The Vox maneuver that torments Feijóo

BarcelonaThe president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, considers it a priority that his regional governments that depend on Vox can approve the budgets, since this is precisely the argument that Pedro Sánchez uses to make light of the fact that he cannot pass his own either. With this objective, PP and Vox are holding talks in the affected territories but also at the highest level, since in the end the one who must give the green light to the operation is Santiago Abascal. The Spanish extreme right has seen an opportunity to advance what is one of its priority objectives, shared with its European counterparts, which is to break the historic alliance between the Popular Party, Social Democrats and Liberals that has historically governed the European Commission. On February 9, Abascal himself demanded that the PP should "break with the PSOE in Brussels explicitly" if it wanted support for the regional accounts. And how does this translate? According to ARA, Vox is now demanding that Alberto Núñez Feijóo sign a declaration critical of European policies in recent years on agriculture (Mercosur), security and immigration, that is, that he amend himself and admit that everything the European Popular Party has done in Brussels has been a mistake.

This demand, which is difficult for Feijóo to accept, is what is currently blocking the agreements in those territories where there is more harmony between the two parties, which are the Valencian Community, Aragon and Murcia. The leadership of Vox believes that with this manoeuvre they have managed to drive a wedge between the two souls of the PP, the Ayuso party, which rejects all collaboration with the left and is in favour of collaborating with Vox, and the one led by the Andalusian Juanma Moreno Bonilla, who is more moderate and allergic to the extreme right. In the first group there would be, in addition to the people from Madrid, the people from Valencia, Aragon and Murcia, and in the second, in addition to the people from Andalusia, the people from Galicia, the people from Extremadura (María Guardiola has decided to extend the budget after breaking with Vox), the people from the Balearic Islands and the people from La Rioja (although Gonzalo Capell). The president of Castile-León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, who was the first to incorporate Vox into an autonomous government, remains neutral between the supporters of Ayuso and the supporters of Morena and has not presented a budget project, since there is only one year left for the elections. "The problem is that Feijóo, who balances between both sectors, does not command," they denounce Vox.

Vox's manoeuvre that martyrs Feijóo aims to position Santiago Abascal in Europe as a key leader to drag the popular party towards the most ultra-conservative positions and thus break the consensus that has until now governed European politics. Its objective is to act as a bridge between Giorgia Meloni and Marine Le Pen to reunite the two groups they lead in the European Parliament, the group of European Conservatives and Reformists (78 seats) and the Patriots for Europe group (84) to form what would be the second group in the chamber, with 162 seats (26 more). In fact, if the 25 from the Europe of Sovereign Nations, where the German AfD is located, were added, they would add up to 187, only one less than the European People's Party. The arithmetic, in fact, already allows for a majority of the popular party and the extreme right that, for the moment, is not operative although the head of the EPP, Manfred Weber, also flirts with this idea.

Abascal Leadership

The party's strategy is to strengthen the absolute leadership of Santiago Abascal, with a very hierarchical structure, and without space for the autonomy of the baronies or for heterodox profiles. The party leadership has not hesitated to cut off heads or simply open the door to people who seemed to have great influence within the party, such as Macarena Olona, ​​​​Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, Rocío Monasterio –Espinosa's wife– or more recently Juan García-Gallardo. "Leaders such as Le Pen, Orbán or Wilders have been built over decades and it has been proven that they are the formula that works," explain sources from the party, who attribute the recent leaks to a "pure question of egos." "Abascal must be the leader that the Spanish see when the social collapse that immigration is causing arrives," they say. A strong leadership, with international projection and with the capacity to condition the policy of the Spanish PP also in Europe. This is the formula that the headquarters on Bambú street in Madrid believe will allow them, when the time comes, to exceed 15% of the vote and get closer to the PP. Hence the nerves that can be detected in Genoa every time they are asked about Vox.