The PP and Vox will also govern together in Castilla y León with "national priority"

Barcelona / MadridThe PP and Vox have already closed a government pact in Castilla y León. After the agreements in Aragon and Extremadura, the right and far-right have sealed a new understanding for Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, who had already governed with the far-right, to repeat as president. There have been no surprises regarding the content of the pact, which replicates the spirit of those signed in the two previous autonomies with the PP's adoption of the principle of "national priority." Mañueco stressed, in a press conference this Wednesday, that it is "the same text as in Extremadura and Aragon," which sets a "priority allocation according to real, verifiable, and effective residency" in the territory, and defended that it falls within "the legal framework."

The spokesperson for Vox in the Cortes of Castilla y León, Carlos Pollán, thanked Mañueco for his "willingness to dialogue," who in turn explained that Vox will have three ministries, one of which will have the rank of vice-presidency. The far-right will take charge of deregulation, family and social aid; agriculture, livestock, rural environment and environmental policy; and culture, tourism and sports. All this, while the two parties still have another pact pending in Andalusia, where Juanma Moreno Bonilla also needs Santiago Abascal's party to renew his regional presidency. Génova avoids anticipating events in this regard.

While awaiting the fine print, Mañueco had a slight advantage in the negotiations, after winning the March elections and improving on the 2022 results. Without an absolute majority, however, the far-right had room to impose their proposals, among which the principle of "national priority" stands out. In recent weeks of negotiation, Pollán had already taken for granted that this concept would be included in the final agreement.

In the case of Extremadura, the two parties agreed to limit immigrants' rights when granting "all public aid, subsidies, and benefits," including migrants with papers. Likewise, they put in writing their commitment to reject the arrival of irregular immigration through all means, "legal, judicial, and political," even if it affects minors.

Not even a week later, the PP and Vox followed the same path in Aragon to invest the popular Jorge Azcón. In this case, and besides the "national priority", anti-Catalanism reappeared in the pact. The document collected the defense of "freedom against indoctrination" with two star measures: "Free Aragon from the imposition of Catalan" and initiate the "suppression of the Aragonese Institute of Catalan". That is to say, eliminate Catalan in Aragon.

The PP and Vox already governed together in the previous legislature in Castilla y León. Mañueco, in fact, was the first PP leader who allowed the far-right to enter a regional government, an unprecedented event since the beginning of democracy. But the pact was broken when the state leadership of Vox demanded all its representatives to leave the regional executives in July 2024 due to the reception, accepted by the popular party, of 347 minor immigrants from the Canary Islands.