Spanish conservatives revive regional pacts with far-right Vox party

Spain’s opposition conservatives are rekindling their regional pacts with the far-right Vox party by adopting the latter’s hard line on immigration less than two years after disagreements over the issue led to the collapse of coalition administrations in five of the country’s self-governing regions.

The renewal of the regional deals between the People’s party (PP) and Vox comes ahead of next year’s general election and as Spain’s socialist government seeks to extol the benefits of immigration by regularising the status of at least 500,000 undocumented migrants.

The PP, which six years ago repudiated its far-right rival as a party that practised a politics based on “fear, anger, resentment and revenge”, subsequently entered into regional coalitions with Vox in Valencia, Aragón, Murcia, Extremadura, and Castilla y León. But those alliances ended in July 2024 when Vox abandoned all five coalitions after the PP opted to support the central government’s plans to bring about 400 unaccompanied foreign children from the Canary Islands and redistribute them around the mainland.

Last week, however, the PP and Vox reached an agreement to jointly govern the south-western region of Extremadura following months of negotiations that came after last December’s election. That was followed on Wednesday by the announcement of a pact to govern the north-eastern region of Aragón.

Vox agreed to facilitate the return of María Guardiola as PP president of Extremadura in exchange for control of three regional ministries and the introduction of a range of measures that include favouring Spaniards over foreign-born people when it comes to benefits and subsidies. Under the agreement, there will now be “priority assignment of public resources to those who maintain a real, lasting and verifiable link to the territory”.

Guardiola, who promised to make Extremadura a “fairer, freer and more prosperous” place as she was returned to office in a vote on Wednesday, had originally refused to even consider governing with Vox. After the previous regional election in May 2023, she made plain her disdain for the party, saying: “I can’t allow those who deny gender-based violence … those who are dehumanising immigrants … into government.” A few weeks later, the PP had a rethink and entered into coalition with Vox.

The deal to rule Aragón, which held a regional election in February, is similar to the one struck in Extremadura. The far-right party will run three regional ministries and has trumpeted its success in compelling the PP to accept more Vox policies, including “national priority” – or favouring Spaniards over others.

Vox said: “We will guarantee that the Spaniard always comes first. We will put in place national priority for accessing subsidised housing, social rentals, grants and benefits.”

Coalition negotiations between the PP and Vox are still taking place after last month’s election in the northern region of Castilla y León.

The renewed regional partnerships between the two parties point to a possible national coalition should the PP finish first in next year’s general election but fail to secure a majority.

Both parties have criticised the central government’s regularisation programme. The PP has claimed the move will overwhelm Spain’s public services, while Vox has again suggested that the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, is trying to replace the Spanish population and “accelerate the invasion”.

In July last year, Vox floated the idea of deporting up to 8 million people of foreign origin – including the children of immigrants – arguing that “it’s very difficult for them to get used to our customs”. The party later backtracked on the “remigration” plan.