The PP’s vote against has led to the defeat of the motion promoted by Vox in Congress, but the far-right party won the battle it sought by imposing the concept of “national priority” in the parliamentary debate to drag the PP into pronouncing on it. The term, included in the government agreement with the popular party in Extremadura, has reopened discrepancies between both parties in the midst of the negotiation process for regional governments in Aragon, where an agreement seems imminent, and Castilla y León.
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Vox’s initiative has forced the popular party to take a stand in an uncomfortable vote, after having incorporated that same language into their Extremaduran pact. However, Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s party has finally opted to vote against, trying to distance themselves from the more restrictive interpretation of the concept defended by Santiago Abascal’s formation, although, in practice, it has not avoided disguising that both formations share a good part of the conceptual framework of the debate.
The defense of the motion was led by Vox deputy Ignacio Hoces Íñiguez, who insisted on disassociating the concept of “national priority” from any ideological or discriminatory charge. “It is not xenophobia,” he stressed on several occasions, before describing what he defined as “migratory anarchy driven from power.”
In his speech, Hoces maintained that Spain is undergoing an “accelerated transformation” due to the presence of “more than ten million foreign-born residents,” which, in his opinion, does not respond to a “natural evolution of the Spanish people.” He also warned of a “collapse of the welfare state” and ended by accusing the Executive of “endophobia” and “hatred of its own” for “respecting that some scoundrels sing ‘Spanish, whoever doesn’t jump’ or boo the national anthem, but are scandalized because some young patriots want to defend our identity by shouting ‘Muslim, whoever doesn’t jump’.”
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In the response block, the PP tried to stick to the legal ground and the text of its amendment, appealing to the “priorities that the Government has for Spain.” Deputy Carmen Navarro raised the tone by reducing them to two: “stealing and covering for those who steal,” in a direct criticism of the Executive.
From there, Navarro delved into the substance of the debate to defend the popular party’s position. She brandished the agreement signed with Vox in Extremadura and claimed its “literalness against interpretations,” insisting that the “inalienable” framework is the Constitution, the law, and the rule of law. According to her defense, the criterion for accessing aid should be based on “roots” and not nationality, and she appealed for management “focused on people and not on electoral gain.”
The concept of “national priority” has thus been established as a new axis of friction between the PP and Vox, at a time when both formations are trying to finalize regional agreements. While the popular party tries to limit its scope to “roots,” Vox claims it as a formula for national preference in access to public benefits and services.
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