Abascal gives Mazón a boost: PP-Vox pre-agreement on the DANA budget

ValenciaThe far right is giving Carlos Mazón a lifeline, but the price to pay for the budget will not be any less: in return, the PP is embracing the criminalization of migration and the climate denialism of the far right. In the midst of a political and judicial siege over the management of the DANA (National Anti-Terrorism and Anti-Terrorism Act), the Valencian president announced this Monday a preliminary agreement with Vox that will be finalized "in the coming days." This is good news for the Valencian president, immersed in a personal political crisis for months. In fact, this Monday, the judge investigating the management of the DANA (National Anti-Terrorism Act) summoned former Interior Minister Salomé Pradas and former regional Secretary of Emergencies Emilio Argüeso to testify as suspects on April 11th. She also summons the Spanish government delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, as a witness on the 14th of the same month.

The DANA judge indicts the former Interior Minister and excludes Mazón for now.

In a statement, Vox has detailed the measures that the new accounts will have to include. Regarding immigration, they demand the elimination of all subsidies to NGOs that help migrants. They also ask for a budget to carry out "reliable" age-diagnostic tests on these individuals. Furthermore, they demand that the Valencian Community not accept any more unaccompanied minors and also demand a budget to promote a plan for the return of irregular migrants. With these requests, the ultras intend for the Generalitat (Catalan government) to counteract the extraordinary regularization approved by the Spanish government.

Mazón himself thanked Vox for its support, announcing that the Generalitat (Catalan government) "will not accept any more distributions" of migrants and asked the Spanish government to report the number and nationality of people arrested for looting and theft from supermarkets and other establishments. The request, in practice, links migration with citizen insecurity, a thesis defended by Vox since its inception.

Regarding climate denialism, Vox demands the elimination of all funds allocated to the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development and the fees derived from the European Green Deal. It also demands that the Generalitat assume any sanctions that the European Union or the State may impose on local councils that, without authorization, carry out actions to reduce vegetation in riverbeds and ravines. "Climate dogmatism and regulatory rigidity cannot be a brake on the construction [of water infrastructure] that needs to be accelerated," Mazón justified.

In the linguistic field, the far-right party demands "significant" cuts to the budget of the Valencian Academy of Language and subsidies for the promotion of Catalan. Regarding historical memory policies, it intends to maintain only the "mandatory aid for the identification of corpses."

The State will exceptionally and temporarily regularize 26,000 immigrants affected by the DANA

Abascal: "Mazón is moving in the right direction."

The Valencian president's words have satisfied the far-right party, which, led by the party's president, Santiago Abascal, applauded Mazón for going in the "right direction: unabashedly confronting the [European] Green Pact and policies that encourage illegal immigration." "Both issues had to do with the causes of the DANA tragedy and the aggravated consequences of looting. I congratulate Mr. Mazón for the courage to publicly denounce it," stated Abascal, adding that he is confident that with "this course," the Valencian Community "will have the budget it needs for reconstruction."

Regarding future budget investments, Mazón announced that they will include the "review of emergency systems and protocols," as well as "the construction of water infrastructure." The Valencian president did not forget to take a swipe at the Spanish government. "We must once again censure the attitude of Pedro Sánchez's government, more concerned with forgiving million-dollar debts to its separatist partners than with presenting a state plan for this region," he said, and among other things, defended that regional aid through the DANA (National Action Plan) should reach the population "five times faster" than that of the executive branch.

Faced with this scenario of uncertainty, last week the Consell approved an extraordinary credit in the current budget for the 2025 fiscal year of 2.364 billion, intended to cover the immediate response and recovery measures adopted since October 29 to meet the expenses arising from the floods.

A "racist and denialist" pact

The preliminary agreement between the PP and Vox has been harshly criticized by opposition groups. For Compromís spokesperson Joan Baldoví, Mazón has shown that all he cares about is remaining protected by parliamentary immunity to circumvent the Catarroja judge's investigation. "He has groveled before the far right," he added. Diana Morant, the secretary general of the PSPV (Socialist Party of Catalonia), has expressed similar views, accusing Mazón of signing "a new pact of shame" with Vox. She emphasized that the agreement is the "most racist and climate change-denying" of those agreed to so far.

Why doesn't Mazón, cornered by the judge, resign?