Dialogue of the deaf at a summit marked by tension

No one doubted that the Summit of Regional Presidents would end in a rude awakening. For too long, the Socialists and Popular Party (PPP) have been unable to reach any agreement, or even attempt one.

Both live in a world of confrontation and polarization that makes it impossible to build consensus on the serious problems facing the country . Pedro Sánchez, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and their henchmen are comfortable with confrontation, and they demonstrate it every day.

Yesterday's meeting in Barcelona was seen as a show of power on both sides. The PP had 11 seats, plus the representatives of Ceuta and Melilla, compared to the PSOE 's four. To compensate for its minority, the government summoned 12 ministers , who had no right to speak in the chamber, but were able to speak and make a statement outside. 14 points on an agenda in which each president had only ten minutes to present their proposals.

In the end, the PP representatives focused on requesting an early election ( Emiliano García Page, the Socialist president of Castilla-La Mancha, had already done so during the week), which was flatly rejected by the Prime Minister. "There will be elections when they're due, in 2027," Sánchez responded with an increasingly unbelievable firmness. Because no matter how hard he tries to defend the fulfillment of the legislature, the facts show that governability is becoming more impossible every day.

Not to mention that the PSOE is in complete disarray. The Caesarism of its general secretary, the unnatural pacts to remain in power, the judicial proceedings, and the actions of Ferraz and its plumber to stop them are leading many socialists to speak out against their leader. Óscar Puente 's response, in the purest style of a neighborhood bully, to the comments of the always measured Eduardo Madina , demonstrates the nervousness of the establishment regarding those they describe as "resentful" or "Old Testament socialists." More and more members and former leaders are openly declaring themselves social democrats and anti-Sanchista.

In this context, Pedro Sánchez had called the summit seeking an institutional presence, protected by the presence of the King. Felipe VI always fulfills his role as Head of State, displaying a neutrality that prevented the boycott threatened by the PP. The Moncloa government had to give in a few days ago to include the issues proposed by the PP on the agenda, knowing that it would be impossible to debate or even raise them in one morning.

Therefore, there was no analysis, negotiations, or agreements on the issues raised. Regional financing, housing, energy, immigration, infrastructure, healthcare, education, justice, and the rest of the challenges that should have been the subject of debate passed unnoticed. It was predictable.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid, could also be expected to put on one of her usual acts. After having a spat with the Minister of Health, Mónica García, during the greeting, she made good on her threat to leave the room if any of her colleagues spoke in her own language and she was forced to use the earpiece. She left while Salvador Illa , in Catalan, and Imanol Pradales, in Basque, spoke, breaking the unity with the rest of the PP presidents. Yet another provocation in her search for prominence, or to overshadow the new news that emerged yesterday regarding the legal proceedings against her partner.

And all this, two days before the demonstration called by Alberto Núñez Feijóo on Sunday under the slogan "mafia or democracy." The political environment is increasingly repulsive, violent, and irrational, and its leaders, on both sides, have long since crossed all the red lines. Neither Sánchez is a mafia boss, nor is Ayuso a murderer, as their opponents claim. Both do have some things in common: they are populist leaders who understand political action as a tool to eliminate their opponents, whom they have turned into enemies; and both are also besieged by family scandals in the courts.

Anger has become the fuel for a political debate in which anything goes. Just when we Spaniards were forgetting about the police cesspools of the PP era, videos and recordings have emerged these days demonstrating that the PSOE set in motion an entire machinery to discredit judges, prosecutors, journalists, and politicians. No one believes, at this point, that the Ferraz plumber, Leire Díez, acted independently to compile dossiers against those she considers enemies of the government. A very serious matter that has left the Socialist leaders speechless and immobile.

Sánchez hasn't answered journalists' questions for over a month, and the ministers who have spoken have echoed infamous hoaxes against the PP. Santos Cerdán, the PSOE's number three, couldn't think of anything better than to welcome the plumber to his office in Ferraz this week and even collect a flash drive containing incriminating files about her misdeeds. His dismissal is a matter of days; he won't even have to wait for the alleged report from the Civil Guard's UCO, which he has sought to discredit.

The legislative session is dragging on, with a government divided and blocked by its partners and allies, to whom Sánchez has little more to offer, while the legal proceedings continue unabated. The PP regional presidents and the critical Socialists are right: it is urgent to dissolve Parliament and call general elections . Let the people speak.