Zaragoza (EFE) those who hope that the PP will not engulf the entire center-right, because “it would not be good”, and in those who trust, as a militant and friend, that Javier Lambán repeat in the Presidency of Aragon.
Born in Zaragoza on April 2, 1956 and a doctor by profession, Javier Sada admits in an interview with Efe that of all the political posts he has held, from “ordinary” deputy to spokesman for his parliamentary group to the Presidency of In the Cortes, the one with the most “flashiness”, of whom he feels the most pride, is having been mayor of his town.
Question.- You have led Parliament in one of the most complex legislatures, with a pandemic, war, runaway inflation, large fires. Do you think the deputies have lived up to it?
Answer.- Yes. The deputies are always up to the task, they are the ones who decide the level of the debate and what has to be debated. I think so.
“So far, respect has not been lost”
Q.- Do you think that the tone of the control sessions has been infected by the national political tension?
R.- It has been infected a little, but with some important differences: first, respect for the other has not been lost, for the moment, and second, the president has had the last word and is respected. It is normal for the vehemence to rise, but so far it has not gone from that.
Q.- Do you see the popular Jorge Azcón president of Aragón or do you think Javier Lambán will repeat?
R.- How can I say otherwise? I believe, I hope and I wish that Javier Lambán repeats himself, not so much as president of the Cortes, but as a militant of the PSOE and also, a friend.
“That the center-right exists is good for the country”
Q.- Do you think that the PP will engulf the entire center-right?
R.- It would not be good. That the center-right exists is good for the country and should also be good for the PP and the PSOE. Therefore, it is better not to swallow things that, of course, in the medium term can be harmful.
Q.- Can you imagine a Parliament with nine parties?
A.- Why not? It seemed impossible with seven in the previous legislature, and nothing happened, and this one, with eight, has also been able to function without any problem. Well, with nine, there shouldn’t be any problem either. But it will be the citizens who make that decision.
“I have never liked political-fiction”
Q.- Will Teruel Existe be the new nail of the fan?
A.- The citizens will decide. Don’t know. I have never liked political fiction. The reality is what those who are in parliament at that time will have to face and the different pacts will have to play with it.
Q.- Do you see an agreement between the PSOE and Teruel as possible after a legislature of attacks?
A.- Political fiction I have never done in my life, but I repeat that the PSOE and Javier Lambán have shown that very diverse and very transversal alliances can be made.
Q.- What do you think that Aragoneses, led by a critic of the PAR, Elena Allué, joins the lists of the PP?
A.- As president of the Cortes I do not usually give opinions on the different movements in groups. I think it is better to respect each of the political initiatives that exist, the political gaps that exist. Until now, trying to engulf another group in the history of Aragon, and almost everything has happened, has not worked.
Q.- Do you share with your leader that militants of one party who concur with another is turncoat?
A.- That is what the law of turncoat marks.
Q.- How do you justify the signing of a Ciudadanos councilor as a PSOE candidate for mayor of Fraga?
R.- That, the law of turncoat; I repeat, as president of the Cortes I have never made a political opinion.
The importance of the institutional role
Q.- But now that you are leaving, perhaps you can afford that luxury.
R.- When I leave I will do it, have no doubt. I was not independent, I was from a political party and I would vote with the party, but I believe in the institutional role. If you want to have respect for an institution, and for something as important as the Presidency of the Cortes, it must also be respecting the institutional role. Therefore, you have to be especially prudent. In time I will do it, and I will do it with great pleasure.
Q.- What do you feel most proud of as a politician?
A.- In principle, from the mayor’s office. And beware, he was not professional. I had my job and then I took care of the mayor’s office. There’s certainly no such thing as being mayor of your town. Being president of the Parliament is more flashy and important in Aragonese politics, obviously, but what I am most proud of is having been mayor of Ateca.
Q.- Between president of the Cortes and spokesperson for the PSOE, what do you choose?
A.- They are different moments. Parliamentary politics is truly the spokesperson. When I got to the Presidency of the Cortes I commented that the fundamental thing was not to be news. If you are not news, it is that you are doing your role of moderation well, of looking for meeting places.
Q.- As a doctor, how do you see the health situation?
A.- All these questions must be seen with perspective. As a doctor, I have never had an opinion on healthcare, because the important thing in it is not the doctors, it is the users. If I give my opinion as a doctor, I have a small vision of healthcare, not the totality. But I will give an example. 40 years ago there was a doctor in my town who had to be there 24 hours a day, now there is a health center for two thousand-odd inhabitants with a 24-hour nurse and permanent emergency service doctor. Therefore, it is not comparable.
Q.- Would you have liked to be on the front line of healthcare during the pandemic?
R.- I would not have cared. But I believed that my fundamental role was that the Cortes, which is where all citizens are represented, did not close for a day. I was coming every day of the pandemic, with some other deputy and four or five people who worked here. A message had to be sent to society that the site in which the citizens are represented was not only concerned, but also busy trying to deal with this situation, which was very critical.
Q.- Has it been the most complex moment of your political life?
R. – Without hesitation, not of political life, of life, that of all citizens. We were faced with a triple issue: health effects that were dramatic, economic consequences that were also important, and social consequences that had to be faced. But it is also one of the moments that I can find myself most proud of because after a few days, on the first April 23 in the middle of the pandemic, we were able to send a message to Aragonese society that eight such different groups were capable of agreeing on a statement to at least convey to society that we were working together to try to address these issues.
Change in social concerns
Q.- You have been in Parliament for five legislatures. How has politics changed?
A.- It has changed in the means that are available to make the interventions much better and also the concerns of society. Issues like the environment and feminism are, fortunately, much more in the forefront of debate. But fundamentally, in little, because politics, at least in Aragon, is to defend each one’s positions, but try to reach agreements.
“I leave inheritances for the great emperors”
Q.- What legacy does Javier Sada leave in politics?
A.- I leave the inheritances… to the great emperors. I believe that political positions have to be exercised normally. That’s why I didn’t even announce that I was leaving until the last moment. What I hope is that they remember me, especially in my town, because I was the mayor who screwed up a few times, but was right on many others. And from the Presidency of the Cortes, the only thing I hope is that I did my job well, that I separated my militancy from my institutional role, that I was able to moderate and that all the groups, more or less, accept me that I have done it relatively well.
Q.- Why do you think you will be remembered?
A.- For exercising the institutional role at all times, in the mayor’s office, as the spokesperson, as a deputy on foot. And above all, for being concerned and occupied by the need that he saw that the citizens had, from the ideological position of my parliamentary group, of the PSOE.