PP CONVENTION IN BARCELONA TARGETS CATALAN VOTERS

UNCLAS BARCELONA 000160 STATE FOR EUR/WE MCKNIGHT AND ZERDECKI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV SP SUBJECT: PP CONVENTION IN BARCELONA TARGETS CATALAN VOTERS ¶1. SUMMARY: The center right Spanish Popular Party (PP) held its national convention in Barcelona on November 13-15, with a view to increasing their support in Catalonia in regional elections in late 2010, municipal elections in 2011, and the general election in 2012. Holding the convention in Barcelona is among several steps that the PP has taken recently to improve its image in Catalonia. With recent polls showing PP support in Catalonia at 11%, many voters see the PP as anti-Catalan, and are suspicious that the party aims to weaken Catalonia's long fought struggle for autonomy. In a meeting with the CG, Alicia Sanchez Camacho, president of the PP in Catalonia, said that the party intend to convince voters of the strength of its economic plan and will work to decrease the high unemployment rate in the region. The PP leader in neighboring Aragon told the CG that the convention was a great success, and that the PP could look to a pact with the center right CiU party to increase its support in Catalonia. While the PP is unlikely to overcome its historically low support to win Catalonia, increasing its popularity in the region will be crucial, as the party looks to take the presidency in 2012. END SUMMARY. ¶2. During his party's national convention in Barcelona on November 13-15, Popular Party president Mariano Rajoy signaled that the opposition PP intends to fight a unified and clean national campaign to take the Spanish presidency in 2012. PP secretary general Maria Dolores de Cospedal said that the party has resolved its recent internal turmoil related to several high profile corruption scandals and that the PP is united behind a great leader, Rajoy. She added that the main priority of the Popular Party is to increase its support in Catalonia. Alicia Sanchez Camacho, who Rajoy recently hand-picked as the PP president in Catalonia in an effort to improve the party's image, played a large role in the convention, emphasizing the commitment of the PP in Catalonia, where she acknowledged that the party has played a "more residual" role, but will in the future be more robust. ¶3. As PP's presidential candidate for Catalonia in the fall 2010 election, Sanchez Camacho emphasized her party's plans to fight unemployment and said that the PP should be "leading change" in Catalonia. In a previous meeting with the CG, Sanchez Camacho outlined her campaign strategies, which include an economic plan for Catalonia to overcome the crisis; combating the unemployment rate in the region, which is the highest in Spain; fighting voter abstention in Catalonia, which also is the highest in Spain; and recovering lost social values. She also mentioned PP's growing popularity in Catalonia, where in the last year more than 500 people have joined the party. Sanchez Camacho told the CG that she is going to campaign throughout all of Catalonia, visiting as many municipalities as she can and explain that the PP plan is robust and is not anti-Catalan. ¶4. During the convention, Sanchez Camacho addressed the need to improve the education system and to reduce the drop-out rate, which is 22% in Catalonia compared to the European Union average of 15%. Both she and Rajoy, however, avoided mentioning the controversial Catalonia Education Law, which the PP is challenging in Spain's Constitutional Court because of its emphasis on a Catalan rather than Spanish-language education. Sanchez Camacho had previously told the CG that parents in Catalonia must have the right to choose the language of instruction for their children. She added that the PP asks from the Catalan Parliament nothing different than what the socialist President of the Basque Government also asks for - freedom of choice in education. ¶5. In her role as candidate for the Catalonia Government, Sanchez Camacho said she will fight to change the image of the PP as an anti-Catalan party. Polling data from late October show the PP possibly gaining two seats in the Catalan Parliament in next year's election, but with the support of only 11% of the region's voters. As with the education law, the PP leaders did not speak about the Catalan Statute, which the PP has also challenged in the Constitutional Court. (Note: The Statute, which refines an earlier one, details the nature of Catalonia's autonomy from Madrid. Despite Catalan voters and the regional parliament approval of the Statute in 2006, it has not yet been implemented due to PP's challenge of unconstitutionality. End Note.) Sanchez Camacho has said that the PP will wait until the court has decided on the Statute before taking further action. Nodding toward the recent corruption scandals involving the PP, Sanchez Camacho, who is also a national board member of the PP, declared "all parties must fight corruption". ¶6. In a later visit to Zaragoza, the capital of the neighboring autonomous region, the CG met with Aragon's PP president, Luisa Fernanda Rudi, who was pleased with the outcome of the convention. She said that the participation of prominent economic leaders from outside of the party and the high level of attendance made the convention a success. Rudi subtly commented that she hoped the PP in Catalonia would form a pact with the center-right Convergence and Union Federation (CiU) to return to power. She mentioned that Catalonia is a difficult political region for the PP and the only way to return to power would be through CiU's support, as was the case during various terms of office between 1980 and 2003 when CiU lacked the absolute majority and made pacts with PP. Criticizing the current government's economic plan, Rudi adhered to PP's view that increasing taxes and increasing public debt is a big mistake and will worsen the crisis. She also noted the PP's track record in reducing unemployment and creating more than 5 million jobs across Spain, when PP ruled the country from 1996 to 2004. ¶7. COMMENT: The convention can be seen as a success for President Rajoy, serving both to promote Sanchez Camacho as a presidential candidate for Catalonia and presenting the PP as a viable alternative to the socialist government. At the same time Rajoy said that the Basque pact (a pact between the PP and the socialist PSOE to remove the Basque Nationalist Party from power after the March 2009 regional elections) could be transferred to Catalonia, an idea that the Catalan socialist leadership summarily rejected. In order to help Rajoy become president of Spain in 2012, the PP must increase its representation in Catalonia. Rajoy believes that the PP in Catalonia is in good hands. Sanchez Camacho is a hard-working, energetic, and capable leader, and is Catalan. While Sanchez Camacho is not likely to win the Catalonia presidency, any increase in the number of parliamentary seats she can gain for her party in 2010 will boost the PP's strength in the 2011 municipal elections and the 2012 general election. END COMMENT. CROUCH