Feijóo complains that the Government does not let him visit the troops in Latvia when NATO endorsed it

'Genoa' makes the Defense ugly because it hides behind the maneuvers when the argument to say "no" was that it was an "election year"

MADRID, 21 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has complained this Tuesday that the Government of Pedro Sánchez does not allow him to visit the Spanish troops deployed in Latvia when the Latvian prime minister and NATO "agree" with that trip.

"It is the first time that the head of the opposition has not been allowed to express solidarity with the Spanish troops. The Latvian Prime Minister agreed, NATO agreed and the one who did not agree was the Government of Spain ", Feijóo has declared to the media in the Senate.

Shortly before, the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, has justified the rejection of Feijóo's visit, alleging that it coincided with a "very important" NATO exercise, but that it always has "open doors" to meet any military unit.

"Feijóo knows that he will be very well received in any military unit, but not when operations that could distort the visit are being carried out," said Robles, after the PP has denounced that the Government prevented its president from visiting the military Spaniards deployed on the border with Russia.

In addition, sources from the Moncloa Palace point out that there is no precedent for a visit by an opposition leader to an international mission of the Armed Forces, like the one Feijóo wanted to do.

As the Executive has stressed, the trips to military operations are carried out by members of the Government or members of Congress or the Senate. "It is to entangle for entanglement", they argue from La Moncloa.

Sources from the national leadership of the PP have ugly this afternoon to the Ministry of Defense that now shields itself in the maneuvers when the main argument to say "no" to that trip to Latvia was that it was an "election year".

From Genoa they assure that the conversations with the cabinet of Minister Robles were "cordial" and "collaborative", for which reason, according to PP sources, they expected a positive response to that trip to visit the troops. In fact, they have indicated that they were already looking at flights to be able to travel next week, according to the aforementioned sources.

They emphasize that they were not told that Feijóo could not travel for hindering some maneuvers, but that the argument used was that the criteria was that no one should go in an election year. "They do not want to give Feijóo an institutional photo within the NATO framework," PP sources allege.

Given Moncloa's argument that there is no precedent for an opposition leader to visit the troops, sources from the PP leadership have responded that there is no precedent for the Defense "no".

In addition, the aforementioned sources have anticipated that they will request clarification from the Minister of Defense in the control session this Wednesday in the Senate, during the interpellation on the shipment of war material to Ukraine that the Popular Group has registered.