The PP appropriates the memory of the victims of ETA to place itself "in front of the Government"

The Congress of Deputies held a minute of silence on Tuesday for Miguel Ángel Blanco, the PP councilor from Ermua assassinated by ETA 25 years ago today. An act of homage that Parliament already celebrated on June 27, the day on which Congress has been celebrating the memory of the victims of terrorism for years. The difference with what usually happens, the minute of silence this Tuesday has not been proposed by the groups and approved by the Table, but has been promoted from the rostrum by the PP spokesperson, Cuca Gamarra, taking advantage of her first turn of reply in the state of the nation debate.

Gamarra has dedicated a good part of his speech, under the watchful eye of a silent Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to the terrorist group, which announced its dissolution almost 11 years ago. "On July 12, like today, at four in the afternoon like now, Migue Ángel Blanco appeared," he began his speech. "All of us Spanish democrats held out the faint hope that ETA had not carried out its threat and that his life could be saved," he recalled. "In his memory I want to begin my speech by keeping, in my time, a minute of silence", he continued.

All those present, deputies and senators like Feijóo himself, have stood up to honor his memory. Immediately, Gamarra pointed out the agreements reached by the Government with EH Bildu, a coalition he pointed out for not "condemning" the terrorist act committed a quarter of a century ago.

The reference has allowed Gamarra to jump immediately to attack the Democratic Memory Law, which will finish its first process in Congress this week. "This is the history of democracy," he has said. "It is the memory that we Democrats must honor and that we must never give up," he continued. “In Spain, there were those who killed members of the security forces and bodies, women, children and Spanish people of a type,” he has stated. "Because democratic memory is to remember that Miguel Ángel Blanco does not rest in the land where he was born because those who did not let him live did not let him rest either," he concluded.

Gamarra has said that the PP "reaffirms its commitment to continue seeking memory, reparation and justice" for the victims. And he has settled that "the spirit of civic rebellion" that caused the kidnapping and murder of Blanco, the so-called Spirit of Ermua, "places them in front of his government." “He chose the pact of the unworthy, turns Bildu into a notary of the Transition, spreads a cloak of ignominy over the governments of Calvo, Suárez and Felipe González”, he pointed out, to reiterate about the Law of Memory: “We will repeal it and recover the spirit of transition.

The PP spokeswoman has not only dedicated a good part of her speech to the memory of the victims of ETA. She has also mentioned at the start of her reply to Catalonia, on account of the meeting that Pedro Sánchez will hold with the President of the Government, Pere Aragonés, next Friday. “What new decisions will Pere Aragonés make on Friday?” Gamarra questioned himself, adding: “We can't trust his answers. His achievement is the total devaluation of the word given”.

No responses to Sanchez

Gamarra has continued his speech with the usual string of economic criticisms launched at the Executive. The PP spokeswoman has linked the coronavirus crisis, and the consequences it had, with the current one. The crisis arising from both, said the leader of the PP, were due to "their foresight errors" that "all Spaniards" are now paying for.

“The Spaniards have to do without the most basic to pay your government,” Gamarra said. “Are you not going to propose a measure to reduce productive spending, starting with your macro-government?”, he continued. “Doesn't it make you shy to ask Spaniards to save on air conditioning in the heat of the heat while you don't reduce your spending?” he questioned.

It has been one of the few mentions of Gamarra to Sánchez's speech. The parliamentary spokeswoman has tiptoed, at best, because of the announcements that the president has made this morning. In fact, she has not even mentioned two of the most relevant ones: extraordinary taxes on banking and the energy sector.