At least until the general elections are held, the president of the Junta of Andalusia, Juan Manuel Moreno, is going to wall himself off argumentatively on national issues to mark his path in the Andalusian Government. We will see what happens afterwards and if the hypothetical arrival of the right to the Moncloa will force him to change course. After failing in his objective of obtaining an absolute majority (“stability or mess” was his unofficial slogan) after the Andalusian elections last May, Moreno has added to the already recurring topics (complaints about the regional financing system or the lack of state investments), the Ceuta crisis at the end of July and the request to reactivate the elite unit of the Civil Guard against drug trafficking.
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In the control session held on Wednesday afternoon in the Andalusian Parliament, he said in response to questions from the Popular Party spokesman, Toni Martín: “We are going to talk a lot about Ceuta. This is going to be your Parliament too.” In his opinion, he is obliged to do so because “Ceuta is an extension of Andalusia.”
The opposition reminded him of the general cooperation protocol signed by him and the president of the City of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, in March 2019, two months after the Popular Party member took office in the autonomous government. That agreement was developed in a specific agreement in January 2024 for the transfer of unaccompanied minor migrants in case of a migratory contingency. Moreno, in response to the socialist spokeswoman and former first vice president of the Government, María Jesús Montero, said that the State, for the moment, has not “imposed” on the autonomous communities to host minors. According to him, because the European Commission “has warned” that they cannot set foot on continental soil. This statement is inaccurate. What the Commission did express was its “clear expectation” that all those who entered illegally be returned to Morocco.
“Are you going to comply with the law or are you going to border on prevarication?” Montero retorted, who, like previously Antonio Maíllo (Por Andalucía) and José Ignacio García (Adelante Andalucía), highlighted the two profiles of the Popular Party leader before and after making a pact with Vox. “When he was in Juanma’s government, he had a heart this big, but now in Juan Manolo’s government [referring to Vox’s vice president, Manuel Gavira] he has a frankly small heart in relation to children.”
Montero has set herself the goal in her new stage in the Andalusian Parliament that the president of the Junta talks about his management and assumes responsibilities in areas where he has competence, such as the forest fires that have devastated Andalusia this summer. “He only talks about Sanchism, hides behind Pedro Sánchez without Andalusia advancing in rights and freedoms,” she told him. The socialist reproached him that the government agreement with Vox has not been debated in Parliament and urged him to “take care of the community’s problems.”
First face-to-face with Montero
Except in the breast cancer screening crisis, the Andalusian opposition has put Moreno in very few tight spots since he took office in January 2019. And it remains to be seen if Montero will succeed. In the first face-to-face of the control session, it did not happen. The Andalusian president went to his usual: attacking politically and personally his opponent. “You come here on a visit, you are passing through, part-time, you are a messenger of Pedro Sánchez, I am not worried if you are going to be the candidate in 2030,” he told the socialist spokeswoman, senator for the community and federal deputy secretary of PSOE.
He also addressed the spokesman of Adelante Andalucía, José Ignacio García, in a disdainful tone, when it was Moreno who in the last legislature helped this group as much as he could, giving them not only financial resources but also visibility. Midway through the last electoral campaign, Adelante’s rise in the polls began to worry the PP headquarters and it was ordered to stop retweeting videos made by the anti-capitalist formation, parliamentary sources say. “You go around as colorists, but your speech is somewhat sad. So much populism ends up boring. It worked out well for you because of the PSOE disaster, but you live in demagogy,” he told García when he criticized the 2,000-euro aid that senior officials receive for housing rent, something the PP opposed during its long years in opposition.
He addressed the spokesman of Por Andalucía and federal coordinator of IU, Antonio Maíllo, with disdain when he reproached him for having a “serious management problem” and asked him: “Who are you really? The one who believed in climate change and said the law had to be complied with regarding minor migrants or the one who subscribes to returning them to Morocco?” Maíllo wanted to know if he retained his moderate profile that he has shown in almost eight years in government or if the “mortgage” with Vox weighed more. Moreno must have liked the leftist spokesman’s rhetorical device and replied: “And who are you? You have stopped being left-wing. You who like to label so much, are you a Sanchist?”
Moreno seems less uncomfortable with the pact signed two months ago with Vox of 150 measures as he conveyed in the first days of the coalition. He no longer says that he is “not happy,” he even defends it in private as a good agreement. His ultra partner is clear about it, as Vox spokesman Javier Cortés stated. They want a hard hand against the central government, to turn Andalusia “into a bastion against Pedro Sánchez and his traitorous government,” for which he has demanded a “common front.” The Andalusian president has not needed to repeat these words, he has stated that he will focus on “management commitments” and that Andalusia “needs another government.”
And a novelty: the Andalusian president has come to say that what happens in Parliament stays in Parliament. That is, it does not transcend. “Hardly anyone follows us through the media,” “there is little interest in Parliament debates from Andalusians.” He said this at the beginning and at the end of the control session, which lasted about 35 minutes.
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