Abascal pressures Feijóo to negotiate during the electoral period while the PP tries to force governments without Vox
For Vox, the right time is as soon as possible. The “strategy” of the Popular Party to slow down the negotiations for the formation of autonomous governments and postpone the pacts until after the general elections on July 23 does not please Santiago Abascal, who is already urging Alberto Núñez Feijóo to “build the alternative before the elections”.
“We don't like strategies; we like clarity, telling the Spanish what we are going to do,” the president of Vox clarified this Monday to pressure the popular to sit down and engage in deep negotiations, beyond the contacts already established through different levels and the “informal, congratulatory” conversation that Abascal and Feijóo had after the election night of 28-M.
Vox's plan involves keeping “the hand outstretched” to the PP, with no more “red line” than “respect for Vox voters”. However, for now the party does not delve into what demands or conditions it puts on the table to guarantee support for the PP in those autonomies and municipalities where the support of Vox is necessary for the right to govern.
A support that, in the eyes of Vox, the PP is trying to postpone as much as possible, beyond the prominent electoral event at the end of July, something that those of Abascal oppose.. “We don't want to be like others, who avoid making decisions before the elections and who want to postpone them.”
In this sense, Abascal regretted the path that the PP has already chosen in one region: Cantabria. There, everything seems to indicate that the abstention of the PRC will facilitate the government of the PP alone without needing Vox. “The PP can choose between building an alternative or continuity, and it has chosen continuity,” said the president of Vox, who maintains the offer so that María José Sáenz de Buruaga does not “agree with the corruption” represented by Miguel Ángel Revilla and opt for the “alternative” that Vox supposes.
That respect both for Vox voters and for the rest of the voters is “absolutely” necessary to be able to dialogue with the aim of reaching an agreement, Abascal has remarked on different occasions over the last week. In fact, this Monday he affected the issue and pointed out to María Guardiola, leader of the PP in Extremadura, for not guaranteeing that respect to the Vox electorate.
“We have not yet heard her say that she wants to build the alternative,” Abascal specified in this regard to express that this is the first sign that the PP must offer to settle negotiations that must be closed before 23-J due to the “urgency” that the Spanish have, he said.
Borja Sémper, at a press conference at the national headquarters of the PP. EFE The position of the PP
“Our commitment is clear. We are going to try until the end to form governments only of the PP”. This is how emphatically the PP campaign spokesman, Borja Sémper, has staged his intention not to reach agreements with Vox. Although he has not given “his word” that there will be no governments with the formation of Santiago Abascal, as the popular leader of Extremadura, María Guardiola, has done.
In a press conference after the Management Committee of the main opposition party, and when asked by Vox, Sémper has assured that “the only party that does not want to agree with any ultra of any condition is the PP”. After that, he asked himself: “Or is it that Bildu or ERC are not?”
The PP has an absolute majority with Vox in five autonomies: Murcia, the Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Aragon, the Valencian Community and Extremadura. In the first two he can easily get around the pacts, since he adds more than the entire left. In Cantabria, the Regionalist Party has already announced that it will give its votes to prevent Vox from influencing. And in Aragón, Jorge Azcón is negotiating three ways: although he joins Vox, he is already talking with Aragón Existe and the PAR.
The real hot potatoes for the popular are Extremadura and the Valencian Community, where there is little chance that Vox will accept to stay on the sidelines, without more.
In any case, the national leadership of the PP will not get involved in these negotiations. “This is not the time to monitor anything. Those who should take the initiative are the colleagues of the communities. I am not the one to go further”, has recounted Sémper.
At the national level, and with less than 50 days to go before the general elections, Sémper has shown the “declared and firm will to form a Government of Spain made up of members chosen by Feijóo, without other formations”. “We believe that it is possible” to govern alone, he said, “after the message of 28-M”. “We can get a large enough majority to be able to do it,” he insisted..