Ximo Puig faces the challenge of presiding over the Generalitat Valenciana for the third time. His framework in the campaign will be to invite citizens to confront his management with reference to that of years ago by the PP. He trusts in the mobilization of the left.
Does he worry that events like May 2 contaminate the Valencian campaign?
It is a realization of media centralism that has consequences, but I am committed to the fact that the debate is about clarifying the future of Valencians. This autonomy was the paradigm of corruption and unemployment and after eight years we have changed it. Citizens must decide where they want to go, to the past or the future.
It seems that Isabel DÃaz Ayuso is managing to Madridize the 28-M campaign in Spain.
What Ayuso is doing goes more against Feijóo than against Sánchez; it is their strategy not to talk about what is appropriate, about their management of the pandemic or healthcare, and enthrone the tension. His best attribute is to live by confrontation.
How do you rate Feijóo’s leadership in this context?
I think it is weakened from within and not consolidated from without, in a state of some precariousness, and I say that with respect. In Valencia, the PP has no project, but neither in Spain.
There is a consensus that what happens here on 28-M will have consequences in the generals.
It causes me perplexity and indignation that the Valencian Community is spoken of as if it were a trophy, and that it must be offered so that someone can achieve something in the future; it is a lack of respect and democratic consistency. But it is true that all elections have consequences, of course in areas other than where they take place. But I insist, that no one sees us as a trophy.
The tension of the process has dropped many degrees. How do you rate what the Spanish Government did?
I think that the PSOE is constantly trying to sew Spain together, to unite, to live together, and this is achieved by closing great wounds and fractures such as terrorism and, now, the consequences of the process. Dialogue is fundamental, without a sectarian, intolerant vision. The central government has done a great job and a new climate has been created.
Would it be more ambitious?
We must go further, not only with Catalonia, and move towards a more federal conception of the State, in accordance with the path set by the Constitution. We must delve deeper into the Spain of the Spains. But we must thank the audacity of Pedro Sánchez and the enormous effort he has made.
The PSOE has not been very sensitive to its federal proposal and more co-governance.
Not enough progress has been made. Many agreements are required between different points of view, but it is about reconciling and looking for a space where the rights, singularities and equality between citizens can be exercised. It is necessary to implement it.
He has demanded new funding, but for the moment everything remains at a standstill.
As with everything, there are advances and inadequacies. We have received more resources from the financing system than during the previous period. Pedro Sánchez has increased resources by 40%. But it is true that the desired progress has not been made in terms of funding, we are not satisfied, and it needs to be resolved, speeded up, because it creates inequality among Spaniards. I deny that this cannot be resolved in favor of the cohesion of Spain.
How is the relationship now with Pedro Sánchez?
My relationship is positive. We always wish they would listen to us more, but listen to me. It attends to all the needs, including those that require co-governance, such as housing. Everything we can do together is better. And always the Valencian way of dialogue and agreement, instead of confronting.
The Valencian tax reduction did not please the central government.
I think it was misunderstood initially. The Valencian vision had nothing to do with Madrid’s proposal. When we arrived, in 2015, we had a fiscal situation in which the lowest incomes were those who paid the most in Spain, and the highest, those who paid the least. What it was about was applying the Constitution and advancing progressivity. What is intellectual insolvency is believing that you can have a welfare state without paying taxes and that is a lack of respect for citizens.
The PSPV has designed a campaign focused on his figure. Do you trust that this strategy will serve to mobilize the electorate?
I represent, as president, the people of Valencia, and as a candidate I represent a project, that of my party, which is plural and which goes beyond the borders of the PSPV. It is a transversal project.
He has summarized this campaign with the slogan “O Gürtel o Volkswagen”.
It is a way of sketching it, but the truth is that this election is 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 regional government. The Generalitat was dismantled, it was going to become a small deputation. We prevented it.
What does it mean to have achieved the arrival of the gigafactory?
From a symbolic point of view, it is the realization of the capacity and importance of self-government. It is also the spearhead of Valencia’s economic and social transformation in a sustainable future.
Is he worried that the tensions between Podemos and Sumar will demobilize a sector of the left in the 28- M Valencian?
I believe that the social majority will opt for the work done by this Government, which is very well valued. They will mobilize, I am convinced.
How is he living the investigation of the Assut case, which also affects his party?
With serenity The PSPV is neither concerned nor involved, what we are told is that it acted correctly. We trust in justice, and if someone has done something, they will have to answer.
The PP has made a strong offensive for the subsidies received by his brother. Does it bother you?
It has no recourse as far as the Generalitat Valenciana is concerned, because the case involving a general manager has been closed. It is an artificially mounted case, instrumented, because the PP has a huge stain that is still present in the courts. If at some point the company my brother works for has not complied with the rules, then it will have to respond, just like any other company.
