Formal negotiations between the PP and Vox are about to begin to elect Carlos Mazón’s replacement as leader of the Valencian Community, according to sources from Santiago Abascal’s party. Once Mazón has formalized his resignation ―published today in the Official State Gazette (BOE)―, the parliamentary groups have a deadline of 12 days to present a candidate for investiture, so time is running out against the PP, which has not yet revealed the name of the candidate who will succeed the anchor president.
Abascal commissioned his number twoIgnacio Garriga, to lead the negotiation, for which he will count on Montserrat Lluis, recently promoted to the position of deputy general secretary. The choice of interlocutors demonstrates the importance that Vox attributes to the negotiation of the future president of the Valencian Community, which Abascal has transformed into a test bed for the new generation of agreements that it aspires to reach with the PP. After the agreements following the regional elections in May 2023, in which Vox gave priority to entering coalition governments, its strategy now involves influencing the PP leaders from the outside, imposing its own policies on them.
Abascal has already made it clear that his priority is the rejection of the European Green Deal and the commitment of the new Valencian president to oppose by all means the reception of irregular immigrants, two concessions he has already extracted from Mazón, but he does not exclude now increasing the pressure with new demands. For his part, Garriga anticipated that his party will maintain a “firmer and more demanding attitude” compared to previous negotiations with the PP.
The Vox leader was on good terms with Mazón, who called him to inform him of his decision to resign, and did not hide his anger towards the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, for letting him fall. He even accused him of having given “a scapegoat to Pedro Sánchez”, who Abascal considers “the great culprit of the Dana tragedy”; despite the Supreme Court having presented the complaint that Vox presented against the President of the Government and several ministers, while the judge of Valencia investigates the possible negligence of the Generalitat.
Feijóo and Abascal had a “cordial and good-toned” telephone conversation last Tuesday about the future of the Valencian Community, in which they both agreed “on the need to give stability to a territory that is still immersed in a complex and painful reconstruction process after last year’s floods”, according to PP sources. The two right-wing leaders met on Thursday evening at a digital party in Madrid, where Abascal warned Feijóo that he was playing a “very dangerous lottery” with his change of attitude towards Vox.
While Feijóo insists that it would be irresponsible to go to elections now in the Valencian Community, Abascal – with the tide of the polls in his favor – says he does not fear them. The ultra party has not detailed its demands, but party sources anticipate that the investiture speech of the Valencian presidential candidate will have to include a solemn declaration of rejection of the European Green Pact and immigration policy, like the one made by Mazón last March, as a preliminary step to the approval of the budgets.
Furthermore, his successor will have to confirm the agreements already reached with the current leader of the Valencian People’s Party to “neutralize” the trans law, implement the “national priority” in social assistance, create segregated statistics on the use of public healthcare by immigrants or relegate the use of Valencian. But it could also raise new demands, such as the closure of juvenile centres, which has already been achieved in Murcia.
Vox assures that it does not want to talk about names to succeed Mazón, but sources close to the party do not hide that they have preferences and that the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, is not their favourite. The problem, these sources acknowledge, is that, once in office, the new Valencian president will have a free hand, given that the budgets for 2026 have been approved, so the ultra formation wants to ensure that he delivers what he promised.
