The slogan of giving autonomy to the barons to decide in their territories has had a boomerang effect for Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Genoa did not calculate the damage that the agreement with Vox in the Valencian Community would entail, in terms of credibility, for the speech of the leader of the PP. The alarms went off yesterday when the number two of the Santiago Abascal formation in the region, José Manuel Llanos, declared that “gender violence does not exist”. The response was not long in coming and in the PP it did not leave anyone indifferent that the one who gave the reply was Feijóo himself: “Gender violence exists and each murder of a woman shocks us as a society. We are not going to give up our principles, whatever it costs us,” he broke into Twitter.

In the national leadership there has been debate since Carlos Mazón broke the strategy by accelerating negotiations with Vox. Feijóo was suspicious of the agreement, but ended up giving the green light. The future president of the Generalitat informed him the same morning that he signed it and since then the Galician has tried to pace his speech without success. Yesterday the strategy turned. “Let's hit the table. No matter what happens,” said a member of the executive, who did not hide the boss's “anger and concern” about the consequences in the face of the 23-J elections.

Feijóo is willing to reestablish the “red lines” that the text signed by his Valencian baron has crossed by endorsing expressions such as “domestic violence”. Despite the fact that his team has been defending that coalitions with Vox do not penalize electorally, the Galician has realized that what is at stake is his political capital. From the party they have been warning that it was an “error” to join those of Abascal in the middle of the campaign. They also do not like that they have been assigned ministries such as Justice and Interior or Agriculture. “How are we going to get this leg out now?” ask the popular.

Among the options they propose is to convene an executive committee in which the bases of future agreements are discussed with the barons.. This collides head-on with the “free hands” to the territorial leaders with which the president of the PP tried to mark differences with the previous leadership. Feijóo was one of those who defended before Pablo Casado and the former secretary general, Teodoro García Egea, that it was the president of Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, who decided. Casado had delivered a harsh speech against Vox minutes before.

Now what is at stake is the Moncloa. From the PP they lament that “we have done the same thing that we criticized Pedro Sánchez: say one thing and do the opposite”. Feijóo has been defending that his aspiration is to govern alone and raised coalitions with Vox as the last possible option. The speed with which Mazón has acted largely refutes these approaches. Genoa had not only asked to slow down the negotiations with those of Abascal as much as possible, but also designed a plan in which the popular ones would appear as a party capable of agreeing with all.

Breaking the blocks is another of the hallmarks of the Feijóo project. Not only by offering pacts to the PSOE, but also through alliances with the regionalists, as has been seen in Cantabria or the Canary Islands, where there has been an understanding with the party of Miguel Ángel Revilla and the Canary Islands Coalition, respectively.. The message to convey is that Vox is not a preferred partner. The alliances after the 28-M should open the range for the day after the generals. Feijóo has come to consider letting the Junts candidate, Xavier Trias, become mayor of Barcelona with a PP that would vote for itself in today's investiture. Businessmen have been pressing for days on the assumption that Carles Puigdemont will stop commanding and the times of CiU will return. The Catalan right could again be a support for the popular in Congress in specific votes.

The earthquake of the hug to Vox in the Valencian Community has also had its aftershock in Barcelona. The leader of the PP in the regional city, Daniel Sirera, yesterday offered his councilors to Jaume Collboni's PSC if he leaves Ada Colau out of the Consistory. The movement responds to the need to quell criticism after the Mazón “disaster”. Favoring a separatist to take the baton without offering an alternative would have been more ammunition for political opponents.

In the town halls, dozens of alliances will be forged with those of Abascal and although it is assumed that it is contradictory to “fighting” Vox, Genoa focuses on the autonomies. Extremadura, Murcia, Aragon or the Balearic Islands cannot follow in the footsteps of the Valencian Community. The mandate is to put up with Vox's ordeals, even if this implies scenarios of blockade and electoral repetition. Retake command of the negotiations and that it is the extreme right that remains before the citizens as a party capable of destabilizing parliaments for “a few armchairs”.

In the next few days, Feijóo will try to recover the image of centrality, even if it means amending his Valencian baron, who for the moment seems “delighted” with his partners. “Carlos only cares about Valencia”, say those who know him. They explain that Vox imposed that, in order to remove Carlos Flores, convicted of psychological abuse, a “dignified exit” had to be found for him on the lists that should be closed before the 19th. The demand precipitated everything, justify the same sources. From Genoa they insist that “whatever happens”, credibility must be recovered.