feijoo looks for Cospedal and Cospedal looking for Feijoo, who exchanges a look that says everything.But the decision is made and the closed calendar.Feijoo asks Cospedal privately."When I went to talk to the president, he had already decided," laments the general secretary.

The selection of the date becomes the first great symptom by which the president of the Xunta interprets that, perhaps, the process was not summoned to be the one who took the witness.On the other side, another of the great candidates to take the rudder of the PP, former Vice President Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, knows that an acceleration would significantly increase their options.If the matter cool, she, without any charge within the party, would stay like a deputy Rasa.That is why from Soraya's team they "pressed" the president to formalize the call as soon as possible.While Feijoo and Cospedal asked calm, «in Moncloa they wanted.Today better than tomorrow, ”says a person who was directly involved in the matter.[...]

Indeed, Feijoo concluded that the succession process was not mounted for him, but this was not the only reason that made him opt for in Galicia.Because Feijoo knew better than anyone than even without having the support of the outgoing president, his weight within the party was overwhelming, and he had imposed on the primary almost unblusted.Sources close to Rajoy consider that if Feijoo had taken the step, their triumph would be so clear that no one had registered another candidacy, because everyone knew that they had no options to dispute the leadership, and therefore, the process had become a kind ofBulgarian acclamation.

Thursday, June 14

One of Feijoo's trusted people maintained a meeting with Pablo Casado, then Vice -Secretary of the party, in which he shows his support for the Galician leader, and even suggests leaving in public to support the president of the Xunta.They stop him.

@Berkeleybowl we are partial to papaya, pineapple, and prickly pear peel us submmon and we'll figure out ... https: // t.CO/UFOXVSZCIK

— picanteberkeley Mon Oct 29 03:22:00 +0000 2018

In Santiago, Feijoo presides over a new meeting of his regional government.[...] Continues without having a firm decision, but Feijoo already transmits to two of his collaborators, only to the closest ones, which "most likely says no".No leaks.

Friday, June 15

Feijoo attends a dinner with members of the School of Engineers at the San Francisco Hotel, just a few steps from the Faculty of Medicine.Meanwhile, in Madrid, the popular deputy José Antonio Bermúdez de Castro celebrates the dinner of his wedding, a banquet in which a large number of party leaders were invited, including Rajoy, Soraya, Cospedal, Casado, Ana Pastor ...Luis de Grandes also, the person in charge of directing Congress.One of the guests Rajoy receives a call from Feijoo at the end of dinner.«Mariano responds.Alfonso Alonso finds out that there is that call and gets nervous.Wants to know what they have talked about.He is afraid that Feijoo would have told him that he was going to appear, so he wants to mobilize everything for Soraya.Soraya was also at that wedding, but he retired soon, ”they say.

June 16 and 17 weekend

Sáenz de Santamaría continues to explore support.Directly, with the invaluable support of its communication director, Sonia Sánchez Mula, and especially from María Pico, her chief of cabinet and right hand until her withdrawal from politics.But also through its closest collaborators, such as the aforementioned José Luis Ayllón, former secretary of State for relations with the Cortes;Jorge Moragas, former head of the presidency;Alfonso Alonso himself;And also the general coordinator of the PP, Fernando Martínez Maíllo, one of Rajoy's maximum confidence.Cospedal is forced to give a touch of attention.

In Galicia they are quiet: Soraya would not be able to defeat an alleged candidacy of Feijoo "or with the most optimistic calculations," they point out, so their contacts could only attend to two reasons: a threat to negotiate a favorable surrender, integrated into some position, or that the Galician leader is being prepared by the end, he decides not to present himself.

Much more discreetly, Feijoo also puts his plumbers to work within the party to explore possible support for his candidacy.The general secretary of the PPDEG, Miguel Tellado, and Diego Calvo, provincial president of the PP of A Coruña, with good connections in Madrid, play a fundamental role.[...]

Feijoo is a forecast man, and according to popular sources, he had even planned the dome of the PP in case he finally decided to take the step.The person with the most ballots to occupy the General Secretariat was the Valencian Esteban González Pons.

The Galician President takes the weekend to try to clear the doubts.What I wanted was time to meditate such a transcendental decision, but time does not exist.During the weekend he escapes with his family to the house of O Morrazo, to see if the sea helps him shake all the unknowns.He even hangs a new photo on his WhatsApp profile, an image of Vigo's estuary with some baton.

Feijoo had promised to call Cospedal on the weekend to advance his final decision.But first he wants to have a last conversation with Mariano.They had seen in person in the house of Aravaca de Rajoy when he had not yet completed the move after his precipitous departure from La Moncloa.Feijoo had already dropped him that he did not see the step.He wielded several reasons, including relatives, not long ago he was a father, but the one he exhibited more carefully was the exit to the Xunta race, a movement that could bring very negative consequences for the party in Galicia.The possibility of compatible for a while the national presidency of the party and the Headquarters in the opposition with the presidency of the Xunta, but immediately ruled out, but immediately discarded immediately.Both one and the other knew that Galicia would end up taking its toll."It is possible that in another community it is even well seen, but we both know perfectly that in Galicia they were not going to accept it," says one of those involved, as good connoisseurs that both are from Galician politics.[...]

Monday, June 18

Monday was a frantic day.The deadline for registering the candidates to happen to Mariano Rajoy in the presidency of the party, a window to present the guarantee of one hundred affiliates that will remain open until Wednesday at 2:00 p.m..00 hours, so there is not much margin.So far they had only announced their intention to compete for the leadership of the party candidates without any option: the Executive Secretary of International Relations of the PP, José Ramón García-Hernández;the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel García-Margallo;or the former president of new generations of the Valencian Community, José Luis Bayo.

It can be said that real applicants were waiting to see what the favorite was doing: Núñez Feijoo.If he decided not to appear, Soraya would take the step, and as an immediate reaction, Cospedal would lead another candidacy.

However, in the middle of the morning Pablo Casado breaks into the door of Genoa to give a small blow to the board and run to the presidency.The Deputy Secretary of Communication arrives wrapped by some of the youngest leaders of the party: other vice -secretaries such as Javier Maroto and Andrea Levy, the deputy Murcian Teodoro García Egea, the person who convinces him that he has real possibilities to win when he is about to leaveTo another European capital to work in the private sector, or an still half -known Isabel Díaz Ayuso with the face of not having killed a fly."I do want to be president," said Casado, statements that did not sit well in Galicia.

Feijoo summons all the charges of the Galician PP for an appearance at the Palacio del Carmen Hotel.A last Toro is much easier to interpret, but from that same Compostela Hotel he had revealed not many years ago that he departed from his initial intention to abandon the presidency of the Xunta after the second term and that he acquired "a commitment to Galicia"To get to a new re -election.It is also true that from that same pleasant complex he had already announced almost ten years ago his candidacy to succeed Fraga at the head of the PPDEG.

Lucas Martinón and Marta Varela, the Speechwriters of the header, and at the same time two of their maximum trusted advisors, had two different speeches prepared.The president had reviewed both.

In an envelope there was the announcement that stayed in Galicia.In the other, which would try the leap to Madrid.Proof that the decision was last time was the fact that the PPDEG press team had two different posters to put in the lectern that the president would speak: one in a Galician key, which would be placed if it stayed, and anotherin state code, to start from that same moment to present their aspirations to lead the party.What was clear was that this act in the Galician capital was to serve as a starting point for something, well to launch the campaign to the following regional elections, wielding its commitment to Galicia, well to start showing its candidacy to lead the opposition.

The secretary general of the party, Miguel Tellado, appeared at the spot with several piddosted of pens and a hundred guarantees, in case it had been necessary to meet the formal requirement to opt for the presidency.

In addition to Cospedal and Rajoy, the final decision only knew a couple of people.His partner, of course, with whom he deeply meditated the matter, and also collaborators, who are almost with the fingers of one hand, of his most intimate circle.

Mar Sánchez, Lucas Martinón, Marta Varela ... the next level would find out only one hour before the announcement made. Los conselleiros y otros altos cargos del partido reciben un mensaje SMS del presidente: «¡Nos quedamos!No leaks».Why an SMS?The theory that went through Valeriano Martínez, the Conselleiro de Facenda circulates, little friend of WhatsApp type applications, although it could also be because as increasingly the mobiles receive fewer messages of this type, they usually highlight more among the storm of notifications of notifications.

The bulk of deputies still does not know what Feijoo will say in just a few minutes.Many believe that it will take the step, because if not "I wouldn't make them come," but they don't dare to give anything closed.

"I will continue working for the PP, but from the PPDEG," he says, causing the applause of the attendees.Feijoo admits his "legitimate" doubts to have "thought about introducing me to lead the game", but launches the base on which a couple of years later will build part of his electoral campaign: "I committed myself to the Galicians until 2020.I transmitted my illusion and my trust.They answered us with their majority vote, and I, without having fulfilled my commitment, I cannot fail the Galicians, because it would be to fail myself.Well, I have already said it, ”says an excited Núñez Feijoo, unable to contain tears, proof of the tension he had been subjected in the last days.

The Madrid press continues with streaming care that will be one of the most complicated interventions of the president.The speech was complex, and several of the journalists who then followed the news of the PP were perplexed, without knowing what position the Galician President had adopted.Some access the WhatsApp chat with other colleagues to see if someone is able to clarify the doubts."But does it leave or stay?".

Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, president of Castilla y León, successor and pupil of Juan Vicente Herrera, one of the leaders with whom he has connected that of Os Peares, cleared that afternoon of commitments to continue from home the appearance of his partner Galician,to whom he had invited to present himself, and to whom he would have given the support of all the autonomic delegates in a hypothetical second round.They say that he decorchad a good bottle of Ribera del Duero to enjoy Feijoo's yes.And that the broth almost choks him when he finds out about the unexpected decision.

© Copyright La Voz de Galicia S.A.Polygon of Sabón, Arteixo, A Coruña (Spain) registered in the Mercantile Registry of A Coruña in volume 2438 of the file, general section, to folios 91 and following, sheet C-2141.CIF: A-15000649.