PP and Vox seal coalition in Andalusia, granting far‑right a vice‑presidency and adopting ‘national priority’ and memory law repeal
Juanma Moreno was invested president of Andalusia after a last‑minute deal with Vox that gives the far‑right party a vice‑presidency and accepts its ‘national priority’ doctrine, immigration restrictions and plans to dismantle the region’s historical memory law.
The pact revealed
Just before the investiture vote on Thursday, PP and Vox unveiled a 150‑point agreement. The text enshrines “national priority” for Spaniards in accessing public benefits and social housing, rejects the central government’s immigration policies and states that Andalusia will accept no more unaccompanied migrant children. It also commits to overturning the Historical Memory Law (introduced four years ago to aid victims of the civil war and Franco dictatorship) and replacing it with a so‑called “harmony law”. Environmental rules will be rolled back, intensive livestock farming defended and bullfighting protected.
Gavira’s rise
Manuel Gavira, Vox’s Andalusia candidate known for anti‑immigrant rhetoric, will serve as vice‑president with a mega‑department covering Justice, Tourism, Deregulation and Local Administration. Gavira has repeatedly blamed migrants for violence, attacked Muslims and declared of unaccompanied minors “No los queremos” (We don’t want them). He becomes the most powerful vice‑president under Moreno.
No los queremos.
Opposition outrage
María Jesús Montero, leader of the Andalusian PSOE, called the pact “the most radical deal the PP has signed with the far‑right” and said it “amends the identity of Andalusia”. She denounced the secrecy: the 150 points were revealed barely 30 minutes before the second investiture vote, preventing any parliamentary debate.
We knew his political profile was a pose, but we were stunned to see he accepted absolutely everything from Vox, the mess pact and the swallow‑it‑all pact.
José Ignacio García of Adelante Andalucía branded the agreement “the deal of shame”, while Montero stressed that Moreno has become the PP regional president who has swallowed the most Vox precepts.
PP’s defence
Moreno insisted the legislature will be “stable and cordial”. He said there were two options: fresh elections or a pact with Vox, and he opted for “co‑responsibility towards Andalusia”.
It’s better for Vox to be involved in government, inside rather than outside.
His lieutenant Antonio Sanz framed the most controversial measures as mere transparency exercises, such as an audit of health‑spending linked to immigration. National PP figures backed the pact, with Cuca Gamarra arguing “national priority” simply means “arraigo” (local‑ties criteria already used in social services). Spokesperson Borja Sémper said all PP leaders are “moderates” and Jaime de los Santos added that the true national priority is “to get Pedro Sánchez out of Moncloa”.
Shifting the regional identity
Critics say the pact imports a hard‑right agenda that Moreno himself had dismissed in the campaign. Vox’s fingerprints are visible in education (increasing publicly‑funded private schooling), a rollback of climate policies, the defence of bullfighting and a push to dissuade women from certain reproductive choices. The agreement also explicitly rejects the immigration policies of the socialist‑led national government, marking a sharp break from the moderate image Moreno cultivated in his previous mandates.
