Since Vox entered the Congress of Deputies and various regional chambers in 2019, the PP has had to face the dilemma of what to do if it comes to depend on the far-right formation in order to govern.
The national dome of the popular ones, still led by Pablo Casado, rejected last week the idea of reaching an agreement with Vox in Castilla y León, where the PP have been 10 seats short of the absolute majority.
"To be an alternative, you have to be able to form a social majority, and not balance out radicalized minorities," Casado said at the time.
The acting regional president and candidate for re-election, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, has been ambiguous with his claims and has not agreed to agree with anyone, but the outbreak of the internal crisis in the PP,
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The PP crisis, live
The first time that the PP had to raise this debate internally was three years ago, after the Andalusian elections of December 2018. On that occasion, the outcome was the formation of a coalition Executive with Citizens, although with the external support of Vox.
Thus, the door was opened to having the more or less stable support of the formation led by Santiago Abascal, which has been gaining institutional weight with each electoral appointment.
Mañueco is, on the other hand, the first one who will have to decide if he goes one step further and accepts a coalition Executive with the extreme right.
Vox is not now part of any regional government – in Murcia there are councilors from the party, but who were expelled from it – nor is it part of any provincial capital.
Whoever leads the renewal of the PP after the celebration of the extraordinary congress will largely determine that pact and those to come between the popular and Vox.
The Madrid-born Isabel Díaz Ayuso ―the president whose confrontation with Casado gave rise to the current crisis of the popular party― and the Galician Alberto Núñez Feijóo ―whom many PP officials see as the next party leader― hold very different positions on this issue.
The situation of both, however, is very different: Feijóo has never had to face this dilemma in the first person, since he has governed since 2009 with an absolute majority and the Abascal formation has no representation in the Galician Parliament;
Díaz Ayuso, by contrast, has depended on external support from Vox to govern.
What follows is a brief summary of what both have said, publicly,
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, president of Galicia
On the pacts in Castilla y León, on February 18: in favor of the abstention of the PSOE.
“He [for Mañueco] has clearly said on election night that he is going to call everyone, from highest to lowest representation.
Therefore, I understand that he will talk to the PSOE and tell him if he is willing to do what the big parties in Europe do: if there is any possibility of favoring the investiture of the party with the most votes.
It will be up to the PSOE to decide if it is going to block the governability of Castilla y León, which it has already tried with a motion of censure, or, on the contrary, it is going to make it easier for President Mañueco, who has won, to govern in Castilla y León” .
Regarding the pacts in Galicia, on February 20, 2020 (before the elections): neither interest in Vox nor commitment to him.
“This pact [with Vox] is not possible, and I say it clearly: I have no interest or no commitment to agree with Vox, and I will not do it simply because I do not think that pact is good for the Galicians, and also because I think that they will not have parliamentary representation.
Therefore, we are not going to give category to a party that whenever it speaks is against Galicia.
[...] We are constitutionalists, we are autonomists.
Vox is against the autonomous communities.
The more they talk, the more they believe that they do not know Galicia”.
On regional politics, on May 8, 2019, on his Twitter account: the "spokesmen".
“We dedicate this intervention of the BNG [link to a video of the Galician Parliament] to the leaders and spokespersons of Ciudadanos and Vox, who make the same accusations from the opposite extreme.
The truth is that one and the other coincide: they invent, the majority of Galicians do not believe them and their votes benefit the PSOE”.
On nationalism, April 14, 2019: against Spanish cards.
“Here we are Galician and we are Spanish.
We do not need the Galician card that the nationalists distribute nor the Spanish card that Ciudadanos and Vox distribute.
Isabel Diaz Ayuso, president of Madrid
On the pacts in Castilla y León, on February 8 (in the electoral campaign): in favor of an agreement with Vox.
“Hopefully, even if we didn't need it, we understand each other in all the parties that we are not going to go through the hoop of amorality of Pedro Sánchez's project.
Because if he had to agree, even if he didn't need it —I'm doing it in Madrid—, he would always agree with Ortega Lara's party before with those who agree with those who kidnapped him”.
01:20
Ayuso's speech about Vox
The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, receives the ambassador to Spain of the German Federal Republic, Wolfgang Dold, at the Royal Post Office, on February 23, 2022, in Madrid.Photo: Isabel Infantes / Europa Press |
Video: EPV
On the pacts in Castilla y León, on February 15 (after the elections): in favor of an agreement with Vox.
“I hope that there will soon be a government based on the sum of interests against this totalitarian project that is destroying Spain.
That we know how to seek with other parties what unites us [...] and that we don't care what the left thinks of our pacts”.
On the agreements in the Community of Madrid, on July 8, 2019: make Vox's proposals their own.
“I have included in the agreement between PP and Ciudadanos the proposals that Vox transferred to the media.
I have promised to fulfill them and I will make your defense mine.
With the voters and leaders of Vox I have always been respectful, serious and loyal.
And I'm here to continue negotiating."
On regional policy, on November 30, 2021: pact with Vox for the budgets.
“There is an agreement with Vox to carry out the regional budgets for 2022. We maintain all the commitments that gave us broad electoral support and we add new very positive measures.
This agreement strengthens the Community of Madrid at the most necessary moment”.
On his relationship with Vox, on February 11, in response to a tweet:
“My message is not against Vox, with whom I have a good relationship, and it will continue to be so even if we disagree.
It is against communism, which is destroying our institutions, and in favor of open, inclusive Madrid and the freedom that Spain has won with so much sacrifice”.
On the rights, on July 9, 2019:
"There is much more that unites us with PP, Ciudadanos and Vox than what separates us."
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