Pedro Sánchez offers himself to the King to go to the investiture and he sees himself capable of achieving a sufficient majority

The president says that it is not up to him to determine if an amnesty law would be constitutional and says that this is what the TC is for

MADRID, 22 (EUROPA PRESS) - The President of the Government and Secretary General of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, has offered to be a candidate for the King and submit to the investiture debate, since he sees himself capable of achieving "a sufficient majority" to exceed the minimum required by the Constitution, as in his opinion was seen in the conformation of the Table of Congress.

"There is only a possible parliamentary majority, a progressive majority led by the PSOE. There is no other alternative than to reissue a Government of progress" that gives continuity to the work carried out in the last four years, he proclaimed at a press conference in Moncloa after being received in audience in Zarzuela by the King.

Sánchez has defended that the investiture process "is not an exhibition procedure, but rather has the purpose of achieving a sufficient majority", and in his opinion the possible alternative of the PP led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo is "wasteful" and his investiture would be " failed". "Mr. Feijóo has a roof and we start from a floor", he has summarized.

The socialist candidate has used as an argument to justify his situation of advantage over Feijóo both the result of 23J and the election of the Congress Table last week, in which Francina Armengol elicited the votes of 178 deputies --PSOE, Sumar, ERC, Junts, PNV, EH Bildu and BNG-- while the general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, only received 139 endorsements --those from her parties plus UPN and CC-- while Vox chose to vote for her own candidate.

"Those who put forward a repeal proposal" of the coalition government of PSOE and Podemos "failed, they were defeated at the polls, by the majority will of Spanish society and in these conditions their efforts, their contortions to opt for an investiture, are perfectly legitimate but they are revealed vacant", he has maintained.

"It would be a failed investiture," he predicted. However, he has stressed that if after the 23J elections and the election of the Congressional Board "he wants to come face to face with a reality emanating from the popular will for the third time, he is within his right."

Thus, Sánchez has guaranteed that the PSOE will respect any decision adopted by the King, who will receive Feijóo in the afternoon, before deciding who is entrusted with the formation of the Government in accordance with article 99 of the Constitution. "Whatever decision the head of state makes, he has the respect and support of the PSOE," he stressed.

In this sense, he has defended that we must wait to find out the monarch's decision before commenting on the PSOE's negotiations with the pro-independence parties, particularly with the Catalans, and the requests that they are making to guarantee their support for a second mandate.

"Talking about the negotiation process as a potential candidate is premature," he replied, although he admitted that "parliamentary arithmetic" places the PSOE in a better situation than the PP.

IT DOES NOT CLARIFY IF THERE WILL BE AN AMNESTY LAW

Regarding the demand for an amnesty law raised by the Catalan separatists, Sánchez has avoided clarifying whether the Government is open to it, stressing that "dialogue is the method and the Constitution is the framework."

Expressly asked if he considers that said law would be constitutional, he has argued that it is not up to him "to say what is or is not constitutional." For that "fortunately there is the Constitutional Court", he added.

The acting President of the Government has once again taken the opportunity to poke his chest out of politics regarding Catalonia, where he has reiterated that the situation is much better than the one found in 2019. The commitment to normalization and stabilization has paid off and the results of both 28M and 23J demonstrate it, he added.

"We have to continue on that path of working for coexistence and that is where the PSOE will be," he insisted, defending the dialogue with Junts after the criticism received by the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont's training unit for achieve the election of Armengol and his eventual inauguration as president.

DEFENDS THE DIALOGUE WITH JUNTS, DOES NOT DENY ITS LEGITIMACY

"Junts per Catalunya has a parliamentary representation of seven seats, as does the ERC as well, as do other parliamentary forces, and logically we do not reject or deny legitimacy, unlike what other political forces on our right do, both PP like Vox", stressed the socialist general secretary.

For Sánchez, the "great advantage" of the PSOE over the PP is that it can "talk with all the political forces except one", in reference to Vox, while those of Feijóo "can only talk with that one political force and not with the rest." In his opinion, this is one of the "main virtues" of the policy of dialogue and coexistence that the Government has been practicing.