Alex Trelinski
THE far-right Vox party is set to scrap its regional government coalition deals with the conservative Partido Popular(PP) in a dispute over young migrants.
Vox leader, Santiago Abascal, said on Thursday that he expected his party’s National Executive Committee to end the agreements this evening and blamed the PP leader, Alberto Nuñez Feijoo.
The PP announced its intention on Wednesday to accommodate 347 unaccompanied minors currently housed in overcrowded shelters on the Canary Islands within the mainland regions it governs.
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That includes areas jointly run with Vox, namely Aragon, Castilla y Leon, the Valencian Community, Extremadura, Murcia, and the Balearic Islands.
The Canaries need to relocate at least 3,000 of the 6,000 young migrants they are currently hosting, which would still leave their facilities running at 150% capacity.
Despite a relatively small number of 347 transfers, Vox has accused the PP of tearing up coalition agreements.
Santiago Abascal said: “Mr. Feijoo is the one who has decided to break the regional governments by preventing regional party leaders from voting against the distribution of migrants.”
The El Pais newspaper has reported that just 209 minors would be moved to the regions that until now have been jointly governed by the PP and Vox.
Abascal blasted that Feijoo ‘tried from the beginning to prevent regional pacts with Vox and has not stopped until they become impossible’.
He accused the PP leader of starring in ‘the biggest scam in Spanish politics’ by allowing Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, ‘to continue with his blow to the Constitution, his distribution of ruin and his political and family corruption’.
If Vox withdraw from their coalitions, it will leave the PP running minority administrations but it would appear unlikely that the far-right party would try to bring down the governments and force elections which could let left-wing opponents grab power.
The Valencian president and PP regional leader, Carlos Mazon, has called an urgent meeting of his party’s leadership this afternoon.
The regional vice-president and Vox leader, Vicente Barrera, said: “I will do what my party says and that’s it.”
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