Mazón dilutes Vox in the distribution of powers of the Generalitat and takes away even hunting

The distribution of powers of the new Council of the Valencian Generalitat places the Popular Party at an astral distance from Vox in terms of the political and budgetary weight that the two formations will have in the daily management of the regional Executive. It is no longer just that the popular baron has created a second vice presidency with a much greater budget and political weight than that of Vox, which will be occupied by Susana Camarero. For the moment, the ultra-conservatives have barely managed to expand the initial powers that they agreed to in the negotiation with the delegation led by the provincial president, Ignacio Gil Lázaro, the current head of the list for Valencia in Congress, Carlos Flores, and the former bullfighter Vicente Barrera, who left the meeting as First Vice President and Minister of Culture.

Only Barrera has gained space in landing the specifics of the competitions, according to the decree for the distribution of areas that was published yesterday by the Official Gazette of the Valencian Generalitat and bears the signature of Mazón. The First Vice-Presidency, which will be based in the Palacio dels Català de Valeriola, will manage the areas of culture, cultural promotion, cultural heritage, which in principle was going to remain in Education, and sports.

Vox's monopoly in the Generalitat over culture is probably the issue that could end up generating the most headaches and political fires in the new Consell if the ultra-conservatives decide to clash with some of the Valencian cultural sectors, mostly of progressive sensibilities. and make big changes. There is concern in certain creative fields, with groups and professional associations in dance, audiovisual, performing arts or theater, which have even sent letters to the new regional president showing their concern for the future of the creative industries in Valencia.. There have been cases of censorship of stage projects in Castilla y León.

An important key to how Vox approaches its new cultural attribution will be the profile of the regional secretaries and general directors. Barrera pointed out this Wednesday that his party is looking for “professionals close to our sensibilities”, in what seems like an acknowledgment that it is difficult for him to find cadres. One of the names that sounds is that of Inmaculada Gil Lázaro, sister of Ignacio Gil Lázaro, provincial president of Vox in Valencia. Inmaculada was already director general of Teatres and a senior position in the PP stage. He is a person who knows the Autonomous Administration and the Valencian cultural ecosystem, which would send a signal of a low level of confrontation and a soft landing..

The other two ministries in the hands of Vox, Agriculture and Justice, have been significantly mutilated with respect to the powers they had up to now. The day before yesterday, Carlos Flores publicly demanded that the areas of responsibility be maintained in their “integrity”. This Wednesday, Barrera insisted that “we are one government”, and admitted that there has been an internal discussion in the Coalition Council on the powers “of each of the groups”, although “without any fight, peacefully” , added. A discussion outside the focus of public discrepancy, but which, given the president's decree, has been more favorable to the interests of the PP than to those of Vox.

According to the same Mazón decree, the environment, hunting, water resources and animal welfare, which until now were under the umbrella of the former Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development, Climate Emergency and Ecological Transition Isaura Navarro (Compromís), have come to swell the responsibilities of the new Minister of Environment, Water, Infrastructures and Territory, the popular Salomé Pradas, who will also lead urban planning and structuring of the territory, public works, and transport, ports and airports. The PP thus manages to move away the policies of promotion and protection of the environment, climate change and promotion of renewables from the hands of the ultra-conservatives, deniers of the greenhouse effect and critics of environmental protectionism. It will be necessary to see, in any case, despite the distribution of areas, how Vox influences decision-making, and if despite not having direct management they are capable of guiding the policy of the Government of Mazón towards their postulates.

The voxist José Luis Aguirre will remain in the Ministry of Agriculture only with the part of the relationship with farmers, ranchers and fishermen, in addition to powers in food, common agricultural policy (PAC) and irrigation. Vox has not managed to retain the hunting area either, a universe in which it has found a vein of voters and that the Popular Party has preferred to have under its orbit.

Also the new Minister of Justice, Elisa Núñez, inherits a department with fewer powers than Gabriela Bravo had with the socialist Ximo Puig. Mazón has broken off the Public Function to take it to Economy and Finance, the department of the former spokesperson for Ciudadanos Ruth Merino, now also a spokesperson for the Council.

The responsibility for emergency management and the prevention and extinction of fires has remained in Justice, which during a stage was attached to the Presidency in Puig's first term. Until now, the general director of the Valencian Emergency Agency was the socialist José María Ángel, who has had to experience very complex situations in the last eight years, from devastating fires in the Valencian forests to storms that have caused much damage in cities coastal or aspects of the covid pandemic itself. Vox will have to appoint a new director and make decisions about the technical staff in a highly hierarchical area and linked to the security forces. The popular ones trust that at the head of the general sub-directorate the new head of the department, who was already an advisor to the PP on immigration matters at the end of the first decade of the century (specifically, Rafael Blasco, convicted in the Cooperation case), will maintain Jorge Suárez, considered one of the leading experts in emergency coordination in Spain.