Madrid (EFE).- The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has already begun to show that economic policy will be a central issue in the PSOE campaign for the general elections on July 23, in which he will play a Vice President and Minister Nadia Calviño stood out, despite not being on the lists.
Calviño’s presence on Monday at the PSOE headquarters in Ferraz was very significant, since it was the first time he had held a press conference there.
The fact was novel but also striking, since Calviño is not affiliated with the PSOE nor is she on any of the electoral lists for 23J by her own decision, wanting to fully maintain her profile as an independent politician although committed to the PSOE and the Government of Sanchez.
In fact, she herself said at the press conference that she was “delighted to collaborate and move forward alongside the president”, whom she defined as a “tremendously respectful” person and with whom she has “total alignment” in political terms.
Calviño is “a key figure” for the PSOE
Calviño will have a key role on 23J since he is part of the group of coordinators of the PSOE’s electoral program together with Sánchez; the president of the PSOE, Cristina Narbona; and the ministers María Jesús Montero, Félix Bolaños, Teresa Ribera and José Luis Escrivá, among other people.
But in addition, the spokesperson for the Federal Executive of the PSOE and Minister of Education, Pilar Alegría, confirmed this Tuesday that Calviño will have direct involvement in the campaign because “he is a key figure.”
Sources from the Calviño environment remind EFE that the vice president and minister already had a “very active role” in the campaign for the regional and municipal elections on May 28, in which she participated in several rallies, and they assure that she will do the same in the 23J campaign.
“We will go where they tell us,” add the same sources.
However, the relevance of Calviño’s role is already becoming evident in the run-up to the campaign, partly due to the prominence that Sánchez wants to give to the economy in these elections, but also because the PSOE is aware of the good image of the minister, who it is usually among the most valued policies in the CIS (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas) surveys.
Sánchez leans on the economy
Sánchez himself based a large part of the speech delivered on Saturday before the Federal Committee of the PSOE on contrasting the economic policies of his Government to those of the PP.
“We have Nadia and they have no one,” said Sánchez, who also said that Spain’s economy is going “like a motorcycle.”
Calviño was going to appear on Monday in Ferraz to detail the PSOE’s economic program for 23J, but since it had not yet been fully closed, he limited himself to saying that the objective will be to “consolidate the progress” made by the Government, and he took the opportunity to attack the PP, in line with Sánchez’s speech.
“With things to eat is not played. It is important that the sooner we know the economic policy program of the PP, at this moment we do not know what, or who or for what ”, he commented.
Willing to debate with the PP
The minister also proposed discussing the economy with the person from the PP who is in charge of coordinating the party’s economic policy, after Sánchez offered the PP leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to hold six debates before the elections.
The PSOE wants to make the debates one of the axes on the road to 23J and is busy these days criticizing the PP for not having yet responded to Sánchez’s offer.
In this regard, sources from Ferraz point out that the debates are one of their main objectives while the rallies will have a secondary role, since between the campaign and the electoral campaign itself they plan to organize ten or twelve, although they will be “big events” in which They aspire to have the presence of thousands of people.