Negotiations to form the new government in Aragon are advancing little by little. This Tuesday, the representatives of the PP and the Aragonese Party (PAR) agreed to negotiate a programmatic pact that guarantees the support of the regionalists for the investiture of the popular Jorge Azcón as the new president. If he succeeds, Azcón could govern alone as long as the abstention of Vox and Aragón/Teruel Existe is guaranteed, something that today is not closed.
The PAR, which achieved a poor result in the last elections after months of internal struggles, had already warned that they did not plan to remain in no man’s land and would sell their support dearly. “We will not abstain. I will vote yes or no depending on whether Azcón accepts our measures for Aragón or not,” its leader and only elected seat, Alberto Izquierdo, said before the meeting.
These demands were reflected in a document with six points in which their support is conditioned. The first and most important is the resounding and unmitigated ‘no’ to the transfer of the Ebro, a measure to which Azcón showed his support. “In none of the cases will there be a transfer,” said the popular, an approach that clashes with Vox, the other formation with which he is negotiating his investiture.
The rest of the sections in contention are the modification of the new specifications for urgent medical transport (ambulances), direct aid to farmers, the defense of the territorial model through the regions -another of the points in which they collide with the ultra-right- and aid for the operation of companies, the self-employed and SMEs. “I don’t see that there is any issue that is insurmountable,” concluded Azcón after a face-to-face of almost two hours in the Aljafería palace.
The popular now has before him the challenge of combining the negotiation of this pact with the other one that he has underway with Vox, whose points of interest were not disclosed after the meeting they held last week. On the compatibility of a three-party agreement in which the actors have such distant positions on some issues, Azcón limited himself to pointing out that they are focusing on talking about “the issues that unite us”, without going into new explanations.
Azcón insisted today on his intention to govern alone. With his 28 seats, the popular would add an absolute majority with the seven representatives of Vox, who wants to enter the Executive, something that the blues reject. In the second round, the support of the PAR would allow a hypothetical investiture with a simple majority as long as the abstention of Vox and the three representatives of Aragón/Teruel Existe is guaranteed, the only two parties that have already said they will not vote against him.
Faced with the movements that have been registered in other communities such as Valencia or Extremadura in recent days, the leader of the Aragonese PP assured today that they are going to make “our own decisions” and have their own personality. “Let what affects the community be decided here,” he said.
In parallel to these programmatic agreements, Azcón is also negotiating the formation of the Table of the Cortes. In their meeting last week, the popular offered Vox one of the two secretariats, but the ultras considered the offer “insufficient” and aspire to the presidency or, at least, the vice presidency. The enigma will have to be resolved by this Friday at the latest, the key day on which the composition of the body that directs the Cortes will be announced.
