Moreno argues that healthcare has emerged stronger from the Andalusian breast screening crisis

The time in which the Andalusian government devoted its greatest efforts to dealing with the blows it received from the serious crisis in the breast cancer screening programme is over. The president of the Junta, Juanma Moreno, has taken advantage of the debate on the state of the Community, the last of the current legislature, to bid farewell to that stage and open a new one in which he has gone on the offensive. The goal of this new era is the next regional elections, the date of which is still unknown.

Since the screening crisis broke out at the end of September, the opposition on both sides thought they had found for the first time since the political change in Andalusia a gap through which they could begin to pierce the hegemony that Juanma Moreno has managed to build in recent years and which resulted in the absolute majority obtained in 2022. From the left, attributing all the problems of Andalusian healthcare to an alleged process of privatisation of this public service. From Vox, exhibiting the problem as proof that the management capacity that the Popular Party boasts of is a fiction and that its model is identical to that of the Socialist Party, only painted in a different colour.

During these months, the Junta's narrative was limited to announcing the measures adopted to tackle the crisis, from an initial shock plan to the announcement that the healthcare system would be turned around like a sock.

On Thursday, however, Moreno showed that the defensive phase is over and that he has gone on the attack. The road to the polls will be marked by an unequivocal vindication of the management carried out during all these years. In all areas, but also in health. The Andalusian government feels that the opposition has missed its chance.

The date of the community debate was announced by the government spokeswoman on the same day that the 'Mascarillas case', which involves the leadership of the PP in Almería, broke out in Almería, a sign that Moreno had no intention of hiding in the face of this affair either.

As part of this strategy, instead of tiptoeing around health, the issue that has caused him the most headaches, he made it a central part of his speech. First, to claim the hundred new health infrastructures built during his term of office, the vaccination schedule (one of the most extensive in Spain), the extension of screening programmes, investment in oncology equipment, the implementation of new systems for cancer treatment and the reduction in surgical waiting lists, four times longer than those experienced in Spain. And also, to refer to the crisis in breast cancer screening and to ensure that this programme, with the response given by the Junta, has been clearly reinforced "with more services, more aid and more sensitivity".

The president also referred to the accusations of privatisation of this service launched by the left to assure that it is "a categorical and categorical lie, a great swindle".

His first speech, which lasted two hours, was a profuse assessment of his management of the Junta de Andalucía, in which he did not refer exclusively to the current year or the current term of office, but to the almost seven years he has been president.

In his speech, the president addressed all areas of management and denounced what he considered to be the government's continued discrimination against Andalusia, with regional funding as the main issue and the vice-president of the government, finance minister and socialist candidate in Andalusia as the target of criticism. "The Minister of Finance and the parties that support her have abandoned this defence of Andalusia and are betraying the Andalusians", said Moreno, who reproached the absence of the Socialist leader in the debate and warned that he will raise his voice "against those who look down on us" and that he will not accept any more concessions to separatism against Andalusia.

In an undisguised pre-election atmosphere, the difference in tone of Moreno's confrontations with the different groups was striking.

The most hostile was the Socialist spokesperson, María Márquez, who went so far as to accuse the Junta de Andalucía of exercising institutional violence against the Amama association and of having turned Andalusians into clients, and the president of hiding behind a false façade of being clean and moderate. Different members of the Socialist Group were repeatedly warned by the president of the Parliament, Jesús Aguirre, for interrupting Moreno during his speech.

Márquez's intervention took place minutes after it became known that José Luis Ábalos and Koldo García had entered prison, a matter to which the president of the Junta alluded in his response, ironically advising the Socialist MPs to remain calm and not to let themselves be overcome by anguish.

Márquez warned Juanma Moreno that his opportunity "has passed", because "Andalusia has become too big for him" and "needs a new era". In her opinion, Moreno has been "the president of the monologue and the roller". "Reality has dismantled all his promises", said the socialist spokeswoman, who also reproached Moreno for having done "whatever he wanted" using his absolute majority.

The other two left-wing groups, Por Andalucía and Adelante Andalucía, also criticised the health service and the alleged process of privatisation of this service which, in their opinion, is being promoted by the Andalusian government.

The spokesperson for Por Andalucía, Inmaculada Nieto, assured that Andalusia is in suspense because Juanma Moreno, "is only dedicated to maintaining tension and noise". In her opinion, this is a consequence of the fact that he sees himself in a weak position due to the crisis of the sieves and corruption. He assured that Moreno is not concerned about the problems and corruption, but rather that the citizens find out about them.

José Ignacio García, of Adelanta Andalucía, reproached Moreno for having led an administration in which "he knew nothing of the bad" and that the purpose of this legislature has always been "not to stain Juanma Moreno's spotless suit" and not to alter "the profident smile". García quoted Lincoln to warn Moreno that "you can't fool everyone all the time".

Moreno's exchange with Vox spokesman Manuel Gavira was much more moderate in tone. Unexpectedly, Gavira changed the register he had been using during recent control sessions and, unlike the left-wing spokespersons, did not focus his main criticisms on health, but rather on employment data and immigration, and also in a tone that sounded more conciliatory than in recent times.

Manuel Gavira, reproached Moreno for the inheritance of his administration, as he leaves "an Andalusia that we do not like at all". He broke down his administration, evaluating it from the perspective of employment, health care, housing, corruption and political mistrust and illegal immigration, to lament that "this is the Andalusia that you are going to leave to our children".