Feijóo shrugs off criticism over labour absenteeism and nationality law: 'I'm here to have brave debates'

Standing firm on controversy

Alberto Núñez Feijóo used his closing speech at the XVI National Congress of Nuevas Generaciones (NNGG), the PP youth wing, to address a wave of criticism over recent policy positions. Speaking in Valladolid on 11 July 2026, the PP leader listed the three flashpoints that have drawn fire from the Sánchez government, left-wing parties, and trade unions: his call to pursue 'fraudulent labour absenteeism', his scepticism over 2.4 million nationality applications under the so-called 'ley de nietos' provision of the 2022 democratic memory law, and his proposal to extend prenatal family support nationwide.

You know what I say? I don't care, because I am here to have brave debates and to leave a better country for young people like you.

Feijóo framed the backlash as evidence of progress, recalling that after winning the 2009 Galician election, unions staged a 'preventive strike' before he even took office. 'So being criticised now is reasonable, we are on the right track,' he said.

The 'ley de nietos' and electoral integrity

Feijóo returned to a line of attack he has pursued for weeks, questioning the 25 October 2022 instruction that relaxed requirements for acquiring Spanish nationality under the democratic memory law. He characterised the measure as 'neither a law, nor does it only speak about grandchildren' and suggested the Sánchez government's intentions around elections deserved scrutiny.

'As if one couldn't doubt the intentions of sanchismo in an election,' Feijóo remarked, before adding an allusion to the PSOE primaries that cemented Pedro Sánchez's control of the party: 'Who would think of doubting Sánchez? That pure and clean spirit, the spirit of the PSOE primaries, for example. Come on, even his own colleagues who have denounced him doubt him.' The PP leader has previously described the nationality process as 'electoral engineering', a phrase not repeated verbatim in Valladolid but reflected in his broader remarks.

Absenteeism and the 'cancer' remark

Days earlier, Feijóo had described labour absenteeism as a 'cancer' in a speech to Basque business leaders, language the PP later sought to qualify. At the NNGG congress he reframed the argument around fairness to small business owners and workers. 'I have been criticised by the left and by some trade unions for asking that the self-employed and entrepreneurs do not have to pay out of their own pocket for the cheek of a few, nor that honest workers have to cover that gap,' he said.

Extending prenatal aid nationwide

Feijóo also defended his proposal for a national law supporting expectant parents, framing it as a continuation of a policy he introduced as president of the Xunta de Galicia in 2011. A similar initiative took effect in the Community of Madrid this week. He noted he had been criticised 'for defending that the government can help those people who are going to be fathers and mothers before the child is born.'

Housing and youth rebellion

Beyond the three disputed policy areas, Feijóo devoted a significant portion of his speech to housing, calling it 'the symbol of this era, the symbol of what has failed.' He argued it was not normal for 'a young person with studies, with a job, with a contract, unable to rent in their own city and sharing a flat at 30 because they have no other option', adding that such conditions cause young adults to postpone having children. He called on young Spaniards to rebel together and change the country through the PP project, describing the party as 'the team of reforms.'

New leadership for Nuevas Generaciones

The congress elected Ignacio Dancausa, 25, as the new president of NNGG. Considered a protégé of Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso, Dancausa ran as the sole candidate after negotiating with two others who had announced precandidacies. He secured 96.5% of valid votes, succeeding Basque MP Beatriz Fanjul, who led the organisation for five years.