Simon Hunter
SCRAPPING the Equality Ministry altogether, overturning Spain’s ‘trans law’ and its Democratic Memory Law, and making changes to the euthanasia and education laws. Those are among the plans that Popular Party (PP) leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo has hinted at should he become prime minister after the July 23 snap elections.
Feijoo discussed several of his possible policy plans on Tuesday during an interview on the Onda Cero radio network, and also confirmed that he has ‘no problem’ in a face-to-face debate with current prime minister and candidate for reelection, Pedro Sanchez of the Socialist Party.
On Monday, Sanchez challenged Feijoo to six weekly debates from here until the general elections, something that the PP immediately dismissed as unnecessary for Spaniards and an ‘eccentricity’ on the part of the prime minister.
When questioned by Onda Cero presenter Carlos Alsina on Tuesday morning, Feijoo hinted at his plans for power.
“In my day, when I was in the government [of PP prime minister Jose Maria Aznar], some of the ministries of today were sub-departments,” he explained. “Such as the Consumer Ministry. The Equality Ministry was a department. Social Security out of the Labour Ministry… that I can’t understand.”
He concluded that ‘there are five or six ministries in Spain that are superfluous.’
As for Spain’s new trans law, passed by the Socialist Party and leftist Unidas Podemos government, Feijoo claimed that ‘it is easier to change sex’ in Spain right now ‘than it is to pass your university entrance exams or get your driving licence’.
The PP leader also criticised Sanchez’s decision to call the snap elections on July 23, the first time that Spaniards will go to vote in the middle of the summer.
“It’s not exactly normal to hold elections in the hottest fortnight of the year, with so many people on holiday in our country,” he said. “We are ready for change.”
Prime Minister Sanchez said that he was calling the snap elections due to the poor showing of his party and other leftist groups at the May 28 local and regional elections. But many have interpreted the move as a way to distract from the successes of Feijoo’s PP at the same polls, as well as a bid for survival on the part of Sanchez given the internal pressure he would have faced after the poor electoral showing.
Read more:
- Explainer: What do the polls say ahead of July’s snap election in Spain?
- Spain’s PM challenges conservative opponent to six face-to-face debates before snap elections
- Spain’s Socialists release attack ad making fun of opposition leader’s lack of English
