A small respite in the midst of one of the most difficult political moments that Pedro Sánchez has experienced in his five and a half years in La Moncloa. And that is saying a lot, given the eternal play to the limit that characterizes his career. A trip to Rome to participate in the congress of European socialists has helped Sánchez remember that, although in Spain he suffers an enormous storm with unforeseeable consequences due to the Koldo casethe first major corruption scandal that affects his Government, in Europe he continues to be seen as one of the very few social democratic leaders who has managed not to succumb to the wave of the right and, above all, the extreme right that is crossing the continent and that is It is presumed that it will be consolidated in the European elections in June.
Sánchez has been received with a huge ovation at the La Nuvola congress palace in Rome, as a true European savior of social democratic values. “In the last elections, President Sánchez has not only defended the Government of Spain as a symbol of freedom, democracy, feminism, but he also defended our idea of Europe,” the Italian Giacomo Filibeck, general secretary of the European Socialist Party, welcomed him in Spanish. (PES). Sánchez has thus started in Rome what will be a long campaign for the Europeans with a central message, which also dominated the general campaign in Spain, the fight against the extreme right: “The soul of Europe is at risk and depends on the social democratic family defeating those threats and continuing to move in the right direction.”
The leader of the PSOE, who has avoided any mention of the Spanish political situation – neither about corruption nor about the negotiation of the amnesty, which is at its decisive moment precisely this weekend – has focused on the European ideological battle, in which the social democrats are experiencing a moment of great weakness and in which Spain and Portugal are, precisely, great exceptions. “Many say that social democracy is dead. That our values are not followed by citizens. But when the pandemic and the war in Ukraine and its consequences arrived, it was the welfare state and solidarity that helped us overcome and move forward. Those who said we had no future try to bring up a past that no longer exists. “We have made progress that is now in danger.”
“We believe that together we are stronger, that the welfare state is the best tool to guarantee a dignified life. Social democracy is more than an ideology, it is not just a political movement, it is the belief in change, that, despite the obstacles, society can be better, more sustainable,” the president insisted.
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The Social Democrats are going through difficult times, especially in Italy, but the recent victory in Sardinia, this week, has improved spirits a little. “We have shown that the right is not unbeatable in Italy. You can beat it. And also that Giorgia Meloni won the elections, but Italy is not hers, she is not her owner,” said one of the leaders of the Italian PD. The congress paid tribute to the 100th anniversary of the murder of Giacomo Matteotti, a socialist deputy killed in 1924 by Italian fascists on the orders of Benito Mussolini, a decisive moment in the fight against fascism in this country. And that served to remind all European leaders, including Sánchez, that, 100 years later, that risk is still there and growing, as demonstrated by the fact that there was an event with fascist salutes recently in Italy that the Meloni Government resisted. to condemn.
Sánchez finished his speech precisely with that idea. “The ghosts of the past continue to knock on the door of our institutions. Falsehood, authoritarianism, are armed with new digital weapons and have allies inside and outside our borders. We will defeat them and continue building a better and renewed Europe, in which jobs are well paid, that respects people’s rights, with housing, in which men and women live equally. A Europe that continues to be a ray of freedom and democracy. Let us offer hope where everyone spreads fear and fragmentation. Time will prove us right. It was always like this,” he concluded.
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