Although in many places the Partido Popular (PP) did better in the municipal and regional elections than the vote in 2019, they did not obtain a sufficient portion of the electorate to secure an overall majority, and, as such, have had to look at political collaborators to form coalition governments.
Earlier this week, the current caretaker-President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, pointed out that the far-to-extreme-right Vox is not the biggest threat to society, but rather the PP adopting their policies is, and, little into a week of these governments being formed, that is exactly what we are starting to see, as, perhaps out of desperation, the PP are agreeing to implement some of the extreme Vox policies.
Already, we have seen a Valencia language school closed down. Vox advocates for a single unifying language.
In the Valencia town of Náquera, the agreement to govern is based around some 20 measures, some controversial, such as a ban on the displaying of rainbow flags in support of the LGTBIQ+ community, introduced during Pride Month.
The local government agreement contemplates the creation of departments for bullfighting, hunting and Family and Life, which will be managed by the far-right formation.
Vox also wants to replace the current gender violence laws, and in Náquera will ban protests in support or recognition of the victims of gender-based violence, because, as one of their vocal heads, José María Llanos, states, “Macho violence does not exist”.
Regionally, the PP did insist that one key Vox member who had been convicted of gender violence was not included in the government as part of their agreement. The Vox head in Valencia, welcomed by the PP, is a former bullfighter, Vicente Barrera will be the vice president of the Generalitat, second to Carlos Mazón of the PP. Valencia has recently agreed funding for the promotion of bullfighting.
They will of course celebrate Spain and the Constitution, as they are important values, as part of their Spain for the Spanish policy, where foreigners are not welcome. Vox are particularly vocal against Catalonia, and their policy of unification is to be achieved by the destruction of unique areas with their own cultures and identity.
Somewhat closer to our home, in Elche, a protest was scheduled for Thursday to try to protect the bike lanes in the city, as that has become a priority for the PP / Vox coalition there.
The result of course is that bicycles and scooters will once again have to mix with traffic, creating a greater risk to vulnerable road users. It is also not clear how reducing bike lanes will satisfy the already outstanding legal requirement for reducing emissions.
In Orihuela, the competency of International Residents has been handed to a Vox councillor, perhaps not the most ideal fit as Vox are generally anti-immigration and anti-Europe.
