Feijóo and Abascal begin talks to choose Mazón's successor

MadridThe day after Carlos Mazón He announced his resignation and left the Valencian government in the hands of Vox.Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago Abascal have agreed to open negotiations to choose a successor to the Valencian president. This Tuesday, the two leaders spoke by phone to kick off these negotiations, which, according to sources within the People's Party (PP) leadership, will be spearheaded by the party in the Valencian Community but overseen by the national leadership. However, they have not yet made public who the interlocutors will be on either side. According to the same sources, no names were put forward in this morning's conversation to replace Mazón. This is precisely the issue that has pitted the Valencian PP against the national party leadership in recent days. Last Saturday, the Valencian PP leadership promoted the name of the president of the Valencia Provincial Council, Vicent Mompó, to succeed Mazón. However, the drawback to this proposal is that Mompó is not a member of the Valencian Parliament (Les Corts Valencianes), and therefore, elections would first have to be called for Mompó to have a chance. The national leadership, on the other hand, had in mind the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, although in recent hours they have avoided confirming that she was their proposal. Catalá is indeed a member of the Valencian Parliament. The name that could be a consensus candidate and is currently being discussed is that of Juanfran Pérez Llorca, secretary general of the Valencian People's Party (PP) and the one who led the negotiations with Vox to form the current government.

The proposal that the People's Party (PP) ultimately puts forward will have to be validated by Vox. For the moment, the far-right party is warning that before discussing names, other issues need to be addressed; in other words, Abascal's party wants concessions in return for any name they might endorse to preside over the Valencian Generalitat. Their stance also demonstrates that they are in no hurry to reach an agreement on Mazón's successor and that they are prepared to leverage their position of strength during these negotiations. At this point, the PP is not ruling out an early election, which would catch them off guard and with stagnant poll numbers, unlike Vox, whose polls are currently favorable. For now, the same PP sources maintain that Feijóo and Abascal have joined forces to bring "stability" to the Valencian Community, a region immersed in reconstruction efforts following the devastating floods. They are thus appealing to previous agreements signed with Vox, the last one in May to approve the budget, so that the far right will agree to a pact with a successor and avoid early elections. The deadline for reaching an agreement is two months, otherwise regional elections will be automatically called.

This Tuesday, Mazón still chaired the meeting of the Consell—in principle, he will serve in an acting capacity until a replacement is found—where it was agreed to replace the vice president, Gam Pampols, a military officer whom the Valencian president recruited for the reconstruction efforts after the DANA storm, with the Minister of the Environment, Vicente Mar.

Criticism from the Spanish government

Meanwhile, on Tuesday the Spanish government lashed out at the words Mazón uttered in his farewell speech. "They are absolutely disgraceful," stated the spokesperson for the Spanish executive, Pilar Alegría, at a press conference following the cabinet meeting. Alegría criticized the outgoing head of the Valencian government for not assuming "any responsibility, shifting blame, lying, and showing contempt for the victims." In this regard, the spokesperson also condemned Mazón for leaving the "future" of the Valencian Country in the hands of the far right. "Feijóo has demonstrated an absolute lack of leadership," she lamented.

Although Feijóo had decided that Mazón would not run again in the next regional elections, It was the outgoing Valencian president who submitted his resignation last ThursdayJust the day after the funeral for the 229 victims of the DANA storm and the booing he received from their families, Feijóo defended Mazón's decision to resign after admitting mistakes. On Monday, he also pointed the finger at the Spanish government, accusing it of "cynicism" for not sharing responsibility for the handling of the torrential rains. On Tuesday, the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, joined the fray. "If he resigns, it's because he resigns. If he doesn't resign, it's because he doesn't resign. I think anything goes against Feijóo," she stated in remarks to the media. Ayuso again accused the Spanish government of "exploiting" the DANA storm. "They won't stop, and that's because they're only interested in power," she asserted. In fact, he went even further, asserting that the left in the Valencian Community wants to "take over" this territory to "create the Catalan Countries": "This is what's really going on," reports Marc Toro.