Vox is once again the preferred partner requested by the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá. After a few days of great political tension in which the extreme right dealt the PP its first major defeat in a vote, the two parties that do jointly govern the Generalitat voted together this Wednesday on the popular party’s proposal to modify the tax ordinances. Some measures that Vox seriously threatened not to support last week for not having participated in their preparation and as a pressure measure to become part of the local government, a request that they reiterated yesterday.
However, the agreement that allowed the 20% IBI tax reduction to be carried out – which the real opposition (PSPV and Compromís) voted against – does not directly imply the entry of the four Vox councilors into the Catalan Executive, as Yesterday both the mayor and the spokesperson for the extreme right, Juanma Badenas, tried to clarify. Both spoke of a specific pact, although the Voz leader explained that they will continue meeting “to discuss issues that affect the City Council, now with a little more intensity.”
Despite this, the PSPV emphasized that it is “notorious” that Vox will be part of the Catalá executive and that there is a “hidden pact” while Compromís denounced that the mayor “is delighted to open her doors to the extreme right and the rest of the his little friends who historically had already accompanied him”.
What does seem clear is that, as a result of this new door open to dialogue, the path towards the approval of next year’s budget is paved. This time Vox – unlike what happened last week – was willing to support them without the need for Catalá to first integrate them into its team. Of course, he asked that they be invited to participate in the preparation of the accounts for 2024.
“There will be no problem on our part,” responded Catalá, who was convinced that there will be a framework of “fluid dialogue” that will “strengthen trust” between the two potential partners. And it seems that, after saving yesterday’s commission, the votes necessary for the approval of the council’s accounts for 2024 are clearer.
The tone used by the Vox municipal spokesperson seems to have lowered the level of demand used until now. Perhaps the meeting that he himself and the national deputy and provincial president of Vox, Ignacio Gil Lázaro, held on Tuesday with Catalá itself and with the Councilor for Large Projects, José Marí Olano, whom Badenas put on the list, may have something to do with it. pillory for his work at the consulting firm KPMG.
Vox’s municipal spokesperson justified Gil Lázaro’s presence at the meeting as a person of “his utmost confidence.” Be that as it may, the truth is that the presence of this leader who is very close to Santiago Abascal has served to reduce tension in the main town hall of the Valencian Community and direct important pending issues.
Nor does it seem coincidental that after that meeting at the highest level, the council announced yesterday that it has informed Valencia CF that the decision has been made not to carry out any negotiations on the urban planning agreement until the Club effectively resumes the construction works of the New Stadium, paralyzed for almost fifteen years.
