Simon Hunter
SPAIN’S far-right Vox party last night dropped a political bombshell, as it announced it would be walking away from its coalition governments with the conservative Partido Popular (PP) in Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Extremadura and Castilla y Leon.
What’s more, it will withdraw its support for the PP in the Balearic Islands, where it had signed up to a confidence and supply arrangement.
The leader of the party, Santiago Abascal, announced the move on Thursday evening saying that the group would now become a ‘loyal and robust’ opposition.
The reason for the rupture was the PP’s decision to accept unaccompanied underage migrants in their regions from areas that have been overwhelmed with such irregular arrivals, such as the Canary Islands.
The process had been proposed by the Socialist-led central government, but was a red line for Vox, which pursues extreme policies on immigration.
Abascal said that the agreements between his party and the PP had been broken ‘as a consequence of the assault’ by the conservative group’s leader, Alberto Nuñez Feijoo.
In comments reported by Europa Press, he said that Feijoo had ‘forced his regional premiers to do a deal with Pedro Sanchez to share out the illegal menas,’ using a Spanish acronym for unaccompanied underage migrant.
The Vox leader said that illegal immigration creates ‘insecurity, delinquency and an economic cost that is rising every day for all Spaniards’.
“No one voted for Vox, and I would dare to say the PP, so that the invasion of illegal immigration and menas continues,” he added.
The PP will now have to seek support in these regions from Vox and other parties on a case by case basis if it is to continue to govern, at the risk that fresh elections may have to be called.
