The general secretary of the PSPV and former president of the Generalitat Valenciana from 2015 to 2023, Ximo Puig, will announce today in the party’s national committee the start of a renewal process in the second federation of the PSOE that necessarily requires his passage back and that a process of election of a new direction of the Valencian Socialist Federation be opened. All this, while the socialist leader meditates on his political future, more in a personal key than in the party, after the electoral defeat of 28-M that deprived him of a third mandate in the Valencian Council, according to sources close to him .
There are two options that Puig has on the table and that, according to La Vanguardia, he is seriously considering. The first would be to remain as a territorial senator – a few days ago he was appointed president of the Budgets committee of the Upper House – and the other, which seems to be the one he likes the most, to become the ambassador from Spain to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Yesterday, in questions from the media, Puig already advanced the need for “new winds” and “new leadership” in the PSPV. In addition, he insisted that he “would not be an obstacle”, although he did not want to clarify his role in the future in front of the media. At the time, there was talk of the possibility of him becoming part of Pedro Sánchez’s executive as a minister. This was not the case, and this fact has accelerated the changes that will be announced tomorrow. Conditional situation also because his two main supports in the parliamentary group of the Valencian Courts, Arcadi España and Rebeca Torró, have been appointed secretaries of state.
Along these lines, Puig wants to open a “quiet” process without internal battles to avoid the tragic mistakes that condemned the party to decades of opposition after the defeat in 1995. For this reason, according to PSOE sources, the Valencian leader would have asked Ferraz’s management for help to facilitate a peaceful transition in order to avoid the usual organic battles of the Valencian federation. For now, the federal organization secretary, Santos Cerdán, will be present at today’s key speech by Puig. Before and after, it will pulse the mood of the militancy of Valencia and Alicante.
According to this newspaper, the announcement that Puig will stage in the national committee will be made in a short period of time with the decision, in parallel, to leave his seat in the Valencian Courts. A position that he combines with that of territorial senator, which has prevented him from attending more than one session and important vote in the regional Parliament, and which has caused discomfort in a part of his party. There is no date for this resignation, nor is it clear whether, finally, Puig will accept the OECD offer and make his way to Paris. This last possibility, which seems to be gaining strength in the last few hours, would cause the resignation of the general secretary and force the formation of a manager who would have to lead the party until the next congress.
The former president’s decision will generate inevitable tensions between his “loyalists” and those from other PSPV families who aspire to occupy the power that Ximo Puig will soon leave. Tomorrow the announcement will be made in the national committee, and on Monday there will be a national executive. Everything seems decided for Valencian socialism to begin a new stage, with probable shocks.
