Alfonso Rueda has taken office as president of the Xunta de Galicia making an appeal to maintain the stability, moderation and unity of the Community in these two years ahead of the legislature. “Governing from moderation is the best antidote against intransigence, sterile divisions or polarization that hamper coexistence and that in other places are already a sad characteristic of politics”, he has proclaimed, “I am determined to preserve Galicia from the tendencies of rupture that in other places are observed».
On day 1 of his career at the head of the Galician government, replacing Alberto Núñez Feijóo, Rueda has made a defense of Galician identity and its idiosyncrasy as a territory, but with an integrating vocation.
“Galicia will loyally contribute to the strengthening of Spain and the common European project”, he guaranteed, “we will never hide behind plurality to delve into discretion, but we will claim it as an essential condition for unity”. On the day that left-wing parties are calling referendums in favor of the Republic, Rueda stated that “in the face of those who take advantage of the resources of the State to wear down the institutions, beginning with that of His Majesty the King, Galicia will continue betting on a model based in cooperation and fidelity to the given word».
«Galicia wants to be like Galicia, and it is right», he has defended against other «models that condition or confront». “The key to the success of this regional journey lies in being proud of what we are and how we are”, and has defined Galicia as a land “united by belonging, affection and the desire to be free and prosperous among all ». “I appreciate and claim our past”, but he has advanced that “I have firm feet in our present, and none of the difficulties of our people are alien to me nor should they ever be.”
In another passage of his speech -of a brevity that is beginning to be one of the characteristics of his style-, Alfonso Rueda has defined himself as «a son of Galicia, whom Galicia entrusts to maintain its unity, its progress and its well-being» . “We will continue to advance along the paths of life and history, leaving none of our own behind, because then that advance would be incomplete.”
Rueda has been well supported on the most important day of his political career, to date in the background alongside Núñez Feijóo. In addition to the outgoing president, he has had in the front row his popular counterparts from Madrid, Castilla y León and Murcia, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco and Fernando López Mirás, along with a wide representation of regional spokesmen for the PP. Mariano Rajoy did not want to be absent, and representing the Government of Spain, the second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, former deputy of this Galician chamber before her jump to Madrid, attended. In the first row, the Rueda family, his wife Marta, their daughters Beatriz and Marta and his mother Lola. The president has had an affectionate memory of his father who died a few years ago. “If I am here today it is because I followed his example and not his advice, and he knows that I miss him.”
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