The Guardian recently reported that the PP and Vox had drawn closer after doing a deal that will allow the PP to continue ruling in Andalucía. Incumbent PP regional president, Juanma Moreno, had hoped to govern alone and been happy to rubbish Vox’s ‘nationals priority in accessing public benefits’ policy as “a sensationalistic but empty slogan”.
But the coalition agreement, now signed, explicitly guarantees the ‘nationals priority’. It also rejects the immigration policies of Spain’s socialist-led central government and opposes “climate policies developed in Brussels”.
What do we as a church feel about Vox’s, and now the PP’s, ‘nationals first’ policy on public benefits? It seems to me that it is almost certainly unworkable in any practical sense, highly socially decisive and probably contrary to the Treaty of Maastricht of 1992, to which Spain was one of the original 12 signatories. And it is difficult for us to swallow as a church, most of who’s members were not born here.
Moreno hailed the coalition pact as a “sensible, fair and legal legislative agreement” that would bring four years of stability. Does this mark a disturbing shift to the right for a party which prided itself on being moderate right of centre?
Read the article in The Guardian here.
Picture above borrowed from today’s El Mundo, above an article (in Spanish) in which Juanma Moreno, having spoken with King Felipe, makes it clear that the deal with Vox was not his preferred option. Read the article here.