Feijóo's authoritarian bet

In politics, grand pronouncements often last a short time. Eleven months ago, Feijóo pledged not to make a deal with Abascal. Generally, what makes the difference in leadership is knowing how to present and give coherence to one's own strategic options, which is what lends a certain credibility. It is true that these are different times, but Aznar's leadership in the PP represented the right's transition from dictatorship to democracy with a certain consistency. And, in fact, it is from that expansive moment that the PP, in part, still lives. Rajoy opted for continuity. And Feijóo, who has always been short on ideas, now sees himself closer to power, and is increasingly afraid of not being able to form a majority on his own. Beyond the Spanish conservative bloc, the right-wing parties in the peripheral nations are very different from the times of Arzalluz and Pujol, perhaps more ideological but much more practical.

As a consequence of all this, probably imbued by the bombastic confusion generated by Trumpism, Feijóo has undertaken the process of legitimizing the extreme right. "We will sit down as the end of the legislature approaches." When he began to believe he had a chance to govern, given the PSOE's deflation, Feijóo spoke of a solo government. "The discourse of the far-right is being defeated at the polls; the one that causes fear is the left," he said a year ago. And suddenly he has changed his tone and strategy: "Vox is the third party in Spain." From this observation, he has been opening doors to the extreme right in regional governments. And the latest step, the willingness to incorporate Vox into the majority of the Andalusian PP of Moreno Bonilla, the moderate of the right, already raises the level of absurdity. So, with consistency and little noise, Feijóo has normalized his relationship with neo-fascism, which is on the rise throughout Europe. And, naturally, Abascal is already at his doorstep.

Behind all this resonates a sermon by Pete Hegseth, US Secretary of Defense: "Instead of tanks and air defenses, the emphasis has been placed on gender equality, climate change, and defense austerity [...]. And Europe's faith in itself and its civilization has hit rock bottom." A warning for the correction of the European right-wing that makes Feijóo seem determined to join the wave of post-democratic authoritarianism sweeping across Europe and inhabiting Trump's USA. It is the logic of power that threatens European democracies in the transition towards digital and financial capitalism.