The PP and Vox have reached an agreement to govern Extremadura as a coalition and invest María Guardiola as president, as sources familiar with the negotiation have confirmed to EL PAÍS. After more than 100 days of bickering, the Popular Party and Vox have finally reached a government agreement in Extremadura, which will be chaired by Guardiola and will give a vice presidency to the ultra candidate Óscar Fernández and two ministries. The PP candidate, María Guardiola, will be sworn in for the second time as president of Extremadura with the support of the ultras. The agreement to invest Guardiola also provides for the approval of four Budgets
“We have finally reached an agreement. An agreement that Extremaduran society is waiting for and we are very satisfied with it,” said Guardiola. “After a lot of work, we had a single objective: to achieve this agreement between those of us who represent 60% of the parliamentary arc. It is an agreement that includes 61 points and 79 measures and that will allow Extremadura to continue moving forward. Today it is shown that democracy wins over tension and dialogue over noise,” said the acting president in an appearance this afternoon in Mérida.
Guardiola has announced that the investiture debate will take place next week and the inauguration “immediately”. Vox assumes the vice presidency, the Ministry of Family, Regularization and Social Services; and Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Environment.
The agreement sealed between Popular and Vox has been completed after a series of meetings in which members of the two national executives have also participated. And those who came to be accused of being “estuary smugglers.” Even with public struggles on the table, the pact has ended up being forged in Extremadura.
The success of the pact also comes more than a month after the ultras overthrew them. Guardiola even left the debate in tears and received hugs from the regional officials who came to the Extremadura Assembly to support her. Days before that plenary session, Feijóo made a change in the strategy he had followed until then with his barons and decided that Genoa would participate directly in the negotiations. Hence, the general secretary of the PP, Miguel Tellado, and the PP chief of staff, Marta Varela, have participated in the latest meetings between both parties.
The national leadership decided to take part in the conversations after the obstacles that Guardiola had had in dealing with Abascal’s men, with whom until then he had not maintained a cordial relationship. But not even with Genoa in the way could they avoid the failure of the first and second investiture attempts of the PP candidate. In parallel, the executive of the Popular Party prepared a framework document that would help its regional presidents have a national guide on which to design their own pacts, relegating territorial issues to the discretion of their barons. And also leaving them the power to accept or not accept coalitions with Vox, as well as the eventual distribution of portfolios.
In all these weeks of negotiations on the autonomous governments, . The second and last, after the elections in Castilla y León on March 15. Both leaders spoke to get the situation back on track once Guardiola’s investiture was overturned and after the Castilian and Leon polls, where the ultras did not reach their expectations of reaching 20% although they continued their rise. In Extremadura, the first step was taken by Guardiola at the beginning of January, when he issued an order to the ultras and invited them to enter his government. And Abascal’s men responded by doubling down by asking for a vice presidency and several seats in the Executive. Since then, the tug-of-war has taken place. Until today.
