The Spanish former president justified his unusual idea of joining forces with the Spanish far left and with Pedro Sánchez
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The former Spanish president of the Partido Popular (PP), Mariano Rajoy, expressed in an interview with Agenda Pública his support for the idea of a "grand coalition" between PP and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the group led by current Socialist president Pedro Sánchez, with the goal of trying to stop the growth of Vox.
"The solution already exists, it works successfully in Germany, and it's called a grand coalition," he stated. "I proposed it in 2015, when PP, which had lost many votes compared to 2011, won the elections again, and PSOE was the second political force. But it wasn't possible. The elections had to be repeated in 2016, and PP won again with more votes than in 15," he explained.
For Rajoy, this type of alliance would be "the most stable way to restore institutional consensus" and stop what he considers a process of degradation of the current political landscape.
Mariano Rajoy y Pedro Sánchez.
However, in addition to the betrayal it would represent for his electorate, which is strongly critical of PSOE, Rajoy's goal is to try to prevent the Spanish right, led by VOX, of Santiago Abascal, from continuing to grow as a political force and taking ground from the two traditional political parties, which failed when it came to governing.
Rajoy recalled that, after the 2016 elections, PSOE chose to facilitate PP's investiture through abstention, although without joining the government. "It's clear that the Frankenstein virus was already doing its work," he said, alluding to the coalition of forces that supported the 2018 vote of no confidence, which ended his government and led to Pedro Sánchez's arrival at La Moncloa.
Pedro Sánchez, presidente de España.
According to Mariano Rajoy, the breakdown of the collaboration framework between the major political parties has given way to a dynamic marked by "confrontation, populism, and dependence on 'antisystem' forces." Despite the current scenario of parliamentary fragmentation, the former president believes that it's still possible to reach a major national agreement, since PP and PSOE together retain more than 250 seats in Congress. "We have the means to form any majority or reinforced consensus that might be needed," he stated.
The former head of government emphasized that the current moment demands "cross-cutting agreements." Additionally, to generate fear, he argued that, just as Germany resorts to grand coalitions to guarantee institutional stability in the face of the advance of so-called "extremes," Spain could adopt a similar approach to prevent "the enemies of constitutional order" from imposing their agenda, referring to the only true right in Spain, Vox.
