Isabel Díaz Ayuso has not remained indifferent after the agreement between the Popular Party and Vox in Extremadura. The Madrid leader had been courting the Latino voter for some time, appealing to the idea of Hispanicity or the “Madrid of all accents” as a nod to the new demographic reality in her region. However, the far-right has managed to generate contradictions in that narrative, forcing the PP to defend itself and making no less than Ayuso uncomfortable.
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It could be sensed by the speed with which the president of Madrid reacted after the pact by María Guardiola was made public: she stated that the “national priority” that Vox talks about was not legal. On the one hand, it is true that, in general, one cannot discriminate by nationality in access to public services —health, education…— or for obtaining aid. On the other hand, the nuance lies in the administrative requirements. For example, the PP assumes in the Extremaduran agreement the requirement of 10 years of registration to access the purchase of public housing, and five for rent, in addition to granting points for roots (contribution history or family members in the region). However, it could happen that someone born abroad met the requirements and accessed housing before a Catalan who had just arrived in Cáceres, paradoxically leaving Vox’s presumed intentions for the pact as a dead letter.
However, the immediate objective of Santiago Abascal’s party does not seem to be its immediate application —in Extremadura, the migratory phenomenon is of little magnitude and it is not a region with housing under pressure— as much as the political message. For the far-right, it is a victory that Alberto Núñez Feijóo has come out to deny the idea of the “national priority”: they seek to present the PP as a party more concerned with immigrants than with natives. The left’s rejection of the agreement even serves Vox to reinforce among its followers the impression that bipartisanship does not defend “those from here” against “those from outside.” The fact is that the Extremaduran agreement comes at a crucial moment for Abascal. His party has experienced significant growth recently, but seems to have stalled in the polls. That Vox has now decided to enter regional governments, when it seemed to be betting on continuing to grow on the back of discontent, accounts for a certain weakness: they need to show usefulness to their voters, because the alternative is to risk falling into irrelevance.
In the short term, the pact in Extremadura —and the one reached this Wednesday in Aragon, a replica of the Extremaduran one on the principle of “national priority”— has consequences. While the Government of Spain promotes the regularization of migrants, Vox corners the PP at a time when the Andalusian president, Juan Manuel Moreno, is fighting to maintain an absolute majority. The “short blanket” theory applies here: if Moreno aligns with his party’s partners, he gives air to the Andalusian left; if not, he strengthens the far-right in his region.
Despite this, the main prize for Vox today is not Andalusia, Aragon, or Extremadura, but Ayuso’s Madrid: Abascal’s party aims to break her absolute majority. The far-right combines its rejection of immigration on two levels. The first, an anti-elite rhetoric against the idea of “Miami-fication”: it is the perception that Madrid is becoming a territory for wealthy people, regardless of their nationality. Más Madrid holds a similar view, speaking of a region “stolen” by the powerful or investors, without citing origin. On the other hand, Vox has launched a powerful campaign in the south of the city, appealing to humble neighborhoods with a larger migrant population. It is there that it directs its slogan “Spaniards first,” trying to stir up a supposed injustice. The objective is to mobilize the far-right’s social base and launch the idea that the stronger their party is, the greater its capacity for pressure in eventual national elections to promote policies along those lines.
So much so that Vox’s second battle involves forcing the PP to reform the Immigration Law to materialize the “national priority.” However, it is not true that this will allow discrimination against immigrants by nationality; in any case, the preference would operate between community citizens —from the European Union— and non-community citizens. Nevertheless, Abascal has configured the regional board in this key, subordinating part of his demands to the formation of an eventual national government. The paradox is that Vox has managed to make Ayuso also appear in a kind of dilemma —fictitious, but induced— between voting groups. In reality, the Madrid president had already promoted a law —which will come into force in July— with requirements similar to those of Extremadura for accessing official protection housing, with the difference that it avoids talking about “national priority”; it focuses on criteria that favor those who have been in the region longer —whether immigrants or natives—. And despite this, the far-right challenges Ayuso, when more and more voices think that even Abascal would want to gain the support of Latino Madrileños.
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