“When the right sees the elections lost, it turns to ETA”

2023-05-15 19:54:26

Pedro Sánchez has responded to the right-wing offensive against the Government at the start of the campaign for the inclusion of former members of ETA in the municipal candidacies of EH Bildu. During an electoral act of the PSOE in Vitoria, the President of the Government lamented that “when the right has nothing to offer or they give up the elections they resort to the same argument as always: ETA”.

Sánchez has taken stock of some of the latest economic news after the upward revision of Spanish expectations by the European Commission, AIREF, the IMF or the Bank of Spain. “It will be the third consecutive year that Spain leads growth among the main economies of the euro zone. With the best employment rates of the last 15 years. In the middle of the war and after the pandemic ”, he said before linking that good economic health with the strategy of Feijóo’s PP.

“And what does the PP respond to these news? ETA ”, he said before continuing. “And before the labor reform? ETA. And before the revaluation of pensions? ETA”. The president has raised the tone to criticize that the right has turned terrorism into one of the campaign issues. “I remind you that Spanish democracy defeated ETA 12 years ago and that it did so with a socialist government, a socialist Interior Minister and a socialist lehendakari. And it is what they cannot bear ”, he criticized to applause.

Sánchez has already criticized EH Bildu’s decision to include seven former members convicted of blood crimes on its electoral lists as a fact “that may be legal, but it is not decent.” Since his appearance in Washington after last Friday’s meeting with the president of the United States, Sánchez was forceful in rejecting the presence of candidates with criminal records in the terrorist group. “The only thing these people can bring to public life is a message of forgiveness and repentance,” he said.

The Spanish president also wanted to highlight during that appearance that more than ten years ago “Spanish democracy defeated ETA”. “The job of all public representatives is to recognize and support the victims of terrorism,” he added to underline the government’s commitment to him “in his support, recognition and eternal memory.”