The secretary general of the Spanish Socialists (PSOE), Pedro Sánchez, has assured, in his speech on Saturday before the party's Federal Committee, that "no-one is worthless here, no language, no culture" and has appealed the opposition to join "the social and territorial dialogue".
That is why he has invited the Popular Party (PP) to join the dialogue for the resolution of the political conflict in Catalonia and he has done so because "no-one is worthless here, neither is the opposition."
In his first speech in the Federal Committee meeting since his inauguration as prime minister, Sánchez has defended that the political solution to Catalonia is dialogue and "non-dialogue is non-politics. We are all necessary."
"Overcoming the conflict that divides Catalans and that logically stresses the relations between Catalonia and the rest of the country is essential to move forward. But attention to that problem will not be done to the detriment of other urgent territorial needs," he has guaranteed in his speech.
Sanchez has then mentioned some of these urgent needs: "Extremadura region needs a decent railway service now; Murcia region needs the Mar Menor area to win back the life it once had; Castilla y León region demands us to join forces to fight depopulation, all farmers in Spain are concerned about the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) debate in Brussels and are asking for the defense of their rights and their economy", he has listed.
"Each of the citizens of Spain expect attention to their demands. My commitment is that they will have it", said Sánchez, ahead of some of the regional leaders' speeches who have spoken later in the debate.
In his words before the Committee, Sanchez has reviewed the main challenges that Spain is facing, among which he has referred to territorial cohesion.
"We must overcome the territorial tensions that have consumed and still consume so much energy from the public debate in our country and we must at the same time achieve territorial balance and cohesion between the most densely populated areas, which hold the most income, services and production capacity, and large areas of Spain that are neglected, at risk of severe depopulation", he urged.
Overcoming a "sterile debate"
Sanchez has called for overcoming the "sterile debate" that, in his opinion, pro-independence and right-wing parties have established - "those who see Spain as a state that behaves like a ruthless, oppressive power against unattended, subdued territories, and on the other hand those who fear any kind of diversity and see it as a threat to their a uniform vision of Spain that ends in the outskirts of Madrid".
But Spain, in Sanchez's opinion, "is plural" and from this conception the coalition government wants to move forward aiming at "overcoming a decade full of errors" that left a "disastrous" trail of inequality and "territorial fracture".
However, a large majority of citizens in Spain and Catalonia, Sánchez said, "can not stand suspicion, enmity and mistrust any longer" and instead want "to overcome polarization and demands reunion."
After warning that "what has been fuelled so intensely in the last 10 years will not change suddenly in a month," Sanchez has expressed his desire that "at least the direction of events" does change "immediately" and this new decade is remembered as that of "social and territorial dialogue". "A strong democracy is one that practices dialogue", he added before calling PP to join this dialogue.