When Meritxell Batet said that “it is granted confidence to the candidate Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón” it was like when the referee gives the end of a game agony. The wake of the euphoria of the victors, and began the funeral march of the defeated. The cries of United we Can —“Yes we can!”— is imposed in the chamber. In the midst of the hoopla, Pablo Iglesias broke down into tears in public. Tears uncontrollable that seemed to be keeping for months. The child that their parents put the name of the founder of the PSOE, the young of the pigtail in her first political discourse in 2014 is appropriated from the phrase of Arnaldo Otegi —“when you insult, defame, when people lie, sonreíd; because we’re going to win”— came out of the chamber five years after you become vice-president of Spain. And could not stop crying.
Even those who in recent times had marked distances with the leader of we Can surrender now before the unexpected achievement of Churches. The real assault on the power of Can, few believed in this challenging year, both for Spain and for his own party. Churches defended until the end the commitment of the coalition Government with the PSOE and ended up winning. “He has done well. He has shown courage, ability of decision and a political horizon is very broad,” says of him, the former mp and political analyst Manolo Monereo, that Churches always considered one of his mentors, but in the last stage had been section of the leader and criticized their lust for power.
Scenario tense
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The tears of the Churches were the first response to overwhelming of the that now always appears in public as a man content. In the midst of a political scenario tense up the insult, Churches impose his moderate tone and his voice monotonous. Appeals to the Constitution, to respect and to King if necessary. Applauds the words of Sánchez and Iñigo Errejón, whose running of the party a year ago threatened to break we Can. It is presented as a man of State and not even raise the voice when the newspaper reminds that just five years ago promised to end the “regime of 78”. Assumed to be naturally in its own contradictions. It would be “more comfortable” to stay in the opposition “with the tambourine defending the 100% of our program and not be in the making”, stated a few days ago The Sixth. But he preferred to be. That bet put all the chips this last year. “We will have to face a lot of contradictions, but it is on a point of personal maturity and policy that will be able to relativize all of that. I see him strong,” says Jaume Asens, your friend from 20 years ago and spokesperson At city council and Can.
The Tuesday of the endowment Churches did not participate in the party that his men had prepared The Dwelling place, the first see of we Can. Of his office in the Congress went directly to Galapagar (Madrid), to the house he shares with Irene Montero, and their three children. Since I became a father of twins premature in July of 2018, who were joined by their daughter Aitana barely 13 months after, Churches divides his life between work and fatherhood. Whenever she can, picking the kids up from daycare after lunch and juggles his schedule to get home before they are asleep.
All the people who know him emphasize that fatherhood has contributed to that role more sedate. But there is much more behind. “Paul has changed the age, and with age has come the children,” says Juan Carlos Monedero, section now of the leadership of the party but always on the side of Churches. For to be a teacher of the founders of We in the Faculty of Policies, the tipping point of Churches was the realization, after not being able to achieve the sorpasso the PSOE, that had to be overcome, to the right, and the key was then in a “war of positions gramscian: attract vote socialist and find a space of collaboration with Sanchez”.
The new faces in the party also contributed to the transformation of the new Churches. “We did see that Paul is always angry, he was earning less.” The biggest mark was left who was his chief of staff last year, Pablo Gentili, who resigned a month ago to the office to join the argentine Government, Alberto Fernández as secretary of State. Gentili, of 56 years and his efforts in the Government of brazilian Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, was a turning point of maturity for Churches, surrounded since its inception of very young people with little experience.
High level requirements
One of these people from the early years remember above all else the level of demand with himself and with the others of the then still was a leader to do. “He has some qualities too worked. Is put on a bet very clear: I have to be the best in oratory. And what does”. When she was born, the Churches, political was known as tertullian of television. He spoke of the street, of the struggle from below against those above. But the goal of coming to power was always clear. “We set up a party being very honest. Saying that we were not the 15-M, but that we wanted to govern Spain,” recalls Wallet.
The ascent was meteoric. “For anyone it would be complex to live a moment of exposure as the one who lived, but he was not. It was pushed to everything that we could upload it,” says a person who was at his side in the beginning. Just three months after its constitution as a party, We had five seats in the european elections of 2014. In his first general in 2015 obtained 69 seats. “I always tell them that they were born rich, you were born with five million votes,” he told a few months ago, THE COUNTRY his friend and next minister of Labour, Yolanda Diaz.
The difficult balance between discourse and one’s own life has been in this time one of the biggest problems in Churches. The chalet in Galapagar that was purchased with Montero before birth, children with a mortgage than 540,000 euros became the symbol of this dichotomy. Years before, from the floor inherited from his aunt who lived in Vallecas, Iglesias said that he ended up explotándole in the hands: “it seems to Me more dangerous to the roll of isolate someone. Those politicians who live in Somosaguas, in villas who do not know what that is to catch public transport”. The criticisms forced him to consult the party base the relevance of leading the party that was born in the heat of the 15-M from a chalet of 250 square metres. The couple won the query by majority.
The house of Galapagar that threatened to become a nightmare is now in the fort, the nucleus of power of the party. Abandoned also the nights of reeds with the amrecommendations from friends, the couple meets at the chalet to its nearest with a certain frequency around a rice prepared by him. The idea of a coalition Government only existed for months in those meals to half an hour from the centre of Madrid. Outside those walls no one thought that Sanchez, who had vetoed to its presence in an Executive suite last summer, could open up Churches to the door of The Moncloa. And that’s why the vice president wept like a child before returning home with his family. He had spent what he said would happen.
