Anna Isabel López Ortega: "The main enemy for Vox is not the left, but the PP"

PalmaThe doctor in Political Science from the University of Valencia and author of La extrema dreta a Europa (Tirant), Anna Isabel López Ortega, considers the agreement between the PP and Vox in Extremadura "a warning for navigators with neon lights": "It marks a turning point for future agreements". Especially, due to its harshness in the anti-immigration discourse, because the text of the agreement proposes, for the first time, a clause of "national priority" to access public aid or subsidized housing in general. In fact, the two parties have already replicated the formula in Aragon, and are beginning to bring national priority to debate in other institutions, such as Congress or the Balearic Parliament.

Have you noticed that the far right is reconfiguring the political system across Europe. In what way?

— This is specifically concreted in the pillars of the rule of law and the rights and freedoms of a part of the population, which in this case are immigrants. By adding the clause of national priority, they are exceeding democracy, article 14 of the Constitution, and also European regulations. No matter how much the PP and Vox say that this national priority will be within the regulatory framework, because they want to reform the Immigration Law. However, even so, they have Europe's wall.

In the Islands, the PP and Vox had already approved anti-immigration measures (limiting access to aid or refusing to receive unaccompanied minors).

— In the Valencian Country and the Balearic Islands, this national priority is fragmented into parliamentary initiatives and government action, by limiting registrations, access to the minimum vital income, and the requirement for migrants to demonstrate that they are adapted to Spanish customs (in this way, women in burqas are excluded). These are ways of stigmatizing the population. But enshrining it in these terms in government action marks a turning point for future governments. It's a neon-lit warning for sailors. There are no such clauses in any programmatic argument of the PP. For the first time, the president of Madrid Isabel Díaz Ayuso has said that this is unconstitutional. We knew that behind the PP and Vox model, a part of the population, the language, and democratic memory were discriminated against. But, in this case, it is a measure reminiscent of Marine Le Pen and the Nuremberg laws of segregation of the Third Reich.

Are these measures so serious?

— In the Valencian Country, I call them the Nuremberg Laws 3.0. They even want to ban halal food in school canteens [Vox has also tried it in the Balearic Islands, so far without success]. It's serious, but current events move so fast... In the Valencian Country, it has been approved that centers for minors should be located outside urban centers. These are models that have failed in France: excluding the population outside the walls, as if they were plague-ridden, creates more violence and a feeling of exclusion.

When the far-right influences a Government, what is better, for it to form a coalition or to remain as support in Parliament?

— The theory and experience of more than 70 far-right governments since the 1980s in Europe indicate that the effects are less if they stay out of government. If they are in, they have more visibility and possibilities to condition government action. Outside, they can make more noise and play the anti-system card, be critical of the right... But on a practical level, the effects of management are greater if they are inside, especially because they have visibility, economic resources and influence. They can recruit their people for governments. In Extremadura, with the vice-presidency and the ministries of Social Services and Agriculture, they will have daily contact with companies and organizations. It is a normalization and another step for the far-right.

What is the real enemy of Vox? The left or the PP?

— In political science, the real enemy or adversary is the one with whom you dispute the vote. In the first cycle of all the far rights, it is the traditional right. In the case of Vox, it is the PP. Once it has achieved voter loyalty with a profile close to the PP, it begins to open up to new segments of the population. For example, to the left. This is already beginning to be seen with the incorporation of Carlos Hernández Quero (deputy spokesperson in Congress), who already uses a discourse of intellectual chauvinism to attract people from the left, especially young people. If there were elections, it would already have 5% of the socialist party's electorate. But be that as it may, the first objective of Vox is always to put an end to the conservative right. We see this in France, in Italy, where it practically does not exist. A plurality of far-right political offerings has also been generated. In France, Italy, the Netherlands, there are already three far rights. Here we have also seen hybrids like Catalan Alliance and Alvise Pérez's party, The Party's Over.

 The PP has bought into Vox's theses on immigration. What does this represent?

— Immigration is the topic that most mobilizes voters both within and outside of campaigns. Especially if it coincides with a crisis, like a large arrival of boats. This boosts Vox. The PP engages in political tacticalism. They don't want to lose the hegemony of the anti-immigrant party, because it is a topic that mobilizes the electorate and, moreover, it is transversal, because it stems from subjective perception. People perceive that there are more immigrants than there are and relate it to issues such as the exhaustion of public services and the lack of housing.

You also spoke of a re-signification of Christianity on the right and the far right.

— Why does Vox re-signify Christianity? Let's look at the President of the United States (USA), Donald Trump. What is his electoral base? Evangelicals, Catholics. Ayuso has also played this card. The right knows that religion, through the re-signification of concepts and the symbolism that figures like the singer Rosalia have created, can hook. Not only women over 65, now also young people. But the PP has a problem of incoherence when it does not support an extraordinary regularization of immigrants, after having agreed to debate it in Congress and that the Church itself has asked for it. Here, the one who loses is the PPHere, the one who loses is the PP.

So buying these theses does not benefit the PP?

— The agreement of Extremadura and all these concessions not only complicate things for Moreno Bonilla, who is trying to maintain a moderate profile in Andalusia. It also puts Ayuso in an uncomfortable position, because she wanted to contain the radical right with a discourse that imitated Vox. She had met extensively with the evangelical Church, had given recognition to Javier Milei (president of Argentina), and had appealed to an immigrant with a conservative profile. But now she has run into a contradiction and limits. Vox has been very intelligent. It has achieved a much more racist Extremadura, which is what its program includes. And this has given it oxygen in the midst of an internal crisis, and a crisis of Trump's discourse. In 2027, the anti-immigrant discourse will be fundamental and prominent. What position does the PP have on this? What model does it defend? National priority, the Murcia declaration, or its program from three years ago?

If before Vox's main enemy was Catalan or memory, is it now immigration with more force?

— They know that it is more transversal. The topic of democratic memory and language appeal to a very specific voter, Francoist, "blaver" in the Valencian case (in the Balearic Islands, "gonella")... But immigration gives them more votes. They have a presence in more than a hundred town councils in the State. Every time they present a motion, they know that the issue will have a permanent impact throughout the territory. In the end, you have to choose. Campaign advisors always tell parties to focus on three messages, maximum. The first is immigration. The second, the denunciation of corrupt bipartisanship. The third, it depends. In the Valencian Country and the Balearic Islands, anti-Catalanism will still be very present.

Why does the PP normalize the extreme right, if its European counterparts avoid it?

— European counterparts of the PP have either disappeared, or have already made pacts with the far-right and know the consequences. They try to distance themselves as much as possible. The Spanish anomaly is that Vox dictates when and how pacts are made, and the PP is willing to do so. This demonstrates a lack of knowledge of European experience and has a direct effect on democratic quality wherever it governs.

What consequences does this have for people's daily lives?

— This is studied: the lepenization of spirits [due to the influence of Marine Le Pen's National Rally in France]. Here, we find Hispanic lepenization. Since Vox arrived, the number of young people who think gender violence is an ideological invention has skyrocketed. We also find more recentralizing positions, and more people against paying taxes. Hispanic lepenization has become normalized, and it has practical effects.