Pedro Sanchez On Wednesday he went to the plenary session of the European Parliament to try to justify Spain’s limited and futile presidency of the EU Council of Ministers. What the Prime Minister actually achieved was to refer the Spanish political dispute to the Strasbourg Chamber. And Europeans are starting to get tired of it.

No one was interested (starting, I suspect, with Sanchez himself) in the balance of a lackluster presidency, ruined by the anticipation of the July elections. In the exodus of recent months, the only thing that matters is the explanation of the investment pacts that led to Carles Puigdemont and their own, hitherto fugitives and outcasts, to become the right balance and occupy the center of the political stage.

Sánchez’s speech of good words – and bad talk about Germany and European governance – was based on the idea that his government was in line with European values. Can you tell by the perversions he commits?

The Prime Minister rightly spoke about the red lines that have been established in many countries to isolate the far right, and cited the example of the European Parliament, where there is a basic agreement between conservatives, liberals and social democrats. It is a shame that he lacks the legitimacy to make this statement credible, because at the same time he insisted on defending the supposed progressive nature of his alliances with identity populism and separatist nationalism.

In such a scenario, it is not easy to convince MEPs that Spain has a progressive government, since they distinguish progress from return and, above all, they are mainly social democrats, liberals and conservatives, accustomed to agreeing with each other. difficulties; govern the country avoiding extremes. They, despite their differences, tend to conform to European values. And this applies to both IPSE and PP.

Sanchez, in the last few days, has been attacking the leader of the European Conservatives in the European Parliament, the German Manfred Weberand, in a display of diplomatic skill worthy of North Korea, he mentions Hitler. At the same time, it is obvious – Younts stated this – that he will soon meet with the fugitive Puigdemont, the one who promised that he would be brought to justice.

To equate the European People’s Party with the far right, despite some cases of proximity (and of course Germany is the furthest from such examples), and to base a government on pacts with those necessary to remain in power is playing with fire . The same PPE is the majority party that supports this call. Von der Leyen’s coalition this legislature. Nothing happened in Brussels – from appointments to decisions and all legislation – without agreements between conservatives, social democrats and liberals.

It is clear that the Spanish government is “not fully in line with European values.” If it were, it would not be based on agreements with right-wing supremacists, independence supporters and heirs of terrorism who have not apologized for the killings committed by ETA.

If this were so, he would not hesitate to disavow the words of the representative of the “Jants” in Congress: Miriam Nogueras, when last Tuesday he pointed at judges, journalists and police officers, demanding that they be “tried and fired” for “attacking Catalonia.” And all this against the backdrop of the passivity of the Congress President and the silence of the PSOE representative.

If this were the case, he would not have handed over the mayor’s office of Pamplona to E. H. Bild, after assuring a month ago in Congress that this would never happen. An operation hidden until the investiture, since it was part of a pact that was hardly in line with European values: in the last municipal elections, E. H. Bildu included in his lists 34 people convicted of belonging to or collaborating with an armed gang.

European values ​​are as far from right-wing populism as they are from left-wing populism

European values ​​are as opposed to the far right as they are to the far left. They are as far from right-wing populism as they are from left-wing populism because both, along with nationalism, represent the exact opposite of these principles: polarization as a political tool, violation of democratic rights, contempt for power-sharing, abuse of parliamentary majorities, degradation of democratic institutions , violation of the rights of the weakest sections of society.

Words of agreement in Madrid or Strasbourg will lead to nothing if there is no legitimacy behind them, if the one who utters them jumps over the red line: approve the law on impunity in exchange for seven votes; put activists and militants at the head of public institutions and organizations; remain silent in the face of allied statements that violate the separation of powers and encourage the hunt for judges and magistrates and commissions of inquiry against them; radically change statements of principle without flinching, within weeks of each other.

Sanchez brought Spanish dirt to Strasbourg. It is not very clear what he will get from this. Certainly, mainland What he boasts about in Spain becomes quicksand in Europe. And European socialists, neither in substance nor in form, are very supportive of the import of this tavern style into the European Parliament. And after the next European elections in June, we will have to look for alliances again.

These socialists and the leaders of the coalition that governs Europe, having overcome their dissatisfaction with the quagmire that Sanchez has served them on a plate, will understand that adherence to European values ​​cannot mean blowing up the coexistence of Spaniards with an immunity law disguised as an amnesty and not allowing insults to judges in the style Orban And Ripe. Ignoring the scrupulousness and value of speech in public activities, thereby increasing citizens’ distrust of politicians, raising arbitrariness to the norm and preferring extremes to the center are not European values. Not progressive.

Soraya Rodriguez She is a member of the European Parliament as part of the Ciudadanos delegation.