The PP's capitulation

All roads lead to Rome. After Mazón announced his resignation, a year late, the first initiative both he and Feijóo took was to ask Vox to get to work so they could immediately reach an agreement and form a new government. This definitively puts an end to the ambiguities. Vox is winning the battle on the right. And the PP now acknowledges that Vox holds all the cards. This is Feijóo's greatest success. When he arrived, the PP was hegemonic on the right, and Vox was just beginning to make its presence felt. Now it is indispensable. Only Vox can bring him to power, and at the same time, it continues to chip away at his support and take away votes from people who, when faced with the choice, when the neo-authoritarian excesses of the far right are no longer taboo in the fight against the evil personified by President Sánchez, end up preferring the model to the copy. In other words, the reactionary wave that is destabilizing Europe is taking hold in a large part of Spain.

And the PP, unable to craft its own pro-democracy discourse that resonates with those unsettled by the current climate, is capitulating, fading away, and, as has happened now with its plea for Abascal's help, handing Vox a victory it doesn't deserve. Do they really think they can disguise reality this way? It is the Valencian people, offended by the lack of understanding and empathy from a president insensitive to what is happening, who have caused this upheaval. Mazón is leaving. For the sake of consistency, Feijóo should follow: if the Valencian president has lasted a year, it is because of the PP leader's complete lack of authority, who prefers attrition to confronting a problem when necessary. He has brought the PP to Vox's mercy and, moreover, acknowledges it by asking them to throw him a lifeline. Abascal has now got what he wanted: the initiative. And most likely, he won't give anything away. He holds a crucial decision in his hands: to form a government or force elections. A tempting opportunity, because going to the polls could deepen the wound and leave the PP severely weakened.

When things are done badly, the wires get crossed. And each misstep benefits the neighbor the most. In this case, Vox, whose natural growth comes at the expense of the PP. A year ago, after his display of inability to connect with the public during a tragic moment, Mazón should have crossed the line. And the PP would have gained authority and recognition for staging the comeback. Feijóo's lack of leadership made it impossible. And now the field is largely out of control, with a resurgent Abascal who sees that the PP, with its much bickering and little substance, is handing him a vast conservative space.

"Since the beginning of the 2010s," says Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca, "the Western bloc has weakened. Although this is usually approached from an economic perspective, which is undoubtedly of fundamental importance, I believe the political perspective is equally, if not more, significant. I'm referring to the loss of appeal. It has become a kind of pincer movement against itself. Democracy faces the challenge of new authoritarianism (an external threat) and the delegitimization of public opinion (an internal threat)." And the right wing is capitulating throughout Europe. It seemed that Spain, given its experience under Franco, would withstand this better. For now, the assessment of the Feijóo era is that it has brought the People's Party (PP) to the mercy of Vox. They are no longer just dealing with a shadow they may need to govern, but are directly asking for its help. This is not just a Spanish problem: it is a problem spreading throughout liberal democracies. And that is no consolation.