The PP disavows Guardiola for his missteps with Vox: “There’s too much noise and not enough serious work”

Madrid / BarcelonaMaría Guardiola is no longer what she used to be: while in 2023 she distinguished herself as one of the most moderate figures in the People's Party (PP), distancing herself from the far right—although she ultimately formed a coalition with them—and until a few weeks ago resisted yielding to Vox's demands, now she's surrendering to Santiago Abascal's party. "The feminism I defend is the feminism that Vox defends," she said this morning in an interview with Ok Diario, words that have not gone down well with the PP at the national level and which Guardiola herself has since been forced to clarify. The PP leadership in Madrid has disavowed her: "There's too much noise and not enough serious work," said the party's deputy secretary, Carmen Fúnez, when asked about the Extremadura president's remarks.

The unease in Genoa regarding the statements of the Extremadura baroness is not because they disagree with the need for a pact with Vox – Alberto Núñez Feijóo has accepted this from day one – but because they believe there should be more behind-the-scenes work and fewer public pronouncements. For the PP leadership, what is needed now is "responsibility" and to translate into a government what the ballot boxes indicated: that the PP won, but with a substantial surge for Vox. It should be noted that the PP obtained 29 seats (up from 28) and the far right doubled its support, going from 5 to 11. For this reason, Fúnez has called for "proportionality," to also convince Santiago Abascal's party that they must be realistic with their demands – they have chosen to do so thus far. "The best thing is for Extremadura to have a government soon," the PP's deputy secretary summarized. Sources within the People's Party (PP) regret, in this regard, all the headlines being generated by the negotiations in Extremadura, as they believe "discretion" is needed for things to reach a successful conclusion and for people to sit down and negotiate at a table. According to the PP headquarters in Madrid, candidate María Guardiola has gone too far publicly. Feijóo's party, despite wanting to form a coalition with Vox, is making an effort to distance itself in certain areas, such as feminism. Fúnez herself clarified that what her regional leader in Extremadura meant was that she opposes the feminism that protects "the burka and the niqab," alluding to what they believe the left does. "We are the feminism that respects women's equality," Fúnez said. Following this, Guardiola retracted her statements from Navalmoral de la Mata. She simply stated that she defends a "real feminism, not one of banners or rhetoric," and that this "can never be an obstacle with Vox." In this regard, she distinguished herself from the feminism that "sits in the Council of Ministers with those who consume prostitution and doesn't lift a finger," alluding to Sumar and Podemos, which also shared a government with former minister José Luis Ábalos.

Guardiola's turnaround

Although Guardiola was one of the PP leaders most reluctant to form a coalition with Vox, she completely reversed her stance on Monday. In fact, she had to do so during the 2023 regional elections, when she initially refused to form a coalition with the far right and then had to backtrack. Her responses on feminism on Monday confirm this. While three years ago, after the elections, she asserted that she could not allow anyone who "denied gender violence"—referring to Vox—into her government, on Monday she stated that feminist policies would in no way be an obstacle to reaching an agreement with Santiago Abascal's party. "I fight for real equality between men and women [...] without excluding or demonizing men," she said. Her statements ignore the fact that Vox's proposals advocate for a rollback of the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people, whom Guardiola also claims to defend. That's why the PSOE of Extremadura has already asked the acting Popular Party president for a "clear" explanation of her "real" position on equality.

In the interview with Okdiario, Guardiola already stated that she doesn't believe she's whitewashing the far right and, in fact, avoided labeling Vox as such. "The far-right party we have in our country is Catalan separatism, which despises and hates Spaniards. That's what she's agreed to with Pedro Sánchez without anyone batting an eye," she stated, implicitly asking that her alliance with Santiago Abascal's party not be criticized. To reach an agreement with them, she assures that she will give "everything" on her part. "I'm already doing it," she concluded. So much so that it has caused a clash within her party.