Feijóo will defend this Thursday in Brussels his plan to protect borders and will denounce the “abandonment” of Ceuta by Sánchez
The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, will take to Brussels this Thursday his plan to secure borders and allow immediate expulsions with the aim of preventing "hybrid attacks" such as the one Ceuta experienced at the end of July, when around 80,000 immigrants entered en masse. There, he will once again denounce the “inaction” and “negligent abandonment” by the Government of Pedro Sánchez that, according to the formation, the autonomous city has been suffering for more than two months.
"A protocol must be drawn up to protect the EU from attacks and hybrid wars like the one in Ceuta. We must be able to act against elements of external destabilization," sources from the PP leadership told Europa Press before the summit of the European People's Party (EPP) in the Belgian capital, prior to the European Council.
Feijóo himself pointed in that direction this Tuesday when, in an interview on esRadio, he defended that the EU has “an emergency procedure in the event of cases like those in Ceuta.” It is, he added, that "European legislation changes and allows countries to immediately expel" and "deny asylum" of those who "invade a country."
Feijóo considers that the “revelations” that they have learned this week about the presence of Moroccan navy ships during “the invasion” are of “extraordinary gravity” and this is what he will present this Thursday to his EPP colleagues, as he himself has announced. In his opinion, Sánchez should have deployed the Army to these movements in Ceuta waters coinciding with the jump of irregular migrants.
In addition to conveying it to his European partners at the Brussels meeting, Feijóo has demanded that the President of the Government appear in the Permanent Deputation of Congress to give explanations for these Moroccan incursions into Spanish waters. In his opinion, this episode evidences “the negligent and unforgivable abandonment of 80,000 Spaniards by those who had the obligation to protect them.”
Feijóo considers that the PP has managed to “sensitize” the EU with the Ceuta crisis because the massive entry is “a before and after to ensure the territorial integrity of Spain and Europe,” as he said this Tuesday. However, its purpose continues to be to “Europeanize” the crisis that the autonomous city continues to suffer and to ensure that what happened does not fall into “oblivion,” sources from the formation add.
In his five visits to Ceuta, Feijóo has stressed that the return of the thousands of irregular immigrants who remain in Ceuta is protected by the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, as well as by the Return Regulation. It has also asked for financial help to expand the Tarajal breakwater, a permanent Frontex presence and improvements in its European financing.
On September 21, during his trip to Ceuta with an EPP delegation headed by its president, Manfred Weber, Feijóo thanked the European Commission for seeking to provide itself with an emergency mechanism to "activate immediate returns of all citizens who enter a European State" and to guarantee the "effective and real strengthening of the European border when it is attacked."
In Genoa they consider that Sánchez is increasingly alone in the EU due to his immigration policy. In fact, they recalled that last August 22 EU countries sent a letter to the community institutions - promoted by the Italian Government of Giorgia Meloni - criticizing the migration management of the Spanish Government after the Ceuta crisis.
Furthermore, at the end of September, the EPP approved a resolution in the political assembly held in Toulouse (France) in which it requested the return of immigrants who entered Ceuta irregularly, while demanding that the European Union offer member states the option of temporarily suspending asylum applications in cases of "hybrid attacks" such as the one suffered by the autonomous city.
Feijóo's trip to Brussels takes place in the middle of the electoral pre-campaign in Spain for the early general elections that Pedro Sánchez called last week for next November 29. Sources from Feijóo's team hope that this will be his last trip as head of the opposition and that he will attend the next EPP summit in Brussels – set for December 17 and 18 – as president of the elected government.
In any case, in Genoa they claim the weight and strength that Feijóo and the Spanish PP currently have within the EPP, surpassing the CDU. In fact, they remember that Friedrich Merz managed to be invested as chancellor of Germany with 28% of the votes while PP with 33% of the votes in the 2023 general elections did not manage to reach the Palace of La Moncloa. (EP)
Colau questions that Rufián carries out events with Podemos outside of Catalonia
The Frente Amplio candidate, Ada Colau, questioned this Thursday that Gabriel Rufián participates in events supporting Podemos outside of Catalonia, despite having defended the unity of the left. In an interview on Catalunya Ràdio, the former mayor has recognized the Republican leader's commitment to a unitary candidacy, but has asked him to use his influence to favor it, instead of supporting those who, in his opinion, hinder it. “It is not understood that, if there is any support action outside of Catalonia, it is to reinforce options that do not want unity and involve dividing and not uniting,” he pointed out, without explicitly mentioning the purple formation. Colau has also revealed that on Wednesday he asked the Comuns leadership to contact ERC to explore a joint candidacy in Catalonia, but that the Republicans responded that "they do not want to sit down and talk."
Colau has insisted on asking Rufián to use his influence to favor broader agreements also in Catalonia. “I ask Rufián to put pressure on ERC so that the Republicans do not completely close themselves off,” he claimed. “Why should it be impossible to propose a single anti-fascist candidacy in Catalonia?” he asked. Asked about the possibility that Comuns would give up running in the elections in Catalonia to favor an agreement with the Republicans, Colau rejected the idea that the unit would involve the withdrawal of those who are willing to negotiate. “What we do not have to do is reward those who do not want agreements,” he warned.
With time against reaching the rest of the leftist parties, the former mayor has insisted that she still trusts in reaching agreements with Podemos. “The problem cannot be the name or who leads the candidacy,” he insisted. And after being questioned about whether she would renounce her candidacy if Podemos did not join Frente Amplio, as she hinted a few days ago, she has avoided answering: "I am not in this hypothesis. My hypothesis is that Podemos will sit down."
