The specter of 2023 looms over Feijóo

BarcelonaWhen Alberto Núñez Feijóo was president of the Xunta (Galician regional government) and of the Galician People's Party (PP), there was one thing he couldn't stand: the national PP leadership, headquartered on Génova Street in Madrid, telling him what to do and trying to shape his decisions. In fact, Madrid's so-called interventionism in the regional structures has historically been a source of tension within the party, especially when the regional leader wasn't aligned with the national party president. The prime example has been the traditionally complicated relationship between the Madrid PP and the national leadership, personified by the tension between Esperanza Aguirre and Mariano Rajoy, or the open battle between Pablo Casado and Isabel Díaz Ayuso, which ended with the former PP leader's departure. When Feijóo took the reins of the party three years ago, he decided that the autonomy he had demanded as baron The popular party wanted to give it to its regional leaders. And this is what it did in 2023 with the negotiation of regional pacts with Vox. The move didn't go well within the party, and now, with the Valencian government at stake, Feijóo wants to "oversee" the negotiations with Santiago Abascal's party.

Two years ago, the PP president gave his party members carte blanche males The fact that they were negotiating with Vox for their upcoming regional governments marked the first time the People's Party (PP) had opened the doors of an executive branch to the far right. This led to agreements reached in record time in regions like the Valencian Community, in exchange for accepting Vox's conditions that strained the PP's seams, such as changing the term "gender violence" to "domestic violence"; or with plot twists in Extremadura, where its president, María Guardiola, refused to form a coalition with Vox if they made her abandon the concept of gender violence. A few days later, Guardiola swallowed her pride and reached an agreement with the far right. These contradictions and agreements unfolded alongside the PP's campaign for the June 23rd general election. Precisely for this reason, the PP leader wanted to recuse himself from any negotiations with the far right. The objective was to prevent Feijóo from being burdened by these agreements, so as not to damage his campaign. However, the strategy backfired for two reasons: because the concessions the Popular Party made to the far right were also attributed to Feijóo as the party's top representative; and because he hadn't defined the party's limits when it came to forming a coalition with Vox. Feijóo's aversion to making decisions wasn't just evident in 2023, but has also been apparent at other times. Isabel Díaz Ayuso has ultimately dictated his course on issues such as the negotiation of the General Council of the Judiciary or debates, like abortion, that strain the party.

The 2025 Negotiation

Two years later, the People's Party (PP) is once again facing negotiations with the far right in the first region where it formed a governing coalition: the Valencian Community. A PP leader admits that in 2023 there was no "oversight" from the national leadership and that this was a mistake: "I think the lesson has been learned." However, so far, the unfolding events in the Valencian Community demonstrate the opposite. Although, as the days passed, Carlos Mazón became increasingly cornered, Feijóo avoided asking him to stop and waited for the Valencian president to offer his resignation. "He can force him to leave his party post, but not his government post," sources from the national leadership point out. However, in the PP, the party president is also the candidate for the elections and, therefore, the candidate for president of the Generalitat (Valencian regional government). In other words, if Feijóo had forced Mazón to resign as PP president, it would have had a domino effect.

Feijóo, once again, avoided making a move. Sources within the national leadership recall that the Popular Party leader had decided that Mazón would not run again in the next elections, but they do not specify whether he intended to bring this up at the meeting he had called for November 7th—which will now not take place—to discuss the political situation in the Valencian Community a year after the devastating floods. Following the experience of 2023, the national leadership now asserts that it will "monitor" the negotiations between the PP and Vox to agree on Mazón's replacement. However, the Popular Party's interlocutors will be members of the Valencian Popular Party leadership. What does "monitor" mean, then? According to sources within the national leadership, they will be "kept informed" of the talks. "We are not going to intervene; we trust in the capabilities of our regional leaders," they add. Does this mean that when Alberto Núñez Feijóo disagrees with some aspect of the negotiation, he will respect regional autonomy, or will he put his foot down? For now, it remains to be seen.