The PP of Catalonia will hold its congress on June 27 with the aim of relaunching the project eight years after the last conclave. Alejandro Fernández (Tarragona, 1976) is running for re-election as president, having overcome tensions with Alberto Núñez Feijóo, with the intention of strengthening the party and growing as an alternative.
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The PP has called its congress and you are running for re-election. What are the main pillars of the project?
A party congress is held to give a new boost to the project. The idea is to be an alternative to nationalism and socialism. These are the two ideologies that have governed in the last 40 years, either in coalition or alternating, and they are responsible for the decline of Catalonia. Against nationalism and the left, the best has always been freedom. The culture of effort, legal certainty, respect for private property… Issues that have been destroyed and have caused a decline in almost all welfare indicators.
The Catalan PP demands its own voice within the party on issues concerning Catalonia, to overcome the tutelage of the national leadership. Will you achieve this?
I have no doubt. This was the case in the last regional elections, leading the biggest growth in votes and seats in the last ten years. Disagreements are part of the past, and this means that working together things work.
Consolidating in Catalonia
“We want to be an alternative to nationalism and socialism, the ideologies responsible for the decline of Catalonia”
Will the congress serve to anchor this new stage?
Our goal is to keep growing to be a central and decisive force in Catalan politics. The congress must serve to deepen and improve the things we did well and put aside the historical mistakes we have made and have already talked about a lot.
The last congress was held in 2018, with a weak Catalan PP, and the party has operated without a strong collegiate leadership.
Not many years ago the debate was whether the PP of Catalonia would disappear. It has been shown that this is not the case. The Catalan PP has a present and a future. And it is clear that now we have the party’s leg left. To achieve a political organization that has greater territorial penetration capacity and is able to reach more places. This, after having lived through very hard years, was not easy. I am convinced that this congress will be a very positive turning point for the party in this direction.
Will the PP be able to overcome old family rivalries and form a collective leadership?
It is possible, it is necessary, and it will be so. We will come out of this congress united, strong, and with a widely shared project.
The position of secretary general, held by Santi Rodríguez, is fundamental in the party’s machinery. Do you see a renewal as necessary?
One of the few privileges I have is to be able to propose the secretary general. At the congress, when the time comes, I will make a proposal to my colleagues about the secretary general.
The Secretary General
“Appointing him is one of the few privileges I have. At the congress I will make a proposal to my colleagues”
What ideological direction do you want the political report to mark?
The report still has to be drafted, but for me, as I have said, it is relevant that in Catalonia the European liberal center-right, the one of the fathers of Europe, which is the ideology that has brought the greatest progress, has never governed. And this is a historical anomaly and I do not think it is healthy for Catalonia. What we need is a different government, with a different ideology, never forgetting that Catalonia is plural and that nationalists, by the fact of being so, do not have more privileges. A Catalonia for everyone, perfectly bilingual as it is on the street, is also part of our ideology.
Today’s Catalonia is different from that of 2018. Can the dividing line of the national axis be crossed? There are leaders in your party who consider that the space of “moderate Catalanism” should be occupied.
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Nationalism in Catalonia never fails in its appointment with ignominy, and there is usually a certain tendency to self-deception about its intentions. This self-deception has cost Catalonia, the rest of Spain, and also the PP, a very high price. I prefer not to be deceived. All the parties that have run in elections with these keys (moderate nationalism), I speak of Lliures, PDECat…, have won zero seats. We have to look to the future.
A strong leadership
“We need an organization with more capacity for territorial penetration, to reach more places”
You indicate that the first step to influence Catalonia is to reach around 20 seats.
We aspire to have enough strength to abolish the inheritance tax, change the Housing law, protect private property… I assume that in the short term it will not be easy to govern in Catalonia, but yes to have the strength to drastically change the political agenda.
The Government reaches the midterm of the legislature with the first budgets approved, but also with criticism for management (Rodalies, education, health…). How do you approach this second part of the mandate?
We approach it to offer an alternative to the citizens. We are clear about what Illa will do with his partners, a mix of nationalism and far left, and we will propose the exact opposite. If they raise taxes confiscatorily, we will abolish or lower them.
A possible PP-Vox government is looming in Spain. How could it affect Catalonia considering Vox’s positions? Could it generate a resistance front?
Political project
“Catalonia will be very important for Alberto Núñez Feijóo to become Prime Minister”
Lowering taxes, improving education, housing policy… I don’t think there can be a revolution if someone proposes these issues to Catalans. And, yes, respect for the law.
You give importance to also fighting the ideological battle alongside management. How should this be reflected?
Liberalism, Christian humanism, and conservative thought, is the best of European history. Values related to the culture of effort, economic freedom, defense of the family. These battles must be fought, because I don’t like wokism at all. It seems to me that it destroys, classifies, and confronts.
The relaunch of the Catalan PP project also aims to help Alberto Núñez Feijóo reach Moncloa.
The PP has a very positive project for Catalonia, and I know that this is sometimes contaminated by issues that have nothing to do with management. These last years have been very bad for Catalans and the protagonists have been the separatists and the Socialist Party; and the best for Catalans is to turn the page. Catalonia needs a change, like the rest of Spain, and we see the impulse for change getting stronger and stronger. Catalonia will be very important for Feijóo to become president.
In 2024, Feijóo questioned his continuity. How has your relationship been rebuilt?
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This is already taking on cuore dynamics. I am very happy with how everything has gone.
