The PP challenges Sánchez to debate with Feijóo in the control sessions of the Senate, with similar time and priced

'Genoa' asks if the chief executive needs "150 minutes and a context of superiority" to measure himself against the leader of the opposition

MADRID, 23 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Popular Party wants the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, to agree to debate with the head of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, in the control sessions of the Senate Government, where both would have a similar time and rated seven minutes.

In 'Génova' they remember that Feijóo, who has held a seat in the Senate since May 25, has only had the opportunity to ask Sánchez a control question in the Upper House. That first 'face to face' took place on June 7, two months after the extraordinary Congress of Seville that elected him president to replace Pablo Casado.

Then Feijóo registered the following question: "Does the President of the Government consider that his Executive is up to the needs of Spanish families?" Pedro Sánchez's response was that the Government "works tirelessly to protect families and businesses" and the PP "the only thing it has done is hinder, hinder and hinder", words that upset the leadership of the PP.

In Feijóo's team they recognize that Sánchez has attended the Senate on two more occasions, on September 6 and October 18, but they emphasize that in both cases it has been the head of the Executive who has chosen "the topic and the times ", the first to talk about energy policy and the second focused on taxation.

In 'Genoa', Sánchez's refusal to debate as "equals" in those last two parliamentary duels has caused discomfort and they make him ugly for having played with an advantage, after in the September appearance he used 132 minutes compared to Feijóo's 27 , and this week he will spend a total of 108 minutes compared to 32 for the 'popular' leader.

"Sánchez is looking for a context of superiority and needs 150 minutes to explain his measures," sources from the PP leadership stress to Europa Press, who also complain that Sánchez's presence in the Senate always takes place on Tuesdays, a day that already has the media focus for the meeting of the Council of Ministers and subsequent press conference in Moncloa.

In the direction of the PP they also contrast the tone and the ways in which Feijóo has conducted himself in his interventions with the "disqualification" and the "insult" that, according to the 'popular', has been the general tone of Sánchez's speeches , who came to accuse the president of the PP of "insolvency and bad faith" last September.

In the PP they remember that, with the landing of Feijóo in the Senate, the Government publicly promised to maintain the frequency with which Sánchez visits the Senate as normal, following the "uses and customs" of the Chamber. However, PP sources stress that since June (despite the obligatory summer break), the head of the Executive has not submitted to control again.

For this reason, the spokesman for the popular group in the Senate, Javier Maroto, will present this matter to the Secretary of State for Relations with the Courts, Rafael Simancas, at an upcoming meeting of the Board of Spokespersons, according to 'popular' sources.

Since he is a 'popular' spokesman, Maroto has asked Sánchez in control sessions in the Senate up to twelve times during two and a half years. The first question she asked him was in the plenary session on February 25, 2020, about the controversy caused by the trip of Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to Spain.

After this first question came the Covid pandemic and Sánchez did not return to the Senate control sessions until the beginning of May 2020, when Maroto asked him for explanations as to why he had not attended a forum with the regional presidents in the Upper House to address the epidemiological situation.

Later, Sánchez went to the Senate to answer Maroto and two other questions in the control session with an average frequency of approximately one month, saving the summer months in which there is no activity in the Upper House.