The Government assumes that it is heading towards a situation of deadlock
The tensions with Vox that have been evident in the last general policy debate are part of the script drawn up by Prohens: give in until at least two budgets are approved and then withdraw.
PalmPresident Marga Prohens has officially closed the second phase of her legislative plan with the final general policy debate. If during the first two years of her term, the government assumed it would have to make significant concessions to Vox, this has changed with the approval of the second regional budget. Now, Prohens believes it can survive until the elections without significant legislative activity. "Vox has lost its negotiating power; we've had enough," summarizes a source from the executive branch. "Perhaps this is leading us to a deadlock," continues this source. "If it comes, we'll have it, and the parties will have to explain it." A phrase that the mayor of Campos, Francesca Porquer, said during the pandemic and caused a stir among the PP cadres, is firmly in the councilors' minds: "Let's see them coming, as we say in good Mallorcan." The president's core group, which is from this municipality, remembers her often.
The first sign of this change in tone was evident in the first half of September, with the PP's front page on Vox's attempt to modify the Education Law to include Spanish. "Agreed," said the party's spokesperson in Parliament, Sebastià Sagreras: "They are destroying the Minimum Decree and the Normalization Law." This forcefulness surprised Vox, which had hoped that the PP would at least allow its parliamentary processing to be carried out in order to negotiate its content. "They don't want to debate because it will be seen that their position on bilingualism is, Convergence," assures Vox's deputy spokesperson, Sergio Rodríguez.
"They are disguising themselves as Vox"
The shift became more concrete this week during the vote on the resolution proposals for the general policy debate. The main headline of the plenary session was the PP's agreement with the PSIB (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) to promote an increase in the Sustainable Tourism Tax (ITS), a tax that Vox strongly opposes. Despite Prohens's agreement with the far right in its anti-immigration rhetoric, the tone between the two parties was tense. Vox accuses the PP of wanting to "deceive the electorate" with its immigration rhetoric: "They're masquerading as Vox to get four votes from us," Rodríguez insists. The deputy also criticizes the PP for its "lack of a culture of agreement." In fact, sources from both parties admit that a change has occurred in their relationship. Although talks to try to reach agreements continue—between the Government and Vox representatives Rodríguez, the group's spokesperson, Manuela Cañadas, and the party's vice president, Melina Merki—the PP remains closed-minded.
"The major reforms have been completed," government sources point out: "We have legislated on housing, we have approved the first Simplification Law and two budgets, and we have implemented the tax reform." Still pending are the measures to contain tourism—which will have to be negotiated with the left—the agrarian law—the government hopes the sector will pressure the far right to support it—the second Simplification Law, and the coastal law. Also pending is the decree law to accelerate strategic projects, which Vox rejected in retaliation to the PP for not giving in on the language. This veto hurt the PP, especially the island councils, because the possibility of transporting waste from Ibiza to Mallorca depended on this law. "We are not giving up on this; we will present it again," assure sources from the president's team.
However, the government does not consider it to be essential legislation. "We are going to present our proposals and let the parties say whether they are good or not, and if not, let them explain why they are blocking us," insists this source: "We will not give in on issues like language in exchange for another law." Regarding the 2026 financial statements, the PP is hopeful of approving the spending ceiling, which it will present in the coming weeks: "They will vote for it for what it's worth, because it's growing." Regarding the budget, however, it is less optimistic: "The negotiation has reached its limit," admits a knowledgeable source. However, the PP leaves room for further negotiations with Vox: it will comply with the agreements signed before the summer, including the repeal of the Memory Law.
Prohens' strategy now involves positioning the party for the upcoming elections. On the one hand, she must convince some of Vox's voters with the anti-immigration rhetoric, although most of the powers fall to the state. On the other hand, he also wants to "kill El Pi"—in the words of a knowledgeable source—by emphasizing a regionalist accent, focusing on the language issue and vindicating "Western values." The same sources interpret this as the message Prohens intended to convey in his speech. While in 2024 he acknowledged the rise of tourism, this time he referred to the "demographic challenge" of the islands, denouncing the situation of overpopulation. "The term incorporates the discourse on immigration, but also that of tourism containment," he says.
And on the left? The PSIB (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) is skeptical of the pact to raise the ITS (tax-exempt income tax). "It will use the Social Dialogue Roundtable of the Pact for Sustainability to say it cannot approve it," say Socialist sources, who believe the PP has no real will to increase the tax. Lluís Apesteguia, the spokesperson for MÁS for Mallorca, also sees no room for agreement with the PP: "When Prohens shifts to the left, he does so rhetorically, without opening real negotiations." In this regard, he recalls the offer the eco-sovereignists made to the PP at the beginning of the mandate. "We told them: 'We understand that this is the world we have to live in [referring to the election results], and we are willing to negotiate if we isolate Vox,'" he explains. Given the election of the PP, and after the trauma of agreeing to maintain the Memory Law and Prohens' dismantling of the agreement six months later, he now sees no room for returning to this point. "We don't trust it," he concludes.
