Toledo is probably the only city in Spain where in any store in the center one can still buy film.. The cobbled alleys of this capital of national and international tourism live in a constant festive season in which there is neither low season nor the political hubbub of recent weeks that manages to permeate the mixture between the Mudejar and the Moorish.. But here, in the city of three cultures and a thousand legends, history continues to be written, with the right wing and its brand new coalition as new protagonists: the mayoralty will go to Carlos Velázquez after an agreement between the PP and Vox.

Toledo is the living example of the reality of pacts to which our country is opening up after the territorial 28-M and on the eve of the national 23-J. It is one of the main cities where the PP and Vox have worked against the clock to articulate a municipal government that will unseat the left before tomorrow. But the capital of Castilla-La Mancha hides more peculiarities: the right not only returns to control the city three decades later, but also puts an end to the legacy of Emiliano García-Page, mayor from 2007 to 2015, at a strategic point for the PSOE region of.

To do this, the PP has had to swim against the current and go in the opposite direction to the fundamental principle of Alberto Núñez Feijóo's electoral plan, which he promoted since he arrived in Genoa that the most voted list should always govern. In Castilla-La Mancha, the PP has found itself against the ropes in various city halls precisely because of this matter: in Toledo, Guadalajara and Talavera de la Reina, despite the PSOE having won, the sum of the PP and Vox allowed the right to reach to the power. The last request of the socialists to the popular to guarantee that the list would govern with more support – which allowed, on the contrary, to govern the right in Albacete, Ciudad Real and Puertollano in exchange for the other three cities – was rejected by the PP of Paco Núñez, who asked to continue as in other important cities to reach an agreement between the PP and Vox.

The most outstanding case is, perhaps, Elche, where both parties reached an agreement a few hours before Carlos Mazón and Carlos Flores agreed on the Government of the Generalitat to give birth to the second regional Executive of the PP-Vox clamp, after the one reached in February of 2022 in Castilla y León and that is the benchmark for those of Santiago Abascal.

There, precisely, the right has also coordinated to reach the Mayor's Office of Burgos and take over from the PSOE, which also won on 28-M, as in Valladolid by the minimum, another important capital that will now be territory of the right thanks to a pact to stop any option for the socialist Óscar Puente.

symbolic victory

But Toledo has something that the rest of the enclaves do not. The symbolic victory for both parties is striking. The PP enters firmly into one of the most entrenched points for Castilian-La Mancha socialism and nips at the root the progression of the PSOE in the city where García-Page was mayor for a decade and in which he became the man of reference in the territory for the party. In addition, it sends the opposition to the mayoress to date, Milagros Tolón, protagonist of the controversy in the last days of the lists in the region. It was added by Ferraz as number two to the Toledo Congress, which caused deep discomfort in the Castilian-La Mancha socialist ranks. Toledo is also the springboard that the territorial leaders, of both signs, have used to jump to the regional level.

For Vox Toledo it was a strategic place in management calculations for months. The province was an electoral fishing ground in the past generals and the apparatus's bet was absolute with the city. He sent there one of his main faces in Congress, Inés Cañizares, who sounded like a candidate to unseat Page in the Board, but he will end up doing it symbolically from the City Hall.

The merger between Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena, in the province of Badajoz, is further away than ever and on the brink of being blown up. With the name of Vegas Altas, the union was scheduled for the first quarter of 2027, a date approved in the last legislature when the Socialists ruled in both towns with an absolute majority. But the results in Don Benito (where the referendum was full of controversy and a yes vote was won by 0.27%) in the last municipal elections seem to definitively move away from this process if, as it seems, the City Council changes hands.

The PSOE of José Luis Quintana -a very close friend of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez- lost the absolute majority on 28-M and five councilors when the denialist party broke out with the Siempre Don Benito merger, which has become the second political force with seven councilors, which has dynamited the process. The final decision has been in the hands of the PP, which obtained five councillors.

The meetings of the last days for the configuration of the City Council have led to a rapprochement between the popular and Siempre Don Benito, who are already very close to reaching a definitive agreement. In fact, this very afternoon, the PP has offered an agreement for the formation of a government “that contemplates the holding of a new referendum on the merger between Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena and the alternation in the mayoralty of the city for two years. “This proposal has been transferred to the Siempre Don Benito formation, from which the PP expects an affirmative response,” this party said in a statement.

Alternation in the Mayor's Office

The PP understands that the majority of Dombenitenses “want a change of government” after the electoral results. By virtue of the above, they say, “any change in the City Council goes through the Popular Party and, therefore, we demand the formation of a joint government with the 2+2 formula, and with a PP mayor for the last two years of the legislature”.

In addition, the statement continues, “and taking into account that the forms in the merger process between Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena have generated concern and discomfort, the PP offers to restart the work” to achieve “a new public consultation, facilitating the timely information to citizens so that they can decide freely”.

In this sense, the PP of Don Benito has stressed “that the name of the future city is an essential element to guarantee said freedom of choice”. And it is that with the choice of the name, after ruling out by popular outcry a first process in which those who first proposed the “Mestas del Guadiana” or Concordia del Guadiana”, also emerged that of Vegas Altas, which has also originated rejection, because it also responds to a term that already has a close district.

Given that the agreement between PP and Siempre Don Benito was already very close, this morning, less than 48 hours after the formation of the Municipal Corporation, the current acting mayor, José Luis Quintana, offered the PP to alternate two years in the Mayor's Office during the next legislature, an “unpublished” proposal for the Socialists, which is justified by the “singularity” of the situation in the town, in order to give continuity to the process initiated for the merger with Villanueva de la Serena.

Quintana explained that the proposal transferred to the PP contemplates that the PSOE govern the first two years, while the vice mayor's office corresponds to the popular ones, and the last two years of the legislature be the other way around.. It also offers a distribution of the municipal delegations agreed between both groups, while the composition of the Governing Board would be proportional, so that the PSOE would have four representatives and the PP three.

With this proposal, PP and PSOE would have 14 of the 21 councilors in the Don Benito City Council. They would thus have a sufficient majority to culminate the merger process in the next legislature, since for Quintana it is essential to finish it in the next four years: “either it is done in this legislature, or it will never be done,” the still acting mayor has asserted. .

Quintana has argued that no one will “assume the cost” that the process has had for the Socialists, and neither can they “defraud the 66 percent” of the population that supported the merger in the referendum, nor future generations.

“Revise and reformulate”

Taking into account that without both formations the process could not continue, the Socialists propose that “all those issues that have been the cause of discrepancy will be reviewed and reformulated to make possible a total unity of action in the process”, according to Europa Press reports.

In such a way that it proposes during this legislature to restart the work of the commissions, “returning its activity to February 21, 2022 and including the participation of, at least, the PP and the PSOE of Don Benito.”

In the same way, the draft of the merger agreement will be drawn up with the participation and agreement of both parties, which commit to concluding the merger process throughout this legislature.

It even states that the name of the municipality resulting from the merger will be submitted to the corresponding analyzes so that there is a “single and agreed proposal between the PSOE and PP of Don Benito.”

The merger between Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena, in the province of Badajoz, is further away than ever and on the brink of being blown up. With the name of Vegas Altas, the union was scheduled for the first quarter of 2027, a date approved in the last legislature when the Socialists ruled in both towns with an absolute majority. But the results in Don Benito (where the referendum was full of controversy and a yes vote was won by 0.27%) in the last municipal elections seem to definitively move away from this process if, as it seems, the City Council changes hands.

The PSOE of José Luis Quintana -a very close friend of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez- lost the absolute majority on 28-M and five councilors when the denialist party broke out with the Siempre Don Benito merger, which has become the second political force with seven councilors, which has dynamited the process. The final decision has been in the hands of the PP, which obtained five councillors.

The meetings of the last days for the configuration of the City Council have led to a rapprochement between the popular and Siempre Don Benito, who are already very close to reaching a definitive agreement. In fact, this very afternoon, the PP has offered an agreement for the formation of a government “that contemplates the holding of a new referendum on the merger between Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena and the alternation in the mayoralty of the city for two years. “This proposal has been transferred to the Siempre Don Benito formation, from which the PP expects an affirmative response,” this party said in a statement.

Alternation in the Mayor's Office

The PP understands that the majority of Dombenitenses “want a change of government” after the electoral results. By virtue of the above, they say, “any change in the City Council goes through the Popular Party and, therefore, we demand the formation of a joint government with the 2+2 formula, and with a PP mayor for the last two years of the legislature”.

In addition, the statement continues, “and taking into account that the forms in the merger process between Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena have generated concern and discomfort, the PP offers to restart the work” to achieve “a new public consultation, facilitating the timely information to citizens so that they can decide freely”.

In this sense, the PP of Don Benito has stressed “that the name of the future city is an essential element to guarantee said freedom of choice”. And it is that with the choice of the name, after ruling out by popular outcry a first process in which those who first proposed the “Mestas del Guadiana” or Concordia del Guadiana”, also emerged that of Vegas Altas, which has also originated rejection, because it also responds to a term that already has a close district.

Given that the agreement between PP and Siempre Don Benito was already very close, this morning, less than 48 hours after the formation of the Municipal Corporation, the current acting mayor, José Luis Quintana, offered the PP to alternate two years in the Mayor's Office during the next legislature, an “unpublished” proposal for the Socialists, which is justified by the “singularity” of the situation in the town, in order to give continuity to the process initiated for the merger with Villanueva de la Serena.

Quintana explained that the proposal transferred to the PP contemplates that the PSOE govern the first two years, while the vice mayor's office corresponds to the popular ones, and the last two years of the legislature be the other way around.. It also offers a distribution of the municipal delegations agreed between both groups, while the composition of the Governing Board would be proportional, so that the PSOE would have four representatives and the PP three.

With this proposal, PP and PSOE would have 14 of the 21 councilors in the Don Benito City Council. They would thus have a sufficient majority to culminate the merger process in the next legislature, since for Quintana it is essential to finish it in the next four years: “either it is done in this legislature, or it will never be done,” the still acting mayor has asserted. .

Quintana has argued that no one will “assume the cost” that the process has had for the Socialists, and neither can they “defraud the 66 percent” of the population that supported the merger in the referendum, nor future generations.

“Revise and reformulate”

Taking into account that without both formations the process could not continue, the Socialists propose that “all those issues that have been the cause of discrepancy will be reviewed and reformulated to make possible a total unity of action in the process”, according to Europa Press reports.

In such a way that it proposes during this legislature to restart the work of the commissions, “returning its activity to February 21, 2022 and including the participation of, at least, the PP and the PSOE of Don Benito.”

In the same way, the draft of the merger agreement will be drawn up with the participation and agreement of both parties, which commit to concluding the merger process throughout this legislature.

It even states that the name of the municipality resulting from the merger will be submitted to the corresponding analyzes so that there is a “single and agreed proposal between the PSOE and PP of Don Benito.”

The European Parliament has demanded this Thursday that Spain carry out a complete investigation of the espionage with the Pegasus program against members of the Government, including President Pedro Sánchez, and of which it assures that there are “clear indications” that it has been Morocco. In addition, it demands that an investigation be carried out on the espionage of pro-independence leaders during the process in Catalonia.

This has been approved by the European Parliament in the recommendations attached to the report on the use of this spyware in Europe that was already adopted in commission in May, which goes ahead with the favorable vote of PP and PSOE, while Ciudadanos has abstained and Vox has voted against.

Specifically, it calls for a “complete, fair and effective investigation”, in which all cases of alleged espionage with Pegasus are clarified, including the 47 cases related to the Catalan independence movement and whether the CNI played a role under court order.

Regarding the 18 people that the CNI followed with judicial authorization, the European Parliament asks Spain to guarantee “adequate access” to the details of the case and to cooperate with the courts to guarantee that the victims of spyware have access to real judicial remedies. and significant. It also calls for the conclusion of ongoing judicial investigations “without delay”, suggesting that Europol be invited to participate in the investigations.

Regarding the espionage suffered by Pedro Sánchez on his mobile device, the European Parliament considers it necessary to shed light on the espionage against the president and other members of the Government and demands that the authorities present conclusions on these cases, on which it indicates that there are “clear indications” of the authorship of Morocco.

Despite the fact that the European Parliament points out that the regulatory framework in Spain is in line with the requirements established by the EU treaties, it asks to initiate the reform of the legal framework of the CNI following the announcement of the Government in this regard last year, in full controversy over spying on Catalan political leaders.

In this way, the European Parliament ends its special commission on cyber espionage with the program of the Israeli company NSO, after studying the situation in Member States such as Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Poland and Hungary for 14 months.

Lack of transparency

The MEP of the PP Juan Ignacio Zoido has assured that the Sánchez Executive must give explanations about the espionage of Morocco and that the European Parliament charges against its “lack of transparency”.

“European citizens still don't know what was stolen from the Prime Minister's mobile phone, who did it and for what reasons. And today, the European Parliament officially demands that you clarify what happened and answer our questions,” he added.

On the side of Ciudadanos, Jordi Cañas, has indicated that “the propaganda of separatism” has finally been removed from the text, assuring that the text of recommendations is an “absolute failure” of the independence movement and a “victory” for those who defend that the programs spies can be used against “suspected criminals as was the case in Spain”.

While ERC has celebrated that the European Parliament supports its request to fully investigate the case of cyber espionage against Catalan independence leaders and asks to investigate the case from rooms such as Europol. “It shows the lack of confidence of the European institutions in the Spanish ones”, indicated the MEP, Diana Riba.