Feijóo: all Spaniards are Catalans regardless of where they live

Alberto Núñez Feijóo has said that "all Spaniards are Catalans regardless of where we live", just as, in his view, Catalans are Galician and Andalusian wherever they live. The remark, published by El HuffPost, raises an idea of shared identity that blurs the distinction between territorial and national belonging.

## The quote and its logic of crossed identities

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the Partido Popular (Spain's main conservative party), wrote a reflection on X about the relationship between Catalonia and the rest of Spain. His argument: "We need Catalonia. First, Catalans. Second, everyone who respects this land. Third, all Spaniards, who are Catalans regardless of where we live, just as Catalans are Galician and Andalusian, wherever they live." The post was reported by El HuffPost.

The rhetorical construction is symmetrical. If a Catalan can feel Galician or Andalusian through family origins, a Spaniard from any other region can claim a Catalan side. Feijóo was born in **Os Peares**, in the province of **Ourense**, and led the Xunta de Galicia (the Galician regional government) between **2009** and **2022**.

## What it means for the territorial debate

The remark is not a legal proposal or a programme. It is a political intervention in a context of discussion over regional financing and Catalonia's place in Spain. By presenting Catalanness as something that transcends territory, Feijóo avoids the "Catalonia versus Spain" framing and replaces it with an overlap of identities.

The risk of this kind of formulation is that it can be read as a dissolution of Catalan distinctiveness. Also as a way of claiming for Spain as a whole a cultural heritage that Catalonia considers its own. The comparison with Galicians and Andalusians suggests that no territorial identity is exclusive.

## A message aimed at multiple audiences

The post seeks to speak to several audiences at once. To PP voters in Catalonia, for whom the defence of Catalanness is not the preserve of separatists. To the electorate in the rest of Spain, to convey that his party is not detached from Catalonia. And to non-independence-minded Catalans, who may feel addressed by a discourse that does not force them to choose between two flags.

There is no reference in the message to figures, powers or deadlines. It is a statement of principle. Its value lies in the mental framework it proposes, not in the measures it announces.