Arrimadas does not rule out that the refoundation of Cs happens by itself: "Everything is in question except liberal values"

It promises a "much more municipalist" profile to be able to "lead" municipalities without being the most voted, using their seats "much better"

MADRID, 31 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of Ciudadanos, Inés Arrimadas, maintains that the refounding process that her party has launched to attempt the electoral comeback is unprecedented in Spain and assumes that this internal review of the 'orange' organization may even affect its position as training leader. "In the refoundation, everything is in question, everything except one thing: our liberal values," she points out.

This is what he assures in an interview granted to Europa Press in which he praises the task undertaken by Ciudadanos to win back the electorate and that the first milestone will be the municipal and regional elections of May 2023.

Arrimadas boasts that his is the party "that has made the most self-criticism in Spain." "We have spent two years analyzing the causes of the decline, but it is time to look to the future," he says, emphasizing that they have a "moral obligation" to defend the space of the political center. "Spain cannot afford to have to choose between reds and blues again," he adds.

In order to "reconnect" with the Spanish once again and convinced that "there are still many who want a modern, reformist, liberal option from the center", the party has undertaken a refoundation that is expected to conclude in January with, in its words, "a much more interesting and sexier option in electoral terms". "We have to go back to being that party that unapologetically proclaims brave and necessary ideas that many people think but no party dares to say," he sums up.

Asked if the refoundation can go through itself, she replies: "In the refoundation everything is in question, everything except one thing: our liberal values ​​and the space we represent. The rest can be renewed," she stresses.

"We cannot proclaim that we are a reformist party on the outside but not be willing to reform everything on the inside. We made important changes two years ago, but we are still willing to change everything because we are a reformist party on the outside and inside and I am the first", Add.

In this context, she points out that all the members of the leadership, starting with her, have had their "positions available to the militancy" since they arrived. In any case, it will be the militants who decide everything and she does not hide that she "feels strong enough to continue fighting for Spain".

"I have always been, I am a fighter who likes challenges. I am perfectly aware of the difficult moment we are in, but if I threw in the towel at the first change I would not have presented myself in Catalonia nor would I have agreed to the presidency of Cs in the most difficult moment since its creation. Above your personal comfort is the desire to fight for your country, "he remarks.

She also remembers that both she and many of her colleagues have rejected "greedy offers from other parties", in reference to the PP. "If we are here it is because we believe in it and we are fighters", he says, revealing that what gives them "strength" is their determination not to leave those who "do not want to choose" without options between "the worsened version of Zapatero -in reference the socialist Pedro Sánchez-- or Rajoy number two", as he calls the 'popular' leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

Vice President Yolanda Díaz sees the 'Sumar' project as an "anachronistic" proposal due to the affiliation to communism of the strong woman of United We Can in the Government. "Talking about the Communist Party seems to me to be talking about the past, about something to look for in the history books and not the electoral programs of the future," she maintains.

For its refoundation Ciudadanos looks at the example of European colleagues such as the German liberals who, as Arrimadas recalls, came to disappear from the Bundestag and now form part of the government coalition with Social Democrats and Greens.

The idea is that the team that leads the refoundation process proposes the procedure by which the militancy ratifies the decisions that are adopted. For now, Arrimadas does not clarify what that ratification mechanism could be to "not influence" and refers to those provided for in the Statutes of the formation.

Nor does it specify what the new programmatic axes will be, although it advances that they will look at those middle classes that are excluded from aid, that group between 35 and 50 years old who, despite having been educated and worked, cannot acquire a home and doubts whether they will be able to collect a pension, and also to the need to reform the administration to de-bureaucratize it and make it not "elephantasiatic".

According to the planned calendar, the first opportunity to measure whether this refoundation gives results will be the local and regional elections in May of next year. Asked about the pact policy with which they will attend this meeting, Arrimadas does not rule anything out but is clear that they must "use the seats much better" they obtain in order to "be much more decisive."

"I do not rule out that it could happen that Cs leads more municipalities, that, although it has less representation than the PP or the PSOE, it could be the piece that tips the balance," he indicates, emphasizing, yes, that what will mark the pacts will be the content of the proposals made for each territory.

"We are going to be a much more municipalist party than we were until 2019 and, of course, the absolute priority is going to be what the towns and cities need," he guarantees. Asked if each territory will have autonomy to decide, she points out that there will be "autonomy, within the Citizens program." In this sense, she puts as an example of success her work at the head of the mayor's offices of Palencia or Ciudad Real, where "the needs of the municipality have been put forward".

And, with a view to the general elections, Arrimadas considers it "very daring" to predict what may happen in a year and a half, taking into account the unpredictability of Spanish politics. "It has been shown that everything can happen, that what seemed impossible happens," he says, recalling Pablo Casado's departure from the PP leadership or Sánchez's resurgence when the PSOE removed him from the party's General Secretariat.

His goal is that "in Spain everyone understands that, instead of PNV, Bildu or ERC, policies can be decided by a sensible and modern party like Cs." "That is not a utopia," he emphasizes, while pointing out that "to be decisive it is not necessary to get 80 seats."

"Everyone understands that PNV, Bildu or ERC, with five or six seats, do what they want with the Government, well why can't we hope that Cs tip the balance and make the reforms that Spain needs? I don't I see it as impossible at all, there are still many Spaniards who want it," she says, convinced that they will be able to recover their lost voters, many of whom, in her opinion, are now abstaining.

In addition, he points out that the party is financially healthy to continue because "it has also managed its resources well." “We have been very humble, there is no doubt about the economic viability of Ciudadanos, ditch.