The agreement to distribute unaccompanied migrant children throughout Spain has broken the coalition government pact of the PP and Vox in Extremadura, thus fulfilling – in part – the threat against Genoa launched last Monday by Vox national leader Santiago Abascalwho again linked migrants to crime: “We will abandon those governments immediately. “We will not be complicit in robberies, machetes or rapes.”
The Junta de Extremadura, in which the Ministry of Forestry and Rural Affairs is headed by Ignacio Higuero (Vox), will wait until next Friday to offer an analysis of the decision of the Executive Committee of Vox to leave the autonomous coalition governments to the people.
The PP had already announced at 12:00 on Wednesday that the autonomous communities in which it governs, including those in which it does so together with Vox, They would accept the reception of 400 unaccompanied minorsThe voluntary distribution was finally agreed at the last minute on Wednesday during the Youth and Children sector conference in Tenerife.
Besides Extremadura, the far right is the mainstay of the autonomous governments of the PP in Aragon, Castilla y León, Comunitat Valenciana and the region of Murcia.
The one from Extremadura does the most complicated autonomous government pact that PP and Vox have to concludebut the coalition was blown up a year later. The President of the Council, María Guardiola, initially refused to admit the far right into the executive: “I cannot allow those who deny sexist violence, those who use the broad stroke, those who deny sexist violence, to enter the government, dehumanize immigrants and those who roll out a tarpaulin and throw the LGTBI flag in the bin (…) What is at stake is the dignity of this country.”
Paradoxically, the agreement has now been broken because of Vox's refusal to accept the reception of minor migrants from the Canary Islands. Unlike what both parties signed in other regions, the document that led Guardiola to betray his word and advise Vox to gain the support of his five deputies does not mention immigration in any of its 60 points.
Living together for 12 months
These little over twelve months of cohabitation have been marked by a low profile for the party led by Santiago Abascal, despite having the stability of the Extremaduran government in its hands. Apart from a few calls for attention, those at Vox have swallowed up their partners with the contempt of the PP and Guardiola, and maintained, albeit with severe austerity, with laid for international cooperationthe unions, the employers and the development of policy against sexist violence and in favor of LGTBI people. They also urgently awaited the repeal of the Law of Historical Memory of Extremadura.
The PP has tried to project an image of a solid government, but alone, avoiding the institutional presence of Vox in the Governing Council. Guardiola staged this strategy when he assured last September that the relationship with the far right was “little or none”, even though they were partners. The next confrontations came with the 2024 budgets, where the cuts were not enough for Vox: 10% less for UGT, CCOO and the Extremeña Regional Business Confederation (CREEX), 25% less for the Extremeña Agency for International Cooperation for Development (Aexcid) and continuity of projects with LGTBI groups and associations.
“If you experiment with soda, you could choke,” Vox spokesman Óscar Calle warned in the General Assembly last March. Now, after so many threats, Vox has decided to leave the Extremadura government, on the orders of Santiago Abascal and in agreement with María Guardiola when she refused to include the far-right in the government council. Just ten days later, his words went up in smoke.