The federal leadership of the PSOE accused the PP this Monday of instrumentalizing the Ceuta crisis for electoral interests and considers that the Government will manage to come out unscathed from the criticisms of the management of the migratory avalanche in the city. “The PP manages the narrative to profit while the socialists manage the way to return Ceuta to normality,” said Montse Mínguez after the meeting of the leadership of the main party of the Government. The Ceuta crisis is taking a toll on the PSOE in its electoral expectations, according to the Center for Sociological Research. Thus, the socialists lose two points in voting intention, down to 31%; and the PP reduces its distance with the PSOE to 5.5 points, with 25.5%, 0.4 points more than in July. In third place, Vox grows 1.3 points and remains the third force with 16.6% voting intention. Sumar continues to lose and stays at 5.7%. The declassification and publication of 40 documents about the massive entry on July 30 and 31 has unleashed a political storm with accusations about whether warnings were ignored. The Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López, insisted that the Government did not have information that “led to confirming” that a massive entry would occur. López assured that Spain is “perfectly capable of defending its borders” while respecting international law and human rights.
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The PSOE reproaches the PP for intending to “turn the Ceuta crisis into an electoral campaign”
The federal leadership of the PSOE accuses the PP of instrumentalizing the Ceuta crisis for electoral interests and, facing widespread discouragement among the socialists, considers that the Government will manage to come out unscathed from the criticisms of the management of the migratory avalanche in the city. “The PP couldn’t be clearer: Ceuta means nothing to them. It is not the objective to solve but an instrument to attack Pedro Sánchez, the PP manages the narrative to profit while the socialists manage the way to return Ceuta to normality,” said Montse Mínguez after the meeting of the leadership of the main party of the Government.
“What Ceuta needs is the State, and we remind the PP that the State is all of us,” reiterated Mínguez, who accused the PP of “wanting to turn major crises into electoral campaigns and also into business, as in the pandemic in Madrid and now we see in Ceuta,” she elaborated on the awarding by the Government of Juan Jesús Vivas of emergency contracts to direct relatives of trusted officials, according to eldiario.es. “We have always come out stronger from every single crisis we have faced, and there are many more than anyone could imagine. Alberto Núñez Feijóo has written as many epitaphs for Pedro Sánchez as crises he has faced, in the end he will run out of tombstones,” said Mínguez.
Mínguez emphasized that the PP always asks for “elections” and “elections now, but depending on who votes,” regarding the precautionary decision of the Supreme Court to annul the right to vote of thousands of Spaniards who have been granted nationality through the Memory Law. “They are Spaniards. Their nationality has not been taken away. The law has not been annulled. So where are we?” she declared before stressing that the court “will have to explain itself very well.”
Mínguez, on the grandchildren law: “If they are Spaniards, they will have the right to vote”
The PSOE spokesperson, Montse Mínguez, has expressed concern about the suspension by the Supreme Court of the vote of Spaniards benefited by the grandchildren law. She declared, regarding Spaniards naturalized abroad, that “if they are Spaniards, they will have the right to vote.” According to Mínguez, saying which Spaniards can vote and which cannot is “saying you have first-class Spaniards and second-class Spaniards, and the real danger begins when for some it seems dangerous to vote.”
Mínguez also commented on the CIS survey, which reduces the PSOE’s lead by almost two and a half points: “We are always talking about surveys at all times; the real survey is the one that takes place at the polls.” She also answered questions about the deadlines for irregular migrants in Ceuta to return to Morocco. “This is a humanitarian crisis and must be resolved within what humanitarian crises are and not by sending messages to return everyone as if it were an Amazon package that one does not want, which is what Feijóo is telling us.” “I hope he knows it,” referring to the PP leader, “if he says it and does not know that what he says is illegal, he is incompetent, and if he says it knowing it is illegal, he is irresponsible.”
The PSOE spokesperson insisted that “no one could imagine the magnitude of what happened on July 30 and 31 in the Ceuta crisis” and that “when the investigation ends, the necessary measures will be taken.”
Vox pressures the PP: “It’s not enough to say Sánchez is very bad, article 102 must be used”
The national spokesperson of Vox, José Antonio Fúster, took advantage of Monday’s press conference to pressure the Popular Party over the Ceuta crisis, with whom it competes to capitalize on discontent over the central Government’s management, with a direct message to Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s party. The far-right group has been calling for days for the activation of article 102 of the Congress, which regulates the prosecution of Government members for crimes of treason or against state security and can be initiated by a quarter of the members of Congress. The initiative must then be voted on in plenary and approved by an absolute majority before being forwarded to the Supreme Court. “We want all parties to reveal their position, for other parties to be willing to go all the way,” said the Vox spokesperson on the matter. “It’s not enough to be outraged for 48 hours, it’s not enough to issue a statement, it’s not enough to say Sánchez is very bad. Institutions must be used, Congress, Senate, and logically, article 102,” added Fúster in a clear allusion to the PP, after the conflict maintained in recent days between Génova and Rabat. “We have a cordial relationship, but we do not have the support of the Popular Party, that’s why I come out in a press conference. To send a message to the Popular Party that it’s time to roll up their sleeves, I don’t know what they are waiting for,” Fúster concluded.
The PP criticizes that the situation in Ceuta “far from improving, has worsened”
The PP spokesperson, Borja Sémper, has criticized that in recent weeks the situation in Ceuta “far from improving, has worsened.” Sémper considers that the Prime Minister and several ministers should have resigned after the massive entry into the autonomous city. “After everything we have had the opportunity to see over these 46 days, only two technicians have resigned,” he added. The spokesperson referred to the dismissal of a communication official from the National Security Department and the resignation of Gonzalo Sanz, chief of staff of the Government delegate in Ceuta.
Óscar Puente insists that no one could predict what was going to happen in Ceuta and compares it to 9/11
By Juan Molina
The Minister of Transport repeated this morning, on the program Mañaneros 360 on La 1, that it was impossible to have predicted what happened in Ceuta because there is no precedent of such magnitude. “It’s like the Twin Towers attacks,” he said. “There were some signs that this could happen,” but it could not be predicted “because it had never happened before.”
Puente also did not hide his concern about the impartiality of Justice. “Impartiality must not only occur, but it must also appear to exist,” he stated. The minister expressed doubts about whether in the actions of Judge Tardón [who is investigating what happened in Ceuta] there are elements that could question that impartiality. Furthermore, he extended those doubts to the Supreme Court for the precautionary measure suspending the voting rights of naturalized citizens under the grandchildren law.
Regarding the exchange of attacks with the Popular Party, the minister said that the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, interests him “very little.” “I have seen few people less prepared than her to be in politics. And yet, there she is,” he criticized. “There are precedents in the PP of another political leader who raised his voice in a situation that was very unpresentable and we saw the fate he met,” Puente said in a veiled reference to former PP president Pablo Casado, who resigned after questioning the management of Ayuso’s brother in the purchase of masks in 2022. “Feijóo does not want to meet the same fate,” the socialist minister maintained.
Political situation increases electoral uncertainty
The Center for Sociological Research (CIS) highlights an increase in electoral uncertainty in its barometer published this Monday. Voters without a voting preference have increased since July of this year in all categories. Voters who prefer to vote blank register the most notable increase, with a difference of 0.7 since July and 3.2% of the vote. Null votes grow from 0.9% to 1.2%; those planning to abstain (not vote) and those who do not know which party they would vote for both increase by 0.2, up to 5.9% and 14.3%, respectively. Finally, those who do not answer go from 2.3% to 2.6%.
The CIS reduces the PSOE’s lead over the PP by almost two and a half points with the Ceuta crisis
The September CIS barometer, published this morning and already measuring public opinion amid the Ceuta crisis, cuts the difference in favor of the PSOE compared to the PP in voting estimation by almost two and a half points. Specifically, the survey assigns the PSOE 31% of the vote, 2 points less than in July, against 25.5% for the PP, which rises four tenths. In total, the difference in favor of the socialists goes from 7.9 to 5.5 points. Next comes Vox, which rises from 15.3% to 16.6%; Sumar, which falls from 6.1% to 5.7%; Podemos, which rises from 2.5% to 3.7%; and Se Acabó la Fiesta, which falls from 2.6% to 1.8%.
Elma Saiz attacks the PP: “They have stopped being a state party”
By Juan Molina
The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, has accused the PP of using Ceuta to misinform and of not wanting the situation in the autonomous city to be resolved. “The Popular Party does not want the situation in Ceuta to normalize,” she said.
Saiz reproached them for having stopped being a state party to become an ultra party. “It’s scary to think they had government responsibilities in this country,” she concluded.
Marlaska estimates 300 migrants judicially expelled from Ceuta
The Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, stated in a press conference in Asturias this Monday that since August 10, 5,300 migrants of the more than 70,000 who entered Ceuta have voluntarily returned to Morocco, and that 300 of them have had judicial expulsions: “The procedures are in force, judicial expulsions are being carried out; of those people we detain for committing various crimes, we put them at the disposal of the courts. We have 300.”
Marlaska repeats again that there was no alert from the CNI
By Juan Molina
The Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, during his visit to the Civil Guard barracks in Mieres, Asturias, reaffirmed that there was no alert from the CNI that was “minimally related to what happened on July 30.” He defended that the “situation in Ceuta is very complex,” but that they have put all necessary means to solve the crisis as soon as possible.
However, he did not want to give figures on the number of migrant triages carried out, although he guaranteed that expulsions are already underway. Nevertheless, he avoided giving a date on when all immigrants will leave Ceuta.
Podemos
Irene Montero defends open primaries to “break the left’s loop” and for people to “take the floor”
Irene Montero defended open primaries on the left this Monday as a way to “break the loop” and for “people to take the floor,” referring to the continuous disputes in recent years over leadership and list positions. Just 48 hours after launching her candidacy for the general elections, during an interview on Cadena SER, the former Minister of Equality and Podemos MEP also subscribed to the theory encouraged by the right and far right that the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, would be subject to some kind of blackmail due to information Morocco obtained about him during the espionage of his mobile phone through Pegasus software. “It seems quite evident that something is there,” she said without evidence.
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The Government insists that “no one was able to foresee an assault of 70,000 people”
Óscar López, Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Function, insisted on TVE that the Government did not have information that “led to confirming” that a massive entry of migrants in Ceuta would occur. “There are permanent alerts. Of course. Of that dimension? No. No one was able to foresee an assault of 70,000 people,” he explained.
One day before the massive entry of almost 80,000 migrants in Ceuta, a CNI worker sent a WhatsApp to the chief of staff of the Government delegate in Ceuta, Gonzalo Sanz, informing him of groups on social networks where a massive call was being moved to jump to the autonomous city. That conversation was in the dossier of reports declassified by the Government. The Government delegate claimed to be unaware of this information and Sanz resigned.
The Minister of Public Function also assured that the Government has acted “in defense and support of Ceuta and Melilla” and that Spain is “perfectly capable of defending its borders” while respecting international law and human rights.
Irene Montero, on a hypothetical blackmail from Morocco to Sánchez: “It seems quite evident that something is there”
The former Minister of Equality and Podemos MEP, Irene Montero, stated this Monday that “it seems quite evident” that Morocco exerts some kind of blackmail over the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, due to some information it would have obtained from his mobile when it was spied on through Pegasus. Asked about this theory, which has been encouraged by PP and Vox and to which the PNV also gave wings this weekend, Montero, who launched her candidacy for the general elections this weekend, said: “It seems quite evident that something is there, because everyone says it and it is what is told in the gossip circles. Honestly, that has to be explained by those who know. What I believe is that the consequence of this, which is a problem of politicians, cannot be a humanitarian crisis, the greatest in our history.”
Asked if she has proof of this, the former minister said: “We do not know for sure, but if others who know more say it, we will not rule out that hypothesis. What I believe is that it does not matter what it is, because they have something, because they do not want to alienate Morocco. It is historic that in this country the PSOE has submitted many more times, while in Government, to Morocco’s designs without any justification. Not only in this Government of Pedro Sánchez, it has also happened before.”
For Montero, the humanitarian crisis should never have been created and is a “highway” for the far right. The leader compared the current situation with the management of arrivals of Ukrainians (350,000) or Venezuelans (200,000) and called the reaction now “pure racism.”
Good morning. The political week continues to be monopolized by the migratory crisis in Ceuta after the dissemination of documents from the National Intelligence Center (CNI) and other declassified intelligence services, and after the resignation of the chief of staff of the Government delegate in Ceuta. The declassification and publication of 40 documents about the massive entry on July 30 and 31 has unleashed a political storm with accusations about whether warnings were ignored, to which was added last Friday the resignation of the chief of staff of the Government delegate in Ceuta, Gonzalo Sanz, after insisting that he did pass on the warnings from the National Intelligence Center on July 29, a day before the massive entry of migrants into the city, unlike what his superior stated.
