Tag Archives: Vox

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Navigating Political Challenges: Feijóo’s Dilemmas in Spain’s Complex Landscape

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Regardless of the tug of war that he has agreed with the independentistas and how long the process lasts (there will be threats and suspense to feed the epic, as the national rhapsodes like), Sánchez will be sworn in as president.

I’m not saying that Feijóo shouldn’t try, but that, no matter how hard he tries, the script is written in advance. The sooner the scenario is assumed, the better for everyone, and especially for Feijóo, who is on everyone’s lips for having stayed in no man’s land.

As Javier Caraballo rightly pointed out, the Galician is still in a state of shock, sleeping with Michavila’s Excel files under his pillow, unable to assimilate the results of 23-J, as has been verified with his failed moves to move forward Cuca Gamarra’s candidacy, the expectations generated and her more than erratic relationship with Vox.

Now that we are going to have co-official languages even in the soup, someone will have to say that the time has come to drop the donkey and get to work in a legislature that seems to be one of the most complicated and vital in democracy..

The context is that of a period that begins as the previous one ended, at its peak of polarization and with the anger machine, that is, the social networks, operating at maximum power, as it cannot be otherwise if the PSOE begins to satisfy the requests of the string of partners, including the fugitive, who support him in power.

It is what Michael Reid, British journalist and author of Spain: The Trials and Triumphs of a Modern European, calls the narcissism of Spain’s small differences, or how local and regional interests are imposed on the generals in this kingdom of taifas, to Despite the fact that there are many more elements that unite us than those that separate us.

It is not only that Title VIII of the Constitution is imperfect, which could well be, and requires an ad hoc federalist debate, but that there are certain nationalist formations that have made coercion to the State their modus vivendi and, in case of lowering of the train, they run the risk of disappointing all that multitude of voters that they have dragged with them and that now they cannot control.

The mess of the co-official languages in the Lower House is paradigmatic of what is to come, although we all know that the main course will come with the amnesty and the referendum to the taste of the Catalan independentistas. Fish in the cave.

It will be difficult to satisfy these demands without leaving a few hairs (those of the Constitution) in the cat flap. It will be difficult to get out of this dilemma without ending the blocks with clubs.

The economic issue will also mark this new legislature, as it brings the end of the expansionary cycle and zero rates and the return of fiscal rules, which will lead to significant tax increases and a more than notable cut in spending.

Of the first, increasing tax pressure, Sánchez has a curriculum that supports him as an accomplished leader, but of the second, putting in the scissors, he has not shown any signs of knowing how to do it and, even less, of how to reach an agreement with the rest of his allies..

The other hot potato that will have to be unblocked will be that of the judiciary, where PSOE and PP have staged a sad spectacle, ignoring their constitutional obligations and leaving Justice in the dark by not being able to renew many of the vacant positions.. If this situation continues over time, Brussels has already warned of the opening of a sanctioning procedure. The situation is untenable.

A devilish scenario —crossed interests, political tension, deficit cut, judicial pact— that requires a plan from someone who won the elections, but who, due to the prevailing bibloquism, is called upon to lead the opposition.

The first unknown that he has to clear up is whether he, accustomed to governing with an absolute majority in Galicia, is willing to cross the desert. If so, which should, because the data supports it, you have to say it loud and make a team according to the needs. A team that will not be to govern, but to fight the copper from the second line.

You will have to develop a plan according to the situation. Sánchez is going to govern and he is going to do so for a more or less long period. If he enters the rag of the polarizing game, Feijóo has everything to lose, as could be verified in the general passes. In the field of you more, the president is unbeatable.

If he focuses on the economy, as he should have done last season, and didn’t, he has more to gain. No matter how much the PSOE takes advantage of the macro data, the electorate does not end up trusting the spendthrift policy of the Socialists based on past experiences.

With everything and with that, the main point that Feijóo must clarify, the one that weighs on him like a stone and has weighed down his chances of reaching Moncloa, is the one referring to the role of Vox in his relationship with the Popular Party. Until you clear up this unknown, the elephant will still be in the room.

The voter does not punish the PP so much for the fact that it is or is not a friend of those of Abascal as for its ambiguity when it comes to speaking and dealing with this formation. Either with or without you. There are no more options. Feijóo must choose.

SPAIN

Murcia’s Political Landscape: Complex Relations Between PP and Vox Amid Electoral Uncertainty

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They have known for months in the Region of Murcia that what happens in national politics has an echo in territorial negotiations. That the 28-M outlined a panorama, the 23-J another and the difficult constitutive session in Congress for the right, this Thursday, another. And that all this directly affects the relationship between the Popular Party and Vox in Murcia, where the drums of the electoral repetition sound increasingly close.

The week has been tough for the forces that make up the ideological spectrum of the right. Alberto Núñez Feijóo entered the Lower House for the first time on Thursday as leader of the popular deputies and hoped to achieve a minimum of 171 support to make Cuca Gamarra president of Congress.

By controlling the two chambers, the PP would take a giant step in its objective of being in charge of forming the Government. He came out with just 139 votes after denying Vox a seat on the Board, which resulted in a resounding break with those of Santiago Abascal.

Now, despite the fact that in Vox they rule out that this distancing could affect support for a hypothetical investiture of Feijóo, the complex relationship between both forces can mark the political future of the coming weeks.

Not only at the national level: the Region of Murcia is the only autonomy still mired in the blockade and without forming a government, and precisely the PP and Vox are the leading actors in this delicate situation.

The deadline to extend the negotiations, which are already approaching 90 days with hardly any progress, ends on September 7. However, there are more and more voices that see the situation between the two parties as irresolvable and assume that it will not be necessary to reach that date to assume that the people of Murcia will have to go to the polls again.

Encounter

The clash between Feijóo and Abascal this week, in fact, ended up truncating the little hope that existed in the Murcian negotiating teams of reaching an agreement. In the environment of Fernando López Miras, as the days go by they are closer to the idea of electoral repetition.

Even other territorial barons of the PP advise him to return to the polls. If he does, the leader of the PP will aspire to achieve an absolute majority that on this occasion has been close to. The internal calculations that it manages thus affirm it.

In addition, Genoa’s national strategy involves putting land in the middle with Vox. EL MUNDO told it this Saturday: Feijóo has transferred to his barons the slogan of “not giving up a single one” with those of Abascal to approach positions with the PNV in the coming weeks in the face of a hypothetical investiture.

And the Region of Murcia, as the only point where the negotiations are still in the air, has therefore become a more than important enclave to execute Feijóo’s plan. In other words, the national leadership of the PP is committed to López Miras’s relationship with Vox being more similar to that of his neighbor to the south, Juanma Moreno, than to that of his neighbor to the east, Carlos Mazón.

However, the last word will be the Murcian leader. In Vox they accuse him precisely of being the main architect of the blockade and of taking more than a month without contacting the regional leader of the party, José Ángel Antelo.

This week, Antelo highlighted the outstretched hand of Vox in the face of the formation of a government that puts an end to almost three months of uncertainty, but the PP refuses to allow Vox entry into its Executive and wants to govern alone.

By having 21 of the 45 seats in the regional Chamber, he needs two of the nine Vox parliamentarians, who demand two councils from the future cabinet. An excessive demand for the PP, which is convinced that if it returns to the polls it will achieve the long-awaited absolute majority.

The next few days will be decisive to know the future of Murcia. In Vox they believe that the PP will seek to blame them if the electoral repetition is finally confirmed, but they are aware of the damage they can suffer at the polls given the setback that was evidenced on 23-J.

At the national level, this feeling exists and was confirmed this week by the Vox leadership, which ruled out withdrawing its support for the PP despite the unfair maneuver in Congress and said “not to throw in the towel” in its efforts to form a government of right to stop the “national destruction” led by Pedro Sánchez.

If there is electoral repetition both in Murcia and at a general level -a scenario that cannot be ruled out-, the elections in the Region would arrive before the national ones. This would redouble the pressure on the PP and Vox in this autonomy, which would become the testing ground for two parties destined today to understand each other if they want to govern in Spain, but whose relationship seems increasingly hurt after what happened in recent days in The congress.

SPAIN

Political Tensions and Intrigues Surrounding Spanish Congress Formation

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The tension in the block on the right skyrockets. The PP’s decision to leave Vox out of the Congress Table has raised blisters in Abascal’s party, which now leaves free support for Feijóo up in the air in the face of a hypothetical investiture.

The order of the ultra-conservative party further complicates, if possible, the round of consultations between the popular leader and the King and minimizes the chances that he may be commissioned by Felipe VI to try to form a government as the winner of the 23-J elections.

At this moment, Feijóo only has 139 votes in favour, his own plus that of UPN and CC. Sánchez has just signed a majority of 178 deputies, although his partners have also warned that what happened at the Table does not presuppose that they will support an investiture of the socialist candidate.

“We want explanations”, Abascal warned after the constitutive session of the Cortes. “We are somewhat perplexed because it does not seem that preventing the third political force in Spain from staying out of Congress is recovering democratic normality,” he added..

The Vox leader has assured that, at this moment, he cannot answer the question of whether he will continue to support Feijóo without consideration in case he goes to an investiture session, and that he hopes to speak with Genoa in the short term.

Feijóo has been the most affected of the vote this Thursday. The PP has not managed to tie up even the 33 Vox supports for the Presidency of the Chamber. The ultra-conservative party has voted for its own candidate, Ignacio Gil Lázaro, in protest at Genoa’s decision not to cede one of its four positions on the Board to those of Abascal.

This same Wednesday, the leader of the PP boasted of having tied up 172 yeses. But reality has prevailed and has dealt a hard blow to Feijóo, for whom the attempt to force an investiture with his sights set on an electoral repetition is complicated..

The XV legislature has started with an agreement in extremis between Sánchez and the Catalan independence movement, which has allowed the PSOE to save the first match point against the PP and that the socialist Francina Armengol is the one who presides over the Congress with 178 votes in favor against the 139 that the PP candidate, Cuca Gamarra, has achieved, plus the vote in favor of UPN and the Canary Coalition.

Finally, PSOE and Sumar will have the majority in the body that governs the Lower House, since the former Balearic president is the one who breaks the tie between the socialists and their Sumar partners and the popular ones, with four seats each.

The break between PP and Vox has also had consequences for the distribution of the four vice-presidencies. The first is also retained by the PSOE, with Alfonso Rodríguez de Celis at the helm and 113 votes.

The second will be occupied by the popular José Antonio Bermúdez de Castro, who obtained 73 supports in the first vote. Esther Gil (Sumar) breaks the tie with Marta González (PP) in the second vote and takes the third vice presidency, so the PP retains fourth place.

The popular ones consummate, therefore, their decision not to cede one of their positions to Vox, and Ignacio Gil Lázaro loses his seat as fourth vice president of the Table.

The PNV option

The votes made it clear that the possibility of the PNV returning to the body that controls the Lower House did not come to pass. The idea launched by the PP, in an attempt to wrest the majority of the Mesa from socialists and leftists, has been shipwrecked.

Much further has been the possibility launched by the Canary Coalition to give the jeltzales the Presidency of Congress. Aitor Esteban’s party did not publicly pronounce on this possibility, which was contemplated by Sánchez’s investiture partners, but which did not sound good in the PSOE. Finally, the nationalists have come in unity of action with the socialists in this inaugural vote before reopening the melon of the investiture.

The distribution of the secretariats varied with respect to that of the vice-presidencies, since the PSOE agreed with Sumar and the rest of its allies that the first seat will be for Gerardo Pisarello, a member of Yolanda Díaz’s coalition, but coming from the commons of Ada Colau.

Pisarello received 101 votes to the 77 of the socialist Isaura Leal, who will be second secretary after leaving the leadership of the socialist group. His experience and knowledge of the Chamber is behind the election of the PSOE.

The third and fourth secretariats will belong to the popular Guillermo Mariscal and Carmen Navarro, who was already on the Board after replacing Adolfo Súarez Illana when he left politics. The PP did not want to leave a position to Vox here either, which has re-introduced Ignacio Gil Lázaro for the third consecutive vote.

The control body of the Lower House returns to that imperfect bipartisanship that has, on one side, the PSOE and Sumar, and, on the other, the PP alone after its clash with Vox. At the end of the voting, the newly elected Board has taken its seats and the new president, Francina Armengol, has launched the process of compliance with the position of the 350 deputies.

SPAIN

Swearing-In Controversy and Political Dynamics Mark the Start of the XV Legislature

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Pedro Sánchez’s big smile came 15 minutes before the start of the session. The XV Legislature began and the President of the Government was seen happy in his parade through the courtyard of Congress.

Junts had just given her that gift that was so hard to ask for: Francina Armengol would have her votes to be president of the Lower House. The same thing was announced by ERC, although there was not so much surprise here.

The PSOE candidate was proposed as a gesture to the Catalan independentistas, the PSOE’s trump card for a new investiture. But that did not prevent the usual tag lines from reaching the chamber when it was time to swear the Constitution.

And they were very different. Vox deputies were sworn in “for Spain”, while pro-independence parliamentarians heard proclamations in Catalan and for “the mandate of October 1”. While the members of Junts spoke of “loyalty to the people of Catalonia”, those of ERC did so about the “Catalan republic”.

When the former promised “for the commitment and defense of all those repressed and exiled”, the latter made no mention of the politicians who fled after the referendum. They did agree on the famous “by legal imperative”, which has been heard on other occasions when complying with the Magna Carta.

On the left, the newly appointed third vice president of the Chamber, Esther Gil, promised the position “for a plurinational and feminist Spain”.

Enrique Santiago, former Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda until he was relieved by Lilith Vestrynge, did it “for the Republic”.

And the Andalusian deputy of the IU Toni Valero joined with a plea “for the anti-Franco struggle, for freedoms, for Andalusia, for Spain, the peoples and humanity”, taking phrases from the Andalusian anthem.

Controversy over oaths

But it didn’t rain to everyone’s liking. PP and Vox asked to annul the oaths, alluding to the content and language in which many of them were expressed. Even when the president of the Chamber herself, Armengol, began her first speech by greeting in all the co-official languages. Also the farewell.

The former Balearic president did not accept their requests and endorsed the chosen formulas. In addition, he reminded them that the Constitutional Court rejected just a few months ago the appeal that the popular ones already presented in 2019 for this same reason..

The tag lines that pro-independence deputies use to swear in office are rarely exempt from controversy. When Oriol Junqueras promised in the last legislature “as a political prisoner”, “from the Republican commitment” and “by legal imperative”, Congress was revolutionized.

It was May 21, 2019, and the ERC leader had then been in pretrial detention for two years for the 1-O referendum. At that time, the trial of the procés was still developing. Months later, a firm sentence would arrive -two years later, the pardon-, but then the opposition reproached the president of the Table, the socialist Meritxell Batet, for allowing such words.

After that session, the PP filed an appeal before the Constitutional Court. They considered that their right to political representation was being violated by receiving unequal treatment compared to other deputies, those who used unconventional formulas when abiding by the Magna Carta.

Although his request was admitted for processing, the Constitutional Court rejected it and endorsed the expressions used by the independentistas when he assumed his seat.. The resolution came just a few months ago, but these types of controversies have much longer.

30 years ago, the judicial body already analyzed the famous tagline that nationalists and pro-independence supporters still use today when abiding by the Constitution: “by legal imperative”.

The socialist Félix Pons expelled three members of Herri Batasuna from the chamber for adding this phrase and denied them the “full condition” of deputies. But the magistrates knocked down their measure and, from that moment, the “yes, I swear” and the “yes, I promise” remained as the only conditions to be sworn in..

Other anecdotes from the session

If Cuca Gamarra’s chances to preside over Congress were nil from the first hour, after Junts’ yes to the socialists, Vox’s position did not help either. Those of Abascal decided to vote for their own candidate, Ignacio Gil Lázaro, as a reproach for being left out of the Table even though they were third force. Neither vice-presidencies, nor secretaries. But it ended up reflecting the gulf that still exists between both parties..

So the prize went to Armengol. When they said her name by 178 votes, the first thing the former Balearic president did was melt into a hug with Patxi López, by her side. Or Patxi the Brief. The PSOE spokesman in Congress presided over the body in that short legislature of 2019 for 126 days.

One of the great anecdotes of the day happened right at the beginning. When it came to listing the 350 deputies that make up the new Chamber, there was only one name that was missing: that of Tesh Sidi. The number 3 of Sumar was not summoned at her debut as a parliamentarian, and she had to notify the Age Table before starting the vote for the presidency.

On the other hand, this is Feijóo’s first time in Congress. At least fully. He was already in the debate on the state of the nation in July last year, but since he was not an elected deputy, he could not speak despite already being the leader of the opposition, after unseating Pablo Casado.

This has been the first day of a political course that, whether or not there is a repetition of the elections, already from the beginning aims to give a lot to talk about.