The contrast became evident in just 24 hours.
On Wednesday, in Congress, the general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, starred in a white glove speech with Vox in the motion of no confidence of the ultras, in which she avoided differentiating herself from the ideas that Santiago Abascal or his candidate, Ramón Tamames , they had defended during the debate, such as that in the Civil War "there is not a good and a bad side" and "atrocities were committed on both sides."
Gamarra did not censor any of Vox's statements and, instead, said that the PP found "common elements" in Tamames' story.
On Thursday, in the Madrid Assembly, the president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, after the extreme right frustrated her attempt to approve a tax bonus with which she wanted to attract foreign assets, opened fire on the ultras.
"From today it is good that each one follow their path," Ayuso cried, staging a break with Vox.
The Madrid leader and the national leadership of the PP follow divergent paths to face the electoral competition with the extreme right: while Ayuso is now betting on going to the clash, Alberto Núñez Feijóo prefers to temporize and ignore those of Abascal.
Although deep down neither one nor the other have ruled out reaching future agreements with Vox.
It is, therefore, a clash of strategies between Ayuso and Feijóo to face the Vox attack before the next regional and municipal elections in May, in just two months.
The Madrid leader, who operates as a free electron in the PP, revolted this Thursday with Vox.
“I have the utmost respect for his political formation.
I have always defended their presence in the institutions, ”she maintained.
“[But] the drift that her side has taken is not going to drag me down with her.
It is very difficult to understand each other, it is practically impossible, because you do not understand that life is nuanced, it is contrasts;
different points of view”.
More information
Ayuso marks the starting signal for 28M and says that he is breaking with Vox: "From today, everyone follows their path"
Ayuso's outburst was immediately interpreted in an electoral key, because he is only four seats away from an absolute majority, which he could achieve by growing at the expense of his competitor on the right.
Although in their environment they affirm that it was a relief taking advantage of the last plenary session of the legislature, which marks, for the moment, the end of the dependence that the PP had with Vox to carry out its initiatives.
"It's simpler: [en Vox] they have been kicking in the shins since November," explains a trusted source from Ayuso.
"As examples are the vote this Thursday in which they have knocked down the tax bonus to attract foreign assets to Madrid, or that they did not approve the Budgets."
And he emphasizes: “It is not a voter calculation:
It is true that Vox first began to tickle Ayuso, preventing him from approving his public accounts or torpedoing other of his projects before the elections on May 28, but the Madrid leader, true to her style, has responded with another greatsword.
“She is very nervous”, they interpret in Vox, according to a source close to the party leader, Santiago Abascal.
The circumstances of Madrid are very specific: the entrenchment of the extreme right is so firm that in the 2021 elections it improved its 2019 result despite the boom
of Ayuso.
Consequently, the president of the Community of Madrid has mixed one of lime and the other of sand.
She has made her criticism of unaccompanied foreign minors who arrive in Madrid ugly to Vox, and has refused to implement the parental veto in education.
But she's also flirted with some of her tougher posts.
Thus, she has promised to repeal the
trans law
if she governs after 28-M;
or she has slipped that the new regional heritage law will serve to protect the Cuelgamuros Valley (formerly called Valley of the Fallen).
Despite the staged break on Thursday, Ayuso has not said that after the May elections she cannot come to an understanding again in future issues or in an investiture, if she needs it, with those of Abascal.
In the national leadership of the PP they are betting on a different approach to competition with Vox: that of avoiding any confrontation and ignoring them.
That is where the condescending speech with Abascal's party in the motion of no confidence is framed, which had nothing to do with the one that Pablo Casado defended against the extreme right in the previous motion, in 2020, when he broke all the bridges.
Feijóo does not want to blow up the catwalks with Vox, because he intends to continue scratching voters on that flank, they explained in Genoa, and because he does not close the door to an understanding after May either, although he will try to avoid it.
"We, by our lane", argue in the leadership of the PP.
“Sufficient support”
The differentiated strategy does not prevent Feijóo from supporting the Madrid leader, if she believes that it is more beneficial for her to go to the clash in the Community.
“Ayuso has enough support to make his own policy.
Vox is against the Madrid Budget.
And I understand and share his statements [de Ayuso]”, defended the president of the PP from Brussels on Thursday.
In the community capital, after two days of silence and absence in the debate on Abascal's motion of no confidence, Feijóo allowed himself to harden his tone against the extreme right.
“I do not share this way of doing politics.
I have abstracted myself from this absurdity and have dedicated myself to reinforcing the alternative, to rebuilding Spain's international image.
To a childish policy like that of the motion of censure, I do not sign up, ”he reflected,
but he left unanswered the question of whether this represented a turning point in his relationship with Vox that would make alliances difficult in May.
The weakness of the ultras after the failed vote of no confidence makes it easier to go for the jugular, but neither Feijóo nor Ayuso have closed the door to agree with those of Abascal in case it is necessary.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
Keep reading
I'm already a subscriber