The contrast became apparent in just 24 hours. On Wednesday, in Congress, the general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, played in a white-glove speech with Vox in the ultras’ motion of no confidence, in which she avoided distancing herself from the ideas put forward by Santiago Abascal or his candidate, Ramón Tamames she had defended during the debate, for example that in the civil war “there is no good and no bad side” and “atrocities were committed on both sides”. Gamarra did not censor any of Vox’s statements, instead saying that the PP found “common elements” in Tamames’ story. On Thursday, the community’s president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, opened fire on the ultras in the Madrid Assembly after the far right thwarted their attempt to approve a tax break intended to attract foreign wealth. “Starting today, it’s good that everyone goes their own way,” Ayuso exclaimed, pausing with Vox. The Madrid leader and the national leadership of the PP are taking different paths to face the electoral campaign with the extreme right: while Ayuso now bets on going to the duel, Alberto Núñez Feijóo prefers to delay and ignore Abascal’s . Although basically neither one nor the other have ruled out future agreements with Vox.
It is therefore a conflict of strategy between Ayuso and Feijóo to face the Vox attack before the next regional and local elections in May in just two months. The Madrid leader, acting as a free electron in the PP, revolted with Vox this Thursday. “I have the utmost respect for his political formation. I have always defended their presence in the institutions,” he said. “[Pero] The drift your group took won’t drag me down with it. It’s very difficult to understand each other, it’s practically impossible, because you don’t understand that life is nuanced, it’s contrasts; different points of view”.
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Ayuso’s outburst was immediately interpreted as an electoral key, as he is just four seats away from an outright majority he could achieve by growing at the expense of his right-wing rival. Although they confirm in those around them that it was a relief to take advantage of the last plenary session of the legislature, which for the time being marks the end of the dependence that the PP had on Vox to carry out its initiatives. “It is easier: [en Vox] They’ve been kicking shins since November,” explains a trusted Ayuso source. “For example, this Thursday’s vote, where they canceled the tax bonus to lure foreign wealth to Madrid, or that they didn’t approve the budgets.” And he emphasizes: “It’s not about calculating the voters: it’s about saying that [Rocío] Monasterio has been in a drift for several months that will not get the President any further.
It’s true that Vox first started teasing Ayuso, preventing him from approving his public accounts or torpedoing other of his projects ahead of the May 28 elections, but the Madrid leader, true to her style, has one another greatsword answered. “She’s very nervous,” they interpret in Vox, according to a source close to party leader Santiago Abascal.
The circumstances in Madrid are very specific: the far right is so entrenched that in the 2021 elections it was able to improve on its 2019 result, despite Ayuso’s boom. Consequently, the President of the Autonomous Community of Madrid mixed one in lime and the other in sand. His criticism of unaccompanied foreign minors arriving in Madrid has turned Vox ugly, and he has refused to implement parental veto on education. But he has also flirted with some of his tougher postulates. So it has promised to repeal the Trans Law if it rules after 28-M; or it has slipped that the new regional heritage law will protect the Cuelgamuros Valley (formerly known as the Valley of the Fallen). Despite the staged break on Thursday, Ayuso did not say that after the elections in May he would not be able to come to an understanding with Abascal on future issues or, if necessary, on an inauguration.
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The national leadership of the PP uses a different approach to competing with Vox: avoiding and ignoring confrontations. Framed there is the condescending speech to Abascal’s party in the censure motion, which had nothing to do with the one Pablo Casado defended against the far right in the previous 2020 motion when he blew all the bridges. Feijóo does not want to blow up the catwalks with Vox because he wants to continue scratching voters on that flank, they explained in Genoa, and because he is not closing the door on an agreement after May, although he will try to avoid it. “We, on our way,” argues the leadership of the PP.
“Sufficient Support”
The differentiated strategy doesn’t prevent Feijóo from backing the Madrid leader if she believes going to the clash in the community is more beneficial for her. “Ayuso has enough support to do his own politics. Vox is against the Madrid budget. And I understand and share your statements [de Ayuso]“, defended the President of the PP from Brussels on Thursday. In the municipal capital, after two days of silence and absence from the debate over Abascal’s motion of no confidence, Feijóo allowed himself to harden his tone on the far right. “I don’t share this way of doing politics. I abstracted myself from this absurdity and dedicated myself to strengthening the alternative, to rebuilding Spain’s international image. I’m not subscribing to childish policies like the motion of no confidence,” he mused, but didn’t question whether that marked a tipping point in his relationship with Vox that would make alliances more difficult in May. The Ultras’ weakness after the failed no-confidence vote makes it easier to go for the jugular, but neither Feijóo nor Ayuso have locked the door to an agreement with those of Abascal should the need arise.
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