Feijóo opens PP campaign in Badalona with pledge to audit public spending

A pledge to audit public spending

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the PP leader and candidate for the presidency of the government, opened his party's campaign for the 29 November general election on Thursday, 12 November, at the Llefià municipal sports hall in Badalona. Party sources put the crowd at about 3,500, while El Periódico counted around 3,000. Standing beside Xavier García Albiol, the mayor of Badalona and the PP's candidate for Congress in Barcelona, he built his speech around a promise to account for public money.

Feijóo argued that Spain collects more taxes, carries more public debt and has drawn more European funds than ever, yet citizens get less in return. He tied that gap to corruption and poorer services, and said a PP government would publish where each euro went and who had taken it.

“We will carry out an audit of the plunder to find out where every euro has gone and who has taken it.”

He also pledged a second audit, of decency, to find out why trains do not work, why public works have stalled, why housing has not been built and why Spaniards pay more and receive less. Feijóo said he would be president of everyone without exception, and that he wanted to serve all citizens whether or not they voted for him or had gone on strike.

Catalonia as a protagonist

Feijóo said he chose Catalonia to open the campaign because the region must be decisive in the change of government, and he recalled that it had pulled Spain forward for decades. He told the crowd he wanted a Catalonia that is open, strong and prosperous and that becomes the engine of the country again.

“I do not want a Catalonia that is a spectator of change or indifferent to it. I want a Catalonia that is a protagonist in the reconstruction of Spain.”

RTVE noted that 48 seats are at stake in Catalonia on 29 November, seats that could be crucial to the investiture of the next president of the government. At the previous general election the PP finished fifth in the region with 6 seats, 13 fewer than the PSC, which won. In Badalona the picture is stronger for the party, which took 50,000 votes in the May 2023 municipal elections but kept 16,400 in the general election held two months later, a gap the PP reads as proof that the Albiol brand performs better than the party itself.

Municipal, May 202350,000

General, July 202316,400

Municipal, May 2023

50000 votes

General, July 2023

16400 votes

Data from the article text

Albiol on immigration and Sánchez

Albiol asked voters to back the PP regardless of ideology, telling left-wing, pro-independence and centre-right voters they could keep their views while supporting the candidacy.

“We are not here to change anyone's ideology.”

He set the PP against Pedro Sánchez and Ada Colau, the candidate of Frente Amplio, and said the party would best represent Catalonia's interests in government and in Congress. Albiol accused Sánchez of sending irregular migrants from the Canary Islands to various points in Catalonia, and demanded that he stop the distribution, explain how many had been brought in recent weeks and say when they would be returned to their countries of origin. He also criticised the three-star hotels with full board where, he said, those migrants were being housed. Albiol named illegal occupation, irregular immigration and repeat offending as the priorities for Catalonia.

Security, the strike and rail crashes

Feijóo denounced the street violence that hit Barcelona on 11 November after the general strike demonstration, and promised to end what he called everyday violence and extortion. Before the Badalona rally he met members of the state security forces in Girona and promised to reinforce their authority, after government representatives criticised police charges during the strike. The campaign also cited the two rail tragedies of 2026, at Adamuz (Córdoba) in January and, more recently, Urda (Toledo). The PP's platform, Reconstrucción Nacional, was presented on Tuesday, 10 November, by Alma Ezcurra, the party's third-ranked figure, who coordinated the programme. Its pledges include more investment in railways, more police on the streets, a million new homes, better-run hospitals and protected pensions.

Campaign calendar

Feijóo will return to Catalan cities at least twice more, starting with Lleida on Monday, 16 November, and has committed to visit all four Catalan provinces. Pedro Sánchez will appear with the PSC in Barcelona in the same week as election day, at an event that does not yet have a date. Albiol plans to visit Ripoll, a town governed by Aliança Catalana, where the PP won only 350 votes in the last general election for Congress. Aliança Catalana has decided not to stand in the 29 November general election. Party heavyweights including Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Miguel Tellado will attend campaign events in Catalonia, along with mayors of large cities such as Málaga.