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Álvarez (UGT) defends Begoña Gómez and says she is paying the consequences of the policies implemented by the Government.
The President of the Government and Secretary General of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, stated on Friday, the last day of the electoral campaign, that he had a «good vibe» ahead of the European elections on Sunday and urged young people, women, and workers to vote for the PSOE to stop the far-right.
Sánchez made these statements at a meeting at the UGT union’s Julián Besteiro school, which was also attended by the Secretary General, Pepe Álvarez, who expressed his support for the head of the Executive and his wife, Begoña Gómez, who was called to testify under investigation for alleged influence peddling and corruption.
Álvarez believes that they are suffering the consequences of the policies being implemented by the Government, as he indicated. «It is not a personal issue of the president or the president’s wife; in any case, they are paying the consequences of the policies that were developed in our country.»
«Did anyone think it would be free to convert three and a half million temporary contracts into permanent contracts, returning to the situation where a large part of workers were subjected to degrading exploitation?» he continued.
In the same vein, he insisted that they will continue to support Sánchez and his family, «we will not leave you alone because we are people of our word, like you,» he said. Words that Sánchez thanked «from the bottom of his heart,» as he later highlighted during his speech. In the same line, the President insists that they are being attacked for what they defend and do in the Government.
In addition, the Head of Government affirms that the PSOE is ready to win this Sunday and believes that the PP of Alberto Núñez Feijóo has lowered its expectations at the beginning of the electoral campaign. «A month ago they said they would destroy the PSOE and today they say we will unite it,» he stated.
Sánchez addressed those who have not decided whether to vote and may be thinking of «going to the beach or the countryside» tired of having too many elections behind them this year. In this sense, he made a special appeal for the mobilization of socialist voters, especially young people, women, and workers, to stop the advance of the far-right because, in his opinion, there is a lot at stake in the European elections.
HE SAYS THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘NEVER’ RECOGNIZE PALESTINE
The Head of Government revisited some of the issues that marked the electoral campaign such as the recognition of Palestine as a State, which the Government formalized last week, and also the clash with the Argentine President, Javier Milei, which generated a diplomatic conflict and led to the withdrawal of the Spanish ambassador in Buenos Aires.
In this way, he once again justified the step taken regarding Palestine for the «humanity» and «peace» and the only option that can offer a horizon to the Palestinian people.
At this point, he attacked the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and revealed that when he met with him during his visit to Jerusalem after the Hamas attacks on October 7, he was able to hear first-hand his plans for Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem and realized that he was a person «who does not believe in two states» and who «will never recognize» Palestine, as he indicated.
YOU ARE READY TO VOTE WITH YOUR LEFT HAND
He also referred again to Milei in front of the Argentine Peronist union leader Héctor Daer, who intervened in the event and told him that socialists are proud to be called «leftists,» a term used by the Argentine President to disparage the left and which the PSOE adopted as a campaign slogan.
He also affirmed that on Sunday «the leftists» will vote to stop the far-right. «I already prepared it,» he warned. He also criticized Milei’s recent decision to dissolve the Ministry of Women and considered it a wrong decision «that hurts,» although the feminist cause is much stronger. In any case, he was convinced that when Argentines return to the polls «progressives will defeat the far-right.»
TERESA RIBERA
For her part, the head of the PSOE list, Teresa Ribera, warned of the importance of going to the polls on Sunday and accused the PP, which she accused of allowing the entry of the far-right into institutions.
«They put them in institutions, they do what they are told once they are in the institutions, they end up saying the same things as them and generating the growth of the far-right, which shamelessly wanders freely defending hatred and walls, irritation and cuts and social injustice,» she warned.
Like Sánchez, she said she feels «very positive and very strong» and convinced that they will «win» on Sunday, «because we are honest, dedicated, and hardworking, because we think of people, analyze the challenges, and have proposals,» she stated.
She also says that «the return» is felt in Spain and believes that social democrats can achieve a better result than initially expected in the Netherlands, whose citizens already voted this Thursday, according to exit polls.
