This Saturday the Official Gazette of Castilla y León published a special edition, not published in the usual way on this day, in which, among other things, the resignation of Juan García-Gallardo as vice-president of the autonomous government and of the already former councillors Mariano Veganzones and Gerardo Dueñas at the head of Industry and Employment, and Agriculture and Livestock respectively. President Alfonso Fernández Mañueco did so, of course, by thanking them for their services and thus putting an end to the coalition government of PP and Vox, the first autonomous government in Spain, which lasted two years and three months.
But Abascal’s decision to break with the PP and attack Feijóo for accepting the distribution of minor migrants under autonomy has also ended up breaking Vox in Castilla y León, where the councillors rebelled against his decision and with their departure ended the internal positions of the far-right party. Furthermore, the departure of Vox from the government means that fifty positions will have to return to their old professions or find a new one, as President Mañueco himself stated on Saturday. We will have to see the adjustments of those who stay or leave the Ministry of Culture. which is still in the hands of the controversial Gonzalo Santonja due to 'personal confidence' of the head of government. One of the greatest emergencies of the Partido Popular will be finding a manager for the public employment service of Castilla y León, Ecyl, one of the most unstable positions in the 814 days of coalition government, with three names eventually leaving through the government's back door, the last of which lasted only a few days.
The three Vox councillors refused to resign, but President Mañueco chose to dismiss Veganzones and Dueñas for their membership of the far-right party. And both, in disagreement with Abascal's decision, have chosen to no longer belong to Vox. Mariano Veganzones has also been the ideological pillar of Vox in the government of Castilla y León, always with his 'Spain Agenda' pin, attacking the Agenda 2030 and engaging in an all-out war with the unions. whom he has repeatedly insulteduntil the social dialogue in Castilla y León broke. Always with the consent of the PP, which has barely intervened in the brawl, even at the cost of destroying the Serla mediation service for labor disputes. His involvement in the party was so great that Veganzones was appointed president of Vox Valladolid last fall, with the leading role in recent months gathers in front of PSOE headquarters.
Former Agriculture Minister, another symbol of far-right politics, albeit without the ire of Gallardo or Veganzones, Gerardo Dueñas, is also no longer a member of the far-right party and has resigned as vice-president of the executive Provincial Committee of Vox Palencia. Dueñas has encouraged the ranchers who eventually attacked the Council's headquarters in Salamanca to reduce livestock controls, although he later “regretted” the events without expressly condemning them, and his legacy It is a reduction in veterinary controls that is accompanied by strong controversy.
Gallardo versus… Pollan
“It is a decision that has not been easy, but that does not mean it has been poorly thought out,” Gallardo said when announcing his resignation. in which he made a xenophobic claim to justify this. The most famous face of Vox in Castilla y León will now visit the Cortes of Castilla y León to “lead” the opposition against the solitary government of the PP. But as referee he will have Carlos Pollán, president of the legislature, and one of the rising figures of the party in recent times, precisely to the detriment of Gallardo, and with whom there is a poorly hidden internal rivalry.
In the last European elections, Abascal only appeared in the Community at a campaign opening rally in the city of León, which gave rise to internal speculation due to the special relationship that Pollán now has with the national headquarters of Vox and the loss of Gallardo's influence. Carlos Pollán has a well-educated profile in light of Gallardo's public 'macarrismo', although his decisions have been controversial how to turn the Castilla y León Foundation into an ideological beach bar for Vox, from which the left and the unions eventually left. So much so that the PP eventually established another foundation, depending on the presidency of the government with some similar purposes.
Now that Vox’s power space is limited to the Cortes of Castilla y León and its parliamentary group, it remains to be seen how the party’s two most important references will be dealt with. Pollán has ruled out resigning and, in statements to an office last Saturday, he already suggested that the measures that Vox would propose in the Cortes would be “more Agenda Spain and less Agenda 2030.” Marking the territory, although his job is to be the arbiter of parliamentary activities, which he has skipped several times such as when he threatened the PSOE to forcibly remove from his office the LGTBI flag they had hung due to the legislator's refusal to do so. Pollán also has advisers that Gallardo no longer has, such as his chief of staff, Gonzalo Altozano, who defends neo-Nazis who attack comedians.
Gallardo's loss of influence in Madrid was compounded by the departure of his former communications director, Montserrat Lluis, now one of Santiago Abascal's key figures. Lluis left Valladolid after a year and a half as Gallardo's “shadow” and responsible for communications for the Vox area in the regional government. plagued by dismissals and resignations, such as were not known in other times.
More salary for Gallardo
The departure of the government to the Cortes of Castilla y León will have an unexpected consequence for Juan García-Gallardo, a significant salary increase since until now as vice-president he earned 80,741.24 euros, in addition to the benefit of a car for their official journeys. As spokesman for Vox in the Cortes of Castilla y León, a position he announced he would take up if he steps down as vice-president, García-Gallardo now earns 100,000 euros. At Vox there are three exclusive dedications, of thirteen parliamentarians plus that of the president and secretary of the council, which are currently paid by the spokesman and vice-spokesmen Carlos Menéndez, David Hierro and Ignacio Sicilia, the latter being in principle the one who is 'damned' by the arrival of Gallardo to parliament.
The group spokesman in the Cortes of Castilla y León, where only 25 of the 81 regional lawyers' certificates receive a salary, enjoys a a salary equal to that of the board members, which consists of several parts. 76,737.08 euros per year for the basic salary, plus 1,800 euros per month or 21,600 euros per year for 'expense allowance', plus 1,000 euros per year for the reimbursement of the private car insurance. In total 99,337.08 euros. Of course without a company car.
One less councillor in León
Parallel to the week of the rupture of Vox with the PP at regional level, in the city of León Vox has lost a councilor who no longer holds a position in the Leonese municipal government. A fact that does not affect the governability of the church council in the hands of the PSOE. Councillor Ildefonso del Fueyo made the decision due to his serious confrontation with the Vox spokesperson in the León City Council, Blanca Herreros, who had excluded him from participating in committees after he voted to update the parking prices of the León Hospital, which would leave him with less income because he charged fees for participating in plenary meetings and committees and the spokesperson earned 75% exclusive stake, around 35,000 euros. Vox has requested the minutes from Del Fueyo, who also served as Vox coordinator in the city of León, but it is expected that Del Fueyo will not deliver them.
Last fall, Vox lost a party councilor in the Soria town of El Burgo de Osma, one of the places where Vox agreed with the PP to give them the government. Councilor Miguel Ángel Miguel Andrés left the party due to disagreements with some decisions of Santiago Abascal's party, leaving the party without one of its showcases in the province of Soria.
And in Benavente (Zamora), where the PP governs thanks to the only Vox councillor, he has threatened to break up the municipal government. The also president of Vox Zamora, Eugenio Blanco, has assured that he will remain in the coalition government for so long because the Governing Council has not established a centre for unaccompanied migrant minors in that city.
Vox will now have to rebuild itself in Castilla y León, waiting to see whether the local governments of Burgos or Valladolid, the most important in the coalition they maintain, will finally fall. Both Vox councillors and PP mayors have defended its continuity, but Abascal’s plans are inscrutable. And the decisions on positions are personal and, according to Gallardo, “respectable.”