The PP and Vox keep their distance on a pact in Castilla y León but avoid talking about "red lines"

The acting president of the Junta de Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, at a press conference last Monday in Valladolid.PHOTOGENIC PR (Europa Press)

In the midst of the collapse of the national PP, its leader in Castilla y León and winner of the 13-F elections, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, met this Wednesday with the representatives of Vox to seek support with which to achieve the investiture.

The sum of both (31 PP attorneys, 13 Vox) gives a large absolute majority and is one of the two possible ways for Mañueco to retain regional power.

The other is an abstention from the PSOE, which has made it a condition that the popular break their agreements with Vox throughout Spain.

This second scenario seems very unlikely after last Monday's meeting between the leader of the PP in Castilla y León and the leader of the regional PSOE, Luis Tudanca, was interrupted after only 15 minutes.

Mañueco insists on governing alone, but he has a potential ally on the far right whom he has been getting closer to in recent times and to whom he has not drawn red lines.

Vox stands as a potential partner after lowering his pretensions and acquiring a tone open to the pact.

His candidate, Juan García-Gallardo, has highlighted that the distance between the two "is very great", but in the meeting with the PP he has perceived their requests as "reasonable" on matters such as the repeal of the laws of historical memory or Equality.

However, the acting president of the Board has assured that in the meeting they have not addressed programmatic issues.

Mañueco has announced that he will meet again with those formations with an interest in forming investiture agreements.

He has not wanted to comment on a possible entry of Vox on the Board and insists that his intention is to govern alone.

The popular leader understands that there are more possible scenarios: the abstention of the PSOE and agreements with local forces.

Mañueco's meeting with García-Gallardo lasted more than an hour, much longer than the very brief meeting of just 15 minutes with the socialist Luis Tudanca last Monday.

After the meeting, the Vox candidate, who has made xenophobic accusations, has declared that he retains "hope about the possibility of a government agreement" with the PP.

If not, he warns him, they will vote against and the elections will be repeated.

"We have not asked for more or less than other parties in the same situation," he insisted.

The Vox candidate recalls that Ciudadanos achieved, with 12 seats, four ministries and chairing the Table of the Cortes.

The “progressive” accusations that his party leveled at Mañueco were due, he said, “to the heat of the electoral campaign.”

“The media caricatures us as a demon with whom it is difficult to reach agreements,

but we are satisfied that the PP has seen that our points are reasonable and that will not be an impediment to forming a government”, he added.

García-Gallardo alluded, however, to "experiences that have not respected the agreements", in the Community of Madrid or the City Council of the capital.

His formation, he has suggested, has taught him a lesson and he will not support any PP Executive from the outside.

Crisis in Madrid

Mañueco has stated that at this afternoon's meeting in the face of the PP crisis, they will be "up to the task" to seek "a satisfactory, rapid and unified response".

Regarding his Galician counterpart, the toughest with Vox in the party, he has opined: “Alberto Núñez Feijóo is a benchmark with an absolute majority, he has unquestionable moral leadership, but I am not going to go into more questions.

I have free hands to explore possibilities.”

The acting president of Castilla y León has not alluded to the situation of Pablo Casado, and has assured that the crisis "is going to be redirected".

Mañueco has urged that "a unity candidacy" be formed and has called for "making all efforts so that the extraordinary congress takes place as soon as possible."

Likewise, he has thanked the work of the former general secretary of the PP, Teorodo García Egea,

García-Gallardo has declined to “meddle” in the popular crisis.

He has insisted that his interlocutor is Mañueco and Vox does not want to enter into "dynamics of crushing the only possible partner."