Never before has a PSPV congress since its founding in 1978 been developed with the calm and unity that is evident in the conclave of this federation that is being held in Benicàssim. An appointment that yesterday officially elevated Diana Morant as the new general secretary, replacing Ximo Puig, who has led the party for 12 years, eight of these as president.
Not only has the minister not had to fight in primaries due to the absence of rivals, but she has been able to put together an executive with relative calm, agreeing on the main positions of responsibility with the families of Valencian socialism. In fact, its hard core is made up of people of the most absolute confidence and who have received the approval of the two provincial barons, the presidents of the PSPV in Valencia and Alicante, Carlos Fernández Bielsa and Alejandro Soler.
The hard core of the new executive will be made up of Vicent Mascarell in Organization; Pilar Bernabé in the institutional area, Rubén Alfaro as spokesperson and Tania Baños as president of the Council of Mayors. The rest of the members of this executive were voted and approved yesterday afternoon by the Valencian socialist militancy.
The election of Diana Morant represents a significant change in a federation that has never had a woman leader, and this is an asset that the party wants to take advantage of to confront the policies of the right. Today she will be the one who, in the absence of a political presentation, will announce the strategic lines to try to make the crossing of the desert after the defeat of last 28-M be short and to opt to recover the Generalitat Valenciana in 2027. Yesterday she announced that “we are going to work to propose a real alternative to be a containment dam for these retrograde policies of the PP and Vox in the Valencian Community, of Carlos Mazón.”
Diana Morant’s challenge is enormous. She must manage to strengthen a federation that longs to recover its lost power and, in parallel, define its own profile after the legacy of Ximo Puig. It will not be easy, given that she will have to combine the role of minister in her Government with that of leader of the opposition to Carlos Mazón’s executive. She must, finally, counteract the right-wing strategy of blaming Pedro Sánchez for not responding to the so-called Valencian agenda: financing, investments, water or debt relief.
The extraordinary congress in Benicàssim, which Pedro Sánchez will close today, also served to say goodbye to Ximo Puig, who has been elected Spain’s new ambassador to the OECD. The former president yesterday showed a “deep feeling of gratitude” and asked not to take “even a step back” in the face of the “counter-reform” of the current PP-Vox government. He appreciated that he passes the baton with internal cohesion and with “a leader more prepared than ever,” in reference to Diana Morant.
