Carlos Flores (València, 1964), Professor of Constitutional Law at the UV, is the Vox candidate for the Generalitat Valenciana. In this interview, he explains the effects that the ultra training program led by Santiago Abascal will have on Valencian politics if they can govern together with the PP in matters such as Health, Education, use of Valencian or the Trans-Valencian Law. And he does not hesitate to launch harsh criticism of Carlos Mazón, with whom he would have to agree on a future government if the right wing reaches a majority on the next 28M.
We know that he has already made it clear that he will not answer any more questions about his conviction in the past for the psychological abuse of his ex-wife. But we would like to know one thing: You said that it was unfair for the media to disclose that information. Had you had something similar about a political rival, would you have made it public or used it?
I wouldn’t have. If I had found out that a rival had made decisions that were politically detrimental to the community, I would have said so. But I don’t have the slightest interest in anyone’s private life. I think I have never done so, not even in a tweet, about the private life of another candidate. Another thing is that a rival has hit a policeman or that he is involved in a case of corruption in the exercise of his duties. But I am surprised that the word violence arises in this context when 48 hours ago a person was sentenced in Alicante for hanging a Santiago Abascal doll with signs of shooting or assaults on our Vox tables and systematic attacks on our militants.
You are a professor of Constitutional Law. How do you combine wanting to dismantle the autonomous State and, at the same time, wanting to be part of its institutions?
From the respect for legality and the participation mechanisms contemplated in the Constitution. Our proposals to reformulate the State are only practicable through participation and decision-making processes. It does not occur to me to change or suppress the autonomous framework without a procedure that is not democratic. The PSOE does not agree with the autonomous framework either, it is federalist. Not to mention other parties that are even further away that even reject the parliamentary monarchy and also sit in parliament.
But the PSOE, since it quotes it, asks to develop that autonomous framework towards federalization, which for many the current Constitution does allow. Vox proposes to dismantle it.
The Constitution establishes a framework for the development of a model of territorial self-government. The current one fits, but it is not the only one that could occur within that framework. To disagree with the current moment of development of the autonomous framework is not to be disloyal to the Constitution. Our proposal is to review the current development of the current state of the autonomies going in the opposite direction that has been followed up to now. The autonomies have been strengthened and the State has been weakened; We want the opposite, devolving powers to the Government.
To be specific, because in the past you were part of political forces contrary to the 1978 Constitution. Do you defend the 1978 Constitution?
I have been teaching Constitutional Law for 45 years and identifying myself with constitutional values.
We are not going to ask about the ideological body of Vox because it is already known. We are interested in the translation of his ideas to the Valencian autonomous area. The Vox parliamentary group has announced that it will close À Punt. Do you confirm it?
À Punt cannot be closed because À Punt is already closed; 97% of Valencians do not see it and many do not even tune in. It is closed to those who speak Spanish and to those who do not vote for CompromÃs and the PSPV.
But that is not our question. The PP closed Channel 9 in 2013. We insist. Will you do the same if you can?
I have already answered that question.
But you have collaborated and have been a commentator for a long time at À Punt. Do you think that not all opinions are given a voice?
I’ve seen it from the inside. I was the minimum quota that was used to give a minimum appearance of plurality. But I am aware of who shared the gathering with me and what topics were chosen. Nobody ever told me what I could say, that’s as far as we could go. I collaborated with public radio and television and, curiously, I stopped collaborating just weeks after a row with a CompromÃs councilor. Chance?
Parliament has approved a Trans Law, but before it was approved by the Valencian Parliament. If they can, will they repeal it?
Yes. It is unheard of that an issue as relevant as gender identity has been addressed at the regional level before the state. These issues should only be regulated in autonomy after a State regulation. In addition, it has been legislated at the state level without seeing how the Valencian has worked.
But you raise a question of competences. We asked him about his ideological conviction and how he would apply it to the trans-Valencian law.
They are the two questions. If we go to the bottom line, sex is not a matter of opinion, it is a biological matter, one is not a man or a woman because she feels like a woman or a man. And as long as sexual identity is legally relevant, in a school, soccer team, it cannot be made available to the mere will of the individual. In addition, that this regulation contributes to the erasure of women.
We also understand that all the policies developed by the Botà nic to protect the LGTBI collective would be repealed.
No, we talk about different things. I have no objection to providing assistance policies to groups in need. The problem lies in considering that the question of sex is a matter of will and it is not.
Will they then maintain the agreed policies to protect the LGTBI collective?
I have no problem protecting any group that is in a disadvantaged social situation, due to economy, marginalization, racial discrimination, whatever. If we saw that the transsexual group suffers from discrimination, we would act.
You know that these groups are distinguished by suffering attacks, insults, discrimination…
But I’ve already told you what I think. I am not going to get carried away by impressions, I will check the data and draw conclusions. Sex, which is something natural, has nothing to do with the fact of protecting discriminated groups.
If Vox governs, will it hand over the public management of health to private companies?
Yes. Because we understand that health management must be based on experience and effectiveness and not on ideological prejudices. The Botà nic arrived with the prejudice that health should be exclusively public, and dismantled public-private collaboration models that worked reasonably well. Spending has increased and citizens have been inconvenienced. We will reconsider effective formulas from the past, putting doctors at the center of attention.
When talking about privatizing health, two models are proposed: the one promoted by the PP, the “Alzira model”, public resources managed by private companies or directly privatizing public health. What model is Vox betting on?
Definitely the first. And we will only support resorting to private healthcare when, as is the case now, we have to make crash plans. Both the public, subsidized and private systems deserve the same respect from the Generalitat Valenciana.
What changes will they make in the Valencian educational system for access to public and subsidized schools?
Our model is, as in health, public-private collaboration. And it goes through promoting the freedom of education. It supposes that it is the parents who decide the type of education they want. The Generalitat Valenciana must have, in this regard, a subsidiary function, and guarantee that everyone can choose.
And what does that translate into?
Respecting the freedom of choice of parents and coping with the deficiencies that the private or subsidized system has. What the Botanical has done during these years has been to make unfair competition with the private and concerted ones, creating public centers where there was already concerted coverage, elbowing. In addition, the Constitution guarantees that in educational centers students receive the religious education that parents consider appropriate.
But that already happens.
I wouldn’t say it. It is not about studying religion, we are talking about education being carried out with the values ​​that parents consider their scale of values. There are clear examples of indoctrination in sex education.
Before the Botà nic, the way to access a concerted school contemplated a scoring system that, de facto, left immigrants in public schools. That is, the subsidized could choose the type of student they wanted. Do you want to restore it?
No concerted school is going to use racist content clauses in its admission criteria…
We are not saying that.
No private school can discriminate against students based on their ethnic origin. Therefore, the fact that there are schools with a greater number of students from other nations is due to population distribution, and the Generalitat must guarantee that the public schools in those neighborhoods are as absolutely decent as the best school in the city.
What is your linguistic model for education in the Valencian system? The Botà nic has opted for multilingualism, the PP for the double line of Spanish and Valencian.
The Botanic has not opted for multilingualism, it has opted for the extension of Valencian to the detriment of Spanish. Our model is based on a constitutional principle that all Spaniards have the right and duty to know Spanish. And parents should have the right to choose whether they want to be educated in the language they want, without detracting from the fact that both are taught.
But what model would they project in Valencian education?
If we have two languages ​​and we want to be able to choose, the model of the two lines is more suitable.
Do you think that Spanish is threatened in the Valencian Community?
No, of course not. He is not threatened, but the Castilian is institutionally mistreated. The consequence of this is a divorce between the street and the institutions that are monolingual. In the street there is a normality that is not respected in the administration.
Will they repeal the language requirement in the Valencian administration?
Yes of course. It is one thing that the administration must respond in the language that the citizen wants and another that even to sweep a garden you need to speak Valencian.
And how do you articulate the right to be answered and understood in Valencian without the linguistic requirement?
Establishing translation services in the administration that guarantee this right.
Will they approve the titles of Valencians issued by the Real Academy of Valencian Culture, RACV, or Lo Rat Penat?
Yes, we will do it if possible, because obviously the statutory capacity is held by the Valencian Academy of Language, AVL.
If the Statute could be reformed, would it put an end to the AVL?
I am not going to acquire certain commitments that require the participation of others. I can link personally. It is an anomaly that we have an AVL included in the Statute, the Royal Academy of Language does not appear in the Constitution. Here if someone does not comply with the rules of the AVL he does not have public subsidies, and that would be an anomaly.
You are an academic who respects international consensus on legal science. It is surprising that you, who are at the University of Valencia, do not share the international criteria and have positioned yourself by saying that the Valencian from the AVL is Catalan.
I have never said that. That last idea that you ask me I have never said.
Have you ever said that Valencian is not Catalan?
I am not a philologist, and therefore I cannot make these kinds of statements. And I will not go into those issues. I am a lawyer and I can enter into legal issues. From this perspective, having a regulatory body, the AVL, which imposes a standard on citizens, constitutes an anomaly in a society where Valencian is spoken in many ways. We want to review the condition of the AVL as a regulatory entity.
Carlos Mazón has said on several occasions that he wants to govern alone. Will you allow it if the PP does not achieve an absolute majority?
Do you think that there is someone in this community crazy enough to pretend to govern with thirty or thirty-five seats in a parliament of 99? Do you think that someone can also call themselves a democrat and say that these seats are enough for me to govern the Valencian Community? Nobody can think of whether they can reach stable agreements; it would be undemocratic and perhaps suicidal.
Do you see yourself as vice president? Will Vox be part of that hypothetical government?
Vox is going to be decisive in anything that happens in the Valencian Community, in any future scenario, from 28M. Our presence in the institutions will be unavoidable. Many have not wanted to see Vox, but we are the elephant in the room. It will be reflected in the formation of a government.
You have not hidden in public that you have no problem governing with the PP. How do you interpret that Carlos Mazón refuses to recognize that possibility?
Well, as a gesture of absolute cowardice, and as a gesture of insincerity towards their constituents. I think it’s great that the PP comes out to win, I want it too. But we all know how the Titanic ended. The captain’s forecast was to reach New York, but if he had been a little more prudent, with an alternative scenario, such as having lifeboats provided for everyone, things would have gone better. Carlos Mazón is like the captain of the Titanic who thought why would I have lifeboats, if my only obsession is to get to New York.
