Ximo Puig (Morella, 1959) faces the challenge of revalidating his presidency of the Generalitat Valenciana on 28M after two legislatures with the support of CompromÃs and Unides Podem. In this interview, carried out last Thursday, the president outlines the framework that he wants to define in his electoral campaign and that he summarizes with a slogan: “Either Gürtel or Voklswagen”. A convinced federalist, he believes that in another legislature he would be able to advance in the consolidation of a Valencian model of a welfare society that, as he denounces, requires a new regional financing model.
May 2 has generated a lot of noise. Are you worried that this type of staging contaminates the Valencian campaign? That 28M is in the end a Sánchez/Feijóo plebiscite?
It is a confirmation of media centralism that has consequences but that does not correspond to what is the reality of Spain. I am committed to trying to place the debate where it belongs democratically, which is to define the future of the Valencian Community and its municipalities. This autonomy of 2023 has nothing to do with that of 2015; the paradigm of corruption and unemployment of eight years ago has disappeared. Now it is the citizens who have to decide where they want to go, to the past or to the future.
It seems that Isabel DÃaz Ayuso is managing to make Madrid’s 28M campaign in Spain and establish herself as the striker against Sánchez instead of Feijóo. Do you share this hypothesis?
I think that what Ayuso is doing goes more against Feijóo than against Sánchez; It is his strategy of not talking about what corresponds, his management of the pandemic or health, and enthrone tension. The best attribute of him is living from confrontation. We have a determined and centralist media worldview, and that helps him. This affects, in the background, what is the vision of Spain. What happened on May 2 would never have happened here, where we are committed to a friendly society in the face of a tense society.
How do you assess Feijóo’s leadership in this context?
I think it is weakened from within and not strengthened from without. It is in a state of certain precariousness, and I say this with the utmost respect, as a political reading. In the Valencian Community, the PP does not have a project, but neither does it in Spain.
You have denounced many times that there is intelligent life outside the M30. But it seems that in this campaign it is difficult for the peripheries to have a leading role.
There is a question that causes me perplexity and indignation and that is that the Valencian Community is spoken of as if it were a trophy, and that it must be offered for someone to achieve something in the future; It is a lack of respect and democratic consistency. This autonomy deserves to be respected and not be a trophy for anyone. Now we must decide whether to continue advancing in a process of cohesion and economic consolidation or return to the past. Here you can contrast what the PP did and what this government has done, with all the difficulties and weaknesses we have; just compare.
But there is a consensus that what happens in the Valencian Community is going to have consequences for the PSOE and for the PP in the face of the general elections. Don’t you value it that way?
All choices have consequences, of course, in areas other than where they occur. But what worries me is the future of the Valencian Community, because here we have had a very bad time. And the return to the past can have serious consequences; I am convinced that we Valencians will once again look to the future, not to the past.
Objectively, the Government’s relations with Catalonia have relaxed. Are you on the right track?
I believe that the PSOE permanently tries to glue Spain together, unite, coexist, and this is achieved by closing major wounds and fractures such as terrorism and, now, the consequences of the process. Dialogue is fundamental, without a sectarian, intolerant vision. The Government has done a great job and a new climate has been created. But we have to go further, not only with Catalonia, but towards a more federal conception of the State, in accordance with the path set out by the Constitution. We must delve into the Spain of Spains. This state of the autonomies is not an invention, it responds to a historical reality.
Would you be more ambitious in the process of understanding between the Government and Catalonia?
I believe that it is possible to go further by understanding this federal vision of Spain, not only with Catalonia, that addresses reality. But we must thank the audacity of Pedro Sánchez. Can he be more ambitious? Maybe. I have more peripheral vision, but the effort that has been made is enormous. The PSOE assumes the conditions to improve political coexistence and that is what the president has done.
You have said it now and you defend it: you want to move towards the federalization and co-governance of Spain, but it does not seem that the PSOE has been very sensitive to your proposals.
Not enough progress has been made. Many agreements are required between different perspectives and it is about reconciling them and looking for a space in which rights, singularities and equality between citizens can be exercised. It is necessary to implement it. The problem appears in issues such as financing, but also in the democratic distribution of state power in a plural Spain.
You have advocated emulating the German power-sharing model, but the big parties don’t seem to accept it.
That cannot be done only from a match. It would be necessary to question the territorial leaderships of the PP to issue messages in favor of the reality of Spain itself.
You have demanded a change in the financing model, you have appealed the cut in the Tagus-Segura or you have denounced a lack of investment in Alicante. However, the Government has not given sufficient answers to these demands.
As with everything, there are advances and shortcomings. We have received more resources from the financing system than in the previous period, which Pedro Sánchez has increased by 40%. There has been correspondence in the investments with the weight of the population. The case of Alicante is true, but we have been able to alleviate it. In other issues such as financing, the desired progress has not been made, we are not satisfied, and it must be resolved, accelerated, because it generates inequality among Spaniards. We need financial sufficiency and fair redistribution contemplating the population, which is fundamental. I refuse that this cannot be resolved in favor of the cohesion of Spain.
How would you define your relationship now with Pedro Sánchez? Are you sensitive to the difficulties that this autonomy suffers?
My relationship is positive. We always wish they would listen to us more, but he listens to me. It attends to what the needs are, also to those that require co-governance such as housing. Everything we can do together is better: adding is better than dividing, trying to reach agreements is better than confronting. This is the Valencian route, as opposed to the route of that other community that appears more in the media. I prefer to talk and agree than confront, and I don’t like those who want to patrimonialize institutions.
The Valencian way meant agreeing a unanimous tax reduction in the Valencian Courts, but the Government did not quite like it.
I think it was misunderstood initially. There was always a contaminated debate at the national level and surely there were some differences that when what was really wanted was seen, they disappeared. The Valencian vision had nothing to do with the Madrid proposal. When we arrived in 2015, we had a tax situation in which the lowest incomes paid the most in Spain, and the highest paid the least. What it was about was applying the Constitution in the fiscal sphere and advancing in progressivity. What is an intellectual insolvency is believing that you can have a welfare state without paying taxes and that is a lack of respect for citizens. In any civilized country that is not even discussed, and here the PP says that 4,000 million can be cut, as if that were nothing, and that means cutting health, education, public services. They already did it when they ruled.
Is a third tax reform planned for the next legislature?
You always have to update taxation, and there are things pending. Spain must do it, to guarantee progressivity. We know that there are people and companies that do not pay as much as they should and others that pay more than they should. Taxation supports civility, and from that perspective it must be rigorously considered and advanced. There is no democracy without taxation.
Let’s go back to financing. The Valencian Community carries a debt of 54,000 million, part of this debt is due to underfinancing. Is an administration sustainable with this burden?
At the moment, what we have not given up on is increasing social investment due to the blockage in financing. There will be no cuts here. The Welfare State must be the same for everyone. Regarding policies to promote growth, we will continue to do so, even if it is necessary to borrow. Public investment, neo-Keynesianism, works, and it is what prevails in Europe. The Spanish and Valencian right want to return to Thatcherism, to radical neoliberalism, and it is not my objective.
The PSPV has designed a campaign very focused on his figure. Do you trust that this strategy will serve to mobilize your electorate?
I think that what it is about is trying to situate citizens in the corresponding question: are we going forwards or backwards? I represent all Valencians, and this is a project, the one I represent, plural and that goes beyond the borders of the PSPV. Transversality is a factor of cohesion and stability.
You have synthesized this campaign with a slogan: “Either Gürtel or Volkswagen”.
It is a way of schematizing, but the truth is that these elections are about that. The PP has governed here for 20 years, and the result is what we had, systemic and massive corruption and very bad economic results, in addition to a confiscation of the autonomous fact. The Generalitat was dismantled, it was going to become a small council. We have prevented it.
What does it mean to you to have achieved the arrival of the gigafactory in Sagunt?
From a symbolic point of view, it is the confirmation of the capacity and importance of self-government. It is also the spearhead of the Valencian economic and social transformation, in a sustainable future. Ford’s decision to stay here has also been important, and it is no coincidence. There have been many actors that have collaborated, but the Generalitat has been in these processes. Volkswagen is the result of the value of unity, social dialogue, credibility, trust and the ability to generate stability. We were not initially mapping and we have managed to bring the gigafactory to the Valencian Community.
What will be the main programmatic axes that will be part of your campaign?
First, the consolidation of growth and employment; it is the great priority; more employment and better quality. A second issue is health, as a basic pillar of the Welfare State; a reset after the pandemic. We have increased the budget by 50% and more than 15,000 professionals, and we are contemplating great challenges. Another third fundamental axis is housing; We want to take advantage of the momentum of the new State Law but we intend to go further with a great agreement with developers, builders and town halls. We are going to design a great impact plan for social housing. And another priority that I want to underline is sustainability in the face of climate change, a phenomenon that the right-wing coalition still doubts. We will promote renewable energy while maintaining the environmental balance, including water.
Are you worried that the tensions between Podemos and Sumar in a space on the left could generate disappointment and demobilization in the Valencian 28M?
Decision-making is adopted later, but this degree of mobilization will take place when citizens have to face the big question: do we want to return to the past of corruption and unemployment or do we strengthen a Valencian path of employment and prosperity , of support to the citizens even in a situation as hard as now? I believe that the social majority is going to opt for the work done by this government, which is highly valued by the majority.
How is the investigation of the Azud case that affects the PP but also the party that you lead?
With enormous serenity. Look, this is a problem that arose when the Valencian Community was governed by land, sea and air by the PP, but, if at any time, it is concluded that those responsible for our party at that time acted incorrectly, they will abide by the consequences. The PSPV is neither concerned nor involved, what we are told is that it acted correctly. We trust in justice.
The PP has made a harsh offensive for the subsidies from the Generalitat Valenciana received by his brother. Does it worry you?
It does not have the slightest path in what affects the Generalitat Valenciana, because as you know the case that affected a general director has been closed. It is an artificially mounted, instrumented case, because the PP has a huge stain that is still present in the courts. If at any time the company where my brother works, in this or in another matter, has not complied with the rules, then it will have to respond like any other company. At this moment, what there is, from the government, is the verification that this autonomy, which was among the worst in reputation and democratic quality, is now above average. Society has removed that stain that the PP caused.
