Pérez Llorca presents his candidacy to preside over the Valencian Generalitat, hoping to convince Vox.

Valencia / BarcelonaThe tug-of-war between the PP and Vox over the investiture of Juanfran Pérez Llorca as president of the Valencian Generalitat continues on the day the conservative leader officially registered his candidacy to head the Consell. He did so on the last possible date to avoid the legislature ending in early elections. Tomorrow, the board of the Valencian Parliament (Les Corts) will set the date for the plenary session. In the appearances following the registration of Pérez Llorca's candidacy, both parties expressed points of agreement, but also differences. Regarding the harmony, the PP and Vox agreed that there is "a great deal of cordiality" in the talks. Among the points of disagreement, the PP states that it would be willing to go to the vote without any document formalizing the agreement, while the party led by Santiago Abascal demands that an agreement be sealed beforehand. "I'm not worried about having a document before the vote [...], it's neither necessary nor vital," Pérez Llorca has stated, in an assertion that leaves it unclear whether it expresses a conviction, a negotiating strategy, or simply a message for the media.

As usual, the most cryptic has been Vox's parliamentary spokesperson, José María Llanos, who explained that they will not demand a "notarized document," but that their desire is to reach an agreement before the investiture session. According to the far-right politician, both parties are "negotiating," there is still no "final agreement," but there is a willingness to achieve "the best possible agreement."

Agreement before Sunday and session on Monday?

Despite the public pronouncements of Pérez Llorca and Llanos, sources consulted by ARA explain that the PP and Vox are finalizing the agreement with the aim of announcing it "before Sunday" and holding the investiture session early next week, possibly on Monday. However, at this stage, significant "final" details are still needed on many agreed-upon points. In this regard, it should be noted that everything must be approved by the PP's national leadership, while the Vox leadership is already directly involved in the negotiations through its secretary general, Ignacio Garriga, and his right-hand woman, Montserrat Lluis. According to these sources, the PP "has accepted everything" Vox demanded, thanks to the PP's "positive attitude."

This means understanding key points such as immigration—as in the case of the veto on the distribution of care for unaccompanied foreign minors—or the approach to national priority in social aid, as well as measures against the "climate terrorism" of the Green Deal and the Catalan 2030 Agenda. All of this, seasoned with the reconstruction of the Valencian Country with infrastructure such as dams and dikes, underpinned by the ideological framework of climate change denial. For now, there is secrecy surrounding the exact measures negotiated, which contrasts with the expectation of an imminent agreement after two weeks of intense negotiations. The poor results predicted by the polls for the PP after the Mazón administration's handling of the DANA storm have influenced the way these talks, which could bear fruit soon, are being conducted. Indeed, the supposed reluctance of the PP to sign an agreement document is not supported by the aforementioned sources consulted by ARA, who rely on the spirit of "Prudence" with the certainty that there will be a detailed agreement before the investiture session, which is still scheduled for Monday.

Support from María José Catalá

Before heading to the Valencian Parliament, Juanfran Pérez Llorca took the opportunity to visit Valencia City Hall to demonstrate that he has the support of the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, who is Alberto Núñez Feijóo's preferred candidate to lead the Valencian PP in shifting its focus from regional politics to regional politics. Catalá stated that she was the first to sign Lorca's candidacy—something all members of the party in the Valencian Parliament are required to do—and defended her colleague as the PP's "clear choice." "I leave here knowing that I have the support and affection of the mayor," Pérez Llorca remarked.