Aragon, Murcia, and the Balearic Islands: the regions following the path of the Mazón-Vox pact

MadridWhen Carlos Mazón announced the pact with Vox to approve the Valencian Community's budget, Génova pointed to two other autonomous communities. The step taken by the Valencian president "could bring the public accounts of Murcia and Aragon closer together," predicted Alberto Núñez Feijóo's team. Ten days later, negotiations in these two autonomous communities, governed in a minority by the PP, have not been unblocked. "There's nothing new," responded the executives of both Fernando López Miras and Jorge Azcón to questions from ARA. Both the Murcian and Aragonese presidents, especially the former, have come close in public statements in recent days to Vox's rhetoric on immigration and against the Green Pact. However, for the far-right party, this is not enough. "There is still a long way to go," warned Vox's general secretary, Ignacio Garriga, this Thursday.

Santiago Abascal's party is benefiting from having forced Mazón and, consequently, Feijóo to give in. The prominence of Vox, which has managed to impose its position on two key issues, and the strain this represents for the Popular Party, does not provide them with incentives for a quick negotiation. Hence, Vox is increasing the value of its votes in these territories. At the beginning of the week, the spokesperson for Santiago Abascal's party, José Antonio Fúster, called for "forcefulness" in the positions of both parties. men popular and predicted that he saw it as "complicated" to reproduce the Valencian agreement due to his reluctance to lower himself to do a public statement like the one Mazón made, which is in a weaker position. However, López Miras took up the challenge and, in this Wednesday's control session in the Murcia Assembly, tried to pave the way.

"We agree on what's important. We reject illegal immigration and we reject the Green Deal. What's the problem? Why is there no budget?" said the Murcian president in response to a question from Vox. However, López Miras added a criticism to Abascal's demands, which are being made more pressing by adding an additional condition "starting this week." The far right is demanding that the regional executive eliminate an Arabic language and Moroccan culture program offered as an extracurricular activity to schools that request it—only ten have requested it from Murcia for the next academic year. It is funded by the state executive and has been in place for years, even when Vox was part of the executive. The PP president argues that it is not the regional government's responsibility and that it does not allocate "a single euro." "He has a good example in this regard. Look at Mazón. He does not apply the agreement [...]. You can join or not," argued the Vox spokesperson in Murcia, José Ángel Antelo, at the same plenary session. López Miras insisted on distancing himself from it: "The Valencian Community is not implementing it because no educational center has requested it [...]. It depends exclusively on the Ministry of Education."

And in Aragon? Vox is also demanding more from Azcón, who this week called the green policies that impact agriculture and livestock in the state "nonsense." He has also filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court (TC) against the distribution of immigrant minors, although he has not declared rebellion in the face of the moment when the law requiring them to be accommodated comes into force. "We are realistic. We must negotiate," says the Aragonese executive regarding the possibilities of reaching an agreement. However, talks are underway and Génova maintains its support for adopting Vox's thesis, as Mazón did, and reaffirms that there is no discursive shift. The number two of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, assured this Thursday that all of them men "what they've been saying has been going on for a long time."

The rest of the communities

Beyond the Valencian Community, Murcia, and Aragon, the PP needs Vox in three other autonomous communities. These are Castile and León, Extremadura, and the Balearic Islands. The latter is also being considered for the possibility of approving the budget, and this Thursday the Balearic president, Marga Prohens, has met with Abascal's management, although a few days ago Vox ruled out a pact in that territory. In Extremadura, its president, María Guardiola, described the budget negotiations as a "past chapter" this Thursday, closing the door on the issue.

The PP and Vox are furthest apart in Castile and León, the autonomous region with the closest elections, in 2026. Its PP president, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, scorned the far-right's demands at a regional plenary session on Wednesday. Mañueco crumpled a sheet of paper Vox had left him in the speakers' gallery at the Corts (Spanish Parliament) with their demands, which Mazón accepted, causing discontent in Vox. "These are totally different situations," Gamarra argued, despite the obvious contradiction between autonomous regions of the same political persuasion.