"I will not ask for forgiveness for governing with Vox": Guardiola is invested in Extremadura thanks to "national priority"

MadridThe discursive concession to Vox in Extremadura, with the acceptance of the "principle of national priority", has borne the expected fruit for the PP. After a first frustrated attempt a month and a half ago, the popular candidate, María Guardiola, has been invested as president this Wednesday with the votes of the popular party and the far-right, which doubled its results in the regional elections of December 21 and which, with this position of strength, has imposed its migratory framework and will re-enter the regional government. "Since what the polls say matters to me, I know that this project is only possible with Vox [...] That is why I will not apologize for governing with those who represent an important part of Extremadura", insisted the Extremaduran president, who revalidates the position held since 2023.

In response to criticism for having included the concept of "national priority" in access to public resources in the text agreed with Santiago Abascal's party, even from other PP barons, Guardiola stressed that the agreement reached with Vox "is not fascism". "It is called democracy and parliamentary majority. It is moving from deadlock to agreement". The Extremaduran president did not go into detail about the scope of this slogan and left it to the PP spokesperson in the regional Assembly, José Ángel Sánchez Juliá, to express the narrative that the popular party has been using for days. The regional deputy insisted that the pact with Vox "does not exclude, nor does it even speak of nationalities or foreigners", but rather establishes that "verifiable roots" in the territory will be taken into account.

In parallel, both Abascal in an interview with Antena 3 and the Vox spokesperson in the Extremaduran chamber, Óscar Fernández, during the debate, defended that it is about choosing that "Spaniards go first". "The link between aid and roots is to ensure that no one from outside gets ahead of any Spaniard", said Fernández, who defended that this "is not racism or selfishness" but "common sense and realism". The public interpretation made by PP and Vox of the practical application that "national priority" may have is not consistent, although the far-right party attributes it to the fact that the popular party's state leadership constantly wants to put "spanners in the works". In contrast, Vox has expressed "loyalty" to Guardiola and confidence that she will fulfill what she has committed to.

"Nazi-onalist priority"

Apart from the PSOE and the left-wing coalition led by Podemos in the Assembly of Extremadura, this point of the PP and Vox pact has also been criticized and has had prominence from Congress. During the control session, the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, warned that the pact "kicks the Constitution" and the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, called it "discriminatory and inhumane" and advanced that, if necessary, they will fight in the courts. Faced with the attacks from the left, Guardiola counter-attacked by criticizing Sánchez's pacts with the independentists. According to the popular president, the socialist leader applies "nationalist priority". "Nazi-onalist", she added, rejecting "lessons" from someone who "has made pacts with coup plotters and heirs of ETA".

Imminent agreement in Aragon

Once the objective of investing Guardiola has been achieved, the next step for the PP is to achieve the same in Aragon, with the popular candidate Jorge Azcón. Both the PP and Vox consider the pact "imminent". Abascal has expressed confidence that it can be announced "in the coming hours" or, at most, "days". "It is very advanced," he said in the interview this Wednesday morning, although sources from Vox had pointed to a climate of negotiation soured by Genoa's discourse in recent days, which reduces the scope of the "national priority". Everything indicates that the "national priority" will once again be part of the agreement in Aragon after the PP has even taken this principle to Congress in an amendment to a Vox motion that goes even further than the Extremadura agreement and which was also debated this Wednesday in the lower house.

"Priority to rooting", defended the PP deputy Carmen Navarro, who assured that her amendment "literally incorporates" the Extremadura pact, which has the Constitution as an "insurmountable framework". The Vox deputy who defended the motion, Ignacio Hoces, insisted that his objective is "that Spaniards are the first" and that, among other things, "Spain stops being the hospital of Africa". The far-right motion proposes to "repatriate" all irregular immigrants and "reserve" aid for Spaniards.