EL PAÍS and SER will hold a debate on July 14 with Sánchez, Díaz and Abascal, to which Feijóo refuses to attend | General elections 23J | Spain

2023-06-29 19:31:34

EL PAÍS and SER will jointly hold an electoral debate on July 14 with the headliners of PSOE, Vox and Sumar and without the assistance of the PP, which has rejected it. The meeting between Pedro Sánchez, Santiago Abascal and Yolanda Díaz will take place at nine in the morning. Alberto Núñez Feijóo has declined to attend and is reserved for a single face-to-face, only with Sánchez, on July 10 at Atresmedia.

To the electoral debate is added another, organized by TVE, which will take place on July 19, four days before the general elections, between their respective candidates for the presidency of the Government, but in which Núñez Feijóo will not participate either. The PP has assured that its candidate will not attend the debates of four raised “for understanding that they are incomplete models and lack interest.” The four-way model was proposed by Atresmedia, the PRISA Group —publisher of EL PAÍS and la SER—, RTVE and Mediaset.

More information

The popular ones leave a door open for Feijóo to participate in another debate, on July 13, organized by RTVE for the seven spokespersons in Congress for the main formations (the four mentioned plus ERC, PNV and EH Bildu), but provided that in instead of the spokespersons, it is the candidates who attend.

The PSOE has confirmed this Thursday afternoon that its general secretary will participate in the four-person debates convened by RTVE and the PRISA Group. So has Sumar. “A bipartite debate model no longer reflects the Spanish parliamentary system or the reality of Spanish society,” said Ernest Urtasun, spokesman for the electoral coalition. “For this reason, we celebrate the decision of RTVE and PRISA to carry out debates of a plural nature. Sumar will always be in all the debates because we believe that the public should be aware of the proposals of all the parties”, he added. Santiago Abascal has also confirmed his attendance.

The debate of candidates for the presidency of RTVE will be held on July 19 at 10:00 p.m. in the TVE studios in Prado del Rey, in Madrid. The parties will meet again with those responsible for RTVE on Monday, July 3, to finalize the details of the format and times.

What affects the most is what happens closer. To not miss anything, subscribe.

subscribe

This Thursday another meeting was held with the representatives of PSOE, Vox, Sumar, ERC, PNV and EH Bildu for the organization of the debate with the seven spokespersons who have their own parliamentary group in the Congress of Deputies. The PP has not attended that meeting due to scheduling problems. All the parties have agreed to hold the debate with the parliamentary spokespersons and will meet again on Monday, July 3 to finalize the details of the debate. RTVE also reiterates its invitation for the representative of the PP to join this meeting. On May 31, RTVE proposed three debates to the political formations: one face-to-face, a four-person debate, and a seven-person debate. The latter, with the spokespersons of the parliamentary groups.

On June 5, when the socialist electoral defeat in the regional and municipal elections was still recent, Sánchez held six two-sided debates with Feijóo, one a week, and another four with PP, Sumar and Vox. The proposal was rejected by the popular just a few hours later. “Spain does not need six debates, who needs them is Sánchez. Spain is not for eccentricities ”, defended Borja Sémper, popular spokesperson. Sánchez replied to the PP: “The debates are not an eccentricity, they are a necessity. Debating is never an eccentricity, it is an obligation of every democrat, ”he said.

That same day, Sánchez accepted the debates requested by four large communication groups: PRISA, RTVE, Atresmedia (owner of Antena 3 and La Sexta) and Mediaset (Telecinco and Cuatro). Days before, the executive president of PRISA Media, Carlos Núñez, sent a letter to the leaders of the main parties that will contest the elections on July 23 to propose two debates that EL PAÍS and SER will jointly organize: a face-to-face between the two candidates with the best chances of reaching the presidency of the Government —Sánchez and Feijóo— and a second debate with the leaders of the four main state-level parties.