The struggle that is taking place within the right, and that particularly affects the present and the future of Genoa, 13, aims to resolve a long-standing complicated relationship. The question in the Popular Party, which was present before the elections, and which had a definitive effect on the strategy that was designed, is still alive: what to do with Vox. The debate is interesting because of its impact on Spanish politics, but also because it reproduces many of the dilemmas present in the European People's Party. Let's remember that in 2024 there will be elections in the EU and that, as they say from Vox, “they will be very important”.

In this debate, Vox has something to say, it is not the exclusive decision of the popular: the relations of force in many municipalities and communities have made it urgent to face what kind of relationship they are going to have, and what will be the guidelines that will govern it in the coming months. In Bambú the anger is great, since they blame Genoa for having followed a counterproductive strategy that has left the PP without a government and weakened them.

Santiago Abascal has made it explicit that the smoke from the demoscopy has been the first responsible for the electoral failure. Sources close to the leadership of the party are more forceful: “The biggest mistake of this campaign has been that Bendodo buys the play from Michavila, who is the one who ultimately designs the approach”. From there, the pollster euphoria that attributes a great result to the PP “is repeated by the media, as if it were a reality. But that could only be put into practice if we were demonized, and they have dedicated themselves to that”. The operation has not come out and “they will have to decide what their relationship with us will be”.

The fast way or the slow way

There are two theses in the PP, those of those who understand that it is necessary to return to the Aznarista scene of the PP as the common house of all the right, and that of those who prefer to approach Vox now and deal with differences in the future; after all, the PSOE formed a government coalition with Podemos, and Pablo Iglesias and Irene Montero are out of Parliament and the leader of the new space, Sumar, is much more in tune with Sánchez. The popular ones consider the fast way to reduce the space to Vox or the slow way, and both pose problems, internal and external.

If you want to go all out with Vox, and return to the Aznar hypothesis, a profile like Feijóo's is less forceful than Díaz Ayuso's. If you want to maintain a close equidistance, in order to consolidate local governments, it will be difficult to close the door on them. And there is an evident division in the popular bosom on how to navigate the times to come.

In Vox, however, they do not quite understand these popular doubts. “They forget, they say from the Vox leadership, that when Juanma Moreno achieved the absolute majority in Andalusia, Vox also grew”. “There are those who continue to want to kill us in Genoa, but we must remember that Mañueco or Mazón are presidents, and Feijóo is not”.

Feijóo and Weber have the same problem

A relevant aspect of the debate on the Spanish right is its impact on European positions, because the European People's Party has its own dilemmas. Until now, it exhibited a firm position when it came to denying space to the extreme right. But the arrival of Meloni to the government seems to be changing something within the popular: its leader, Manfred Weber, has already indicated that he is open to this position changing, and not only in specific votes within the community institutions, what is already happening, but when it comes to forging pacts when the European elections take place.

Sources from the Vox leadership affirm that the dilemma of Weber and that of Feijóo is very similar: “The leadership of the PPE may want one thing, but then they have to face their barons, the leaders of the popular parties of the States, some of whom rule with our allies. The reality is prevailing. The same thing could happen to Feijóo, since his desire to move away from Vox clashes with the needs of his local leaders, who “prefer to govern with us rather than stay in opposition.”

The ultimate terms of this dilemma lie in the party's pragmatic needs and its moral stances.. The EPP had a firm position of denying space to their rights. However, that starting position is changing: “The PPE would prefer that Draghi had stayed, and go hand in hand with the socialists in the institutions, like here”. However, the relationship of forces is changing, and the 2024 elections will be decisive in many ways, including ideological ones.