Intervención del presidente del PP, Pablo Casado

Dear Manfred, Thank you for your personal support and that of the EPP GROUP for the Catalonian elections. We are going through tough times of COVID that, only yesterday, caused the death of 700 Spaniards. I would like to dedicate our tribute to them.

We are the first party of Europe. The one that founded the Union. The one that chairs the European Central Bank and the PP is the biggest member of our family, only after the CDU of Chancellor Merkel. We have also rise the most ambitious recovery programme in history.

We have also strenghthened Europe as an area of Security and Justice with the last reform of the European arrest warrant to avoid the impunity of those who attack the constitutional order of a member State, like the catalonian independentist politicians who scaped from justice.

Your support is very important for us, dear Manfred.

You have deffended the independence of the Judiciary power and the freedom of choice in the spanish education and the respect of free media against this radical goverments´ attacks.

In the Catalonians elections, the voters will chose between populism and moderation, radicalism and progress, break off and reform.

They will chose between those who tried to assault the Parliament like it happened in Washington and those who respect the institutions of regional self-government of Catalonia but within a single and united Spanish Nation as a key pillar within the European Union.

We have the best candidate, the best program and the best principles and values for our citizens.

But the Socialist Party is reaching agreements with the extreme independists to talk about self-determination with the devasting consecuences this entails for the whole of the EU.

We will not allow that to happen and we will also take care of the problems of the real Catalan people.

We have launched iniciatives to lower taxes, to reactivate tourism, to emprove the health system, to guarantee the freedom of education, to fight against the illegal occupation of houses, and to solve the great unemployment rate.

Regarding the horrible economic situation in Spain, the worst one in Europe, last week the Government passed a bill for the management of the european funds with the support of the extreme right. A bill that eliminates administrative checks and balances putting in danger the arrival of all the funds.

We must stand by the rules of transparency and accountability and the rule of law. Cronyism and discretionality can put at risk the greatest opportunity for progress and modernisation that Spain has ever had as it is happening with the Next Generation Funds.

Regarding these funds, I offered Pedro Sánchez that they were managed in a rigorous way by an independent authority. I have even come to offer him my support for the reform plan and for the compliance to the specific EU recommendations but he refused. He has decided to act in a unilateral manner, and has chosen radical allies on the left and on the right.

Dear Manfred, I want to thank you for your support once again and for the role that the EPP is playing in order to build a strong Europe, with a united Spain, with a wealthy Catalonia.