CONTINUE
The PPdeG definitively cut this morning, in Pontevedra, the umbilical cord that linked it to Alberto Núñez Feijóo. As much as his is not a goodbye, but a see you later, and now he continues to be the boss, but from Genoa, although with the promise of not remotely directing his successor, who commands from this Sunday is Alfonso Rueda, proclaimed with the 97 2% of the votes —including that of the parliamentary spokesman, Pedro Puy, who briefly attended Pontevedra, despite the fact that he will recover from the heart attack that will be enough for him in the investiture debate, in OHórreo—, new regional president. With a week of delay with respect to the Galician government, the organic succession was formalized in the XVIII congress, with extraordinary character and celebration in Pontevedra, in a fairground where Rueda played, even more, at home.
"I assume the presidency of a party that is intertwined with the history of Galicia," he proclaimed. "I have known this party for many years, I lived it in the broad sense of the word, I love this party and that is why I feel very honored by the trust you have just given me," he said a few minutes after Ana Pastor, president of the Table, revealed that 1,164 of the 1,500 delegates had voted, Feijóo among them; with 1,130 affirmative votes, 33 blank and one invalid. Start, already with all the law, the 'was Rueda' also in the PPgallego.
The new leader began the day, as he had already announced the day before - some could take it as a joke - by going for a run at 7.30 together with the general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra - "the one who was in the best shape" -, and the national coordinator, Elías Bendodo. And he showed a vigor that some of the gifts already wanted for themselves, to whom, as Rueda did not stop maliciously noting, it had taken its toll to comply with the request of the local president, Rafa Domínguez, who had called to lend a shoulder to the Hospitality Pontevedra. "You have some little faces," noted the new president of the PPdeG, who acquired the joke with one of those mythical phrases of Mariano Rajoy that is attributed so that, in some way, the honorary president is also remembered. Jokes aside, the newly elected leader was seen with a more presidential tone, figure and poise than the day before. He dedicated a good part of the more than 40 minutes that his intervention took away to the obligatory and mandatory thanks to his predecessor in office, but he also set homework. Because, as Feijóo himself said, when the lights of the congresses go out, what you have to do is get to work. And the three provincial barons —Diego Calvo, Elena Candia and Manuel Baltar—, pieces in the succession sudoku resolution, had also pointed in that direction.
Citing the president of Ourense —although Feijóo also referred to the accountant— Rueda recalled that there were 371 days left yesterday, and today 370, for the local elections to be held. “There is little time left”, he detects, “to ensure that the PPdeG continues to be (...) the party of each and every one of our councils. Ours we play much more than mayors and Provincial Councils (...), we play to continue being a purely local party, and to be in shape for what has to come next, that fifth absolute majority "in the regional elections of 2024, which has been set as a goal since he stepped forward and that the national president also requested minutes before.
The PPdeG, he added, is a "municipalist" party, which "collects the essence and the anguish" of the residents of the 313 councils, where it strives to "do useful politics." That is why he asked for an "effort": to preserve the municipal governments achieved in 2019, but also to gain access to those who resisted then. With a formula: "Take the example of the best trajectories (...), the people who have the most desire, the most energy, put them at the forefront"; appealing to the "generosity" of those who, in return, must take "a step back for the common good."
To the thread, he called to "overcome inertia and complexes", and stressed that it is "fundamental (...) to want to win, to want to win". Convinced that, as days go by, that momentum "will continue to grow." necessary, he warned him, because, in the year ahead, he will have to work “a lot” and “not waste a minute”. The party, he emphasized, "cannot be stopped" and "must always look forward". He set homework, but also gave encouragement: “We are going to have an excellent result next year in the municipal elections, you will see how it will be”. In this case, he will "spare no effort, time or sacrifice to get it," he promised. “That's where everything else happens, and Galicia deserves it”.
Rueda, who was supported by the usual ones, those from home, but also the national leaders who were already on Saturday, who were joined by regional leaders —Alfonso Fernández Mañueco came from Castilla y León and José Antonio Monago did the same from Extremadura— , once again called for unity - "I'm counting on all of you" -, influenced the messages that he has been offering in recent weeks: unity - "I'm counting on all of you" -, maintaining the essences that make the PPdeG the party that most resembles Galicia, to preserve the "exceptional normality".
In his speech he jumped between the past, the present and the future. It can be delimited in a single sentence: 'I know where I come from, where I am and, of course (...), where I want to go'. The past refers to what has been achieved and Feijóo. Rueda revealed what his wife told him when she told him about the meeting where they offered to bring their team together: "It's so clear that you have to say no, I'm sure you're going to say yes." Laughter from the attendees and a thumbs up from Feijóo, whom his successor showered with praise, to which he added a snippy message: “From now on we link our fate to yours. At least it had better go well!” And he confirmed that he had been "absolutely respectable" in these weeks, offering his guidance only when Rueda asked for it. "Of course I'm going to keep asking you for advice, of course we're going to keep needing you," he guaranteed.
In the present time, it marked distances with the opposition, a PSOE victim of its "mortgages" and a BNG that is a "wolf in sheep's clothing" and intends to force Galicia to resemble them. “As long as it depends on me, on us, we will do everything possible so that Galicia is absolutely free from this policy of complexes, sadness, dogmatism and impositions”, he promised. And in the future, he insisted on the three axes that he postulated in his investiture —work, family and future—; with nods to the elderly, who “are not the past”, and to the young, those “new people” who “are not Galiza New," he remarked.
With no “time to lose”, he outlined some of the challenges that he will have to face in the remainder of the legislature, from “continuing to lower taxes”, “with a head”, to undertaking the demographic challenge. A task in which, he insisted, in the Xunta they will be "true claimants" with the Government, as he already reflected in the letter that he sent this week to Pedro Sánchez; in addition to requesting a meeting, he put a black-on-white list of "pending commitments." "With all the firmness, commitment, loyalty, but knowing that what we are asking for, we are asking for it with justice, because we deserve it," he stressed.
On March 2, Feijóo announced that he was opting to preside over the PP. Less than two months later, Rueda is chaired by the PPdeG. A "new step" that he faces with "enormous enthusiasm, responsibility and respect". “Galicia counts on all of us, we cannot let them down”, he resolved.
