The celebration of the day of the Community of Madrid has marked a new chapter in the confrontation between its president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the Government of Spain, after the institutional act did not allow the minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños. In La Moncloa they avoid starring in a new direct confrontation with the regional president, since the incident does not affect a good image for anyone. Of course, they consider in the presidential complex that what happened “is one more step in a campaign to delegitimize this government.”

“It is a campaign of the PP and I say it with regret. This campaign of attacking legitimate governments occurs in other parts of the world, but it is carried out by anti-system or extremist parties. The unfortunate thing is that in Spain it is carried out by the PP, which was a party of Government”, said Isabel Rodríguez, spokesperson for the Executive, after the Council of Ministers. “When a legitimate government is attacked, democracy is attacked.”

In the PSOE of Madrid, however, they are upset with the “unfortunate circus” for which they also blame La Moncloa because they consider that what they have done is “eclipse” their candidates for the Community and the City Council of the capital in the elections on May 28, Juan Lobato and Reyes Maroto. “The strategic objective of this act was potential and just the opposite has been achieved,” party sources stress.

The confrontation that Ayuso seeks with Pedro Sánchez knows in the Government that it does not have to go well. It happened in the regional elections in Madrid, when the Executive gave wings to Ayuso to try to wear down Pablo Casado. With the arrival of Alberto Núñez Feijóo to the presidency of the PP, there have also been attempts and temptations to erode his leadership by presenting him at the mercy of Ayuso, but, at least now, melee is not intended.

They want to focus on Ayuso and the PP, but they are not betting on a face to face. They believe in the Executive that its most profitable strategy is for its speech to focus on the measures they approve, on the aid they give to the communities, also to Madrid. That is where the votes are played and not in the clash with Ayuso. “It does not provoke who wants, but who can,” said the spokesperson for the Executive. “This government is focused on what is important, which is to address educational policy, economic growth and give peace of mind to the majority of Spaniards.”

“The concern and occupation of the Government is not a royal decree of 1983. The concern is education, vocational training, support for the tourism sector, science, economic progress…”, he reiterated, making it clear where the Executive wants focus your speech. And it is not, at least now, in a face to face with Ayuso.

In the Government they believe that the Community of Madrid “breached” the Royal Decree of General Order of Precedence in the State, but when asked about it, sources from La Moncloa did not state if they will take any action in this regard. “It is a lack of institutional respect. Nothing like this has ever happened in history,” state government sources. In La Moncloa he defends that Bolaños was acting as a minister and that it is the Government that decides who represents him in the acts. On this occasion, they explain, it was Bolaños himself and the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles.

“They knew that two ministers would attend on behalf of the Government,” say sources from La Moncloa. “It is the Government who decides who represents it, as it is the Community who decides who goes when they are invited from a Town Hall.”

“What we saw is unprecedented,” Rodríguez has sentenced. “The Community of Madrid was informed in advance who was going to attend on behalf of the Government.” “We are talking about a decree that dates from 1983 and that in 40 years has not caused problems.”

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