Can Cáritas be calm in Extremadura? PP and Vox disagree

MadridThe same text with two different interpretations. Four days after the PP and Vox announced a government agreement in Extremadura, the versions on what "national priority" implies in access to public resources are contradictory. The popular party downplays the scope of this statement and maintains that, in no case, will it be discriminatory towards foreigners legally residing in Spain. For its part, Vox assures that it does mean that preference will be given to people with Spanish nationality. "Spaniards first in aid, housing, and services," reiterated the far-right spokesperson, José Antonio Fúster, at a press conference this Monday.

It is not the only contradiction. In an interview with El País published this weekend, the state leaders of Vox, José María Figaredo and Carlos H. Quero, members of the negotiating team, put Cáritas in the spotlight. The pact states that there will be a "total suppression of subsidies to NGOs that favor illegal immigration". Figaredo and Quero made it clear that this can perfectly include Cáritas, because it welcomes irregular immigrants and refugees, even though it is a religious entity. "We value the social action of the Church, but we cannot accept that taxpayer money goes to promote invasion," they stressed.

In a press conference this Monday, however, the number two of the PP, Miguel Tellado, stated that at Cáritas "they can rest assured". According to the popular secretary general, to conclude that an NGO is "collaborating with illegal immigration", that is, with the "mafias", it will have to be "proven by a court ruling". Without a court conviction, there will be no withdrawal of subsidies, the PP replies. Sources from Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party claim "not to scare people with things that will not happen". Tellado argued that this statement has already been part of agreements in other territories, such as in the Valencian Country, and "in none of these cases has humanitarian action been ended".

The popular party maintains that Vox deploys a narrative, with expressions such as "national priority", but that it will not have practical application because it clashes with legal limits. The agreement, in fact, includes the commitment "to urge" the modification of the immigration law "and all the regulatory provisions that hinder the effective achievement" of the "principle of national priority", which is "the priority allocation of public resources to those who maintain a real, lasting and verifiable connection with the territory". The PP assures that these are "objective criteria" that can benefit people born outside of Spain but who have been rooted in the territory for a long time.

The negotiation in Aragon

Although the agreement in Extremadura was announced the day before and the one in Aragon seemed imminent, the parties have cooled things down. The Vox spokesperson admitted that the "national priority" could be part of it, but Fúster warned that in this second territory they will be even more demanding. The reason is that the correlation between the two parties is "more balanced". A new tug-of-war over the narrative of the negotiation begins. Vox assures that it is the PP's fault that it is not being unblocked yet, while the national Popular Party leadership states that they are "respecting the times" of the far-right. "We will go little by little. There is time," they maintain. May 3rd is the deadline to avoid a repeat election in Aragon. For now, María Guardiola will be sworn in as president of Extremadura on Wednesday, also awaiting a pact in Castilla y León.