Spanish
conservatives revive regional pacts with far-right Vox party
Hard line
on immigration adopted by People’s party as right seeks to overthrow socialist
government in 2027
Sam Jones in Madrid
Thu 23
Apr 2026 11.25 BST
Spain’s
opposition conservatives are rekindling their regional pacts with the far-right
Vox party by adopting the latter’s hard line on immigration. It comes 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
prior to 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. 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 find
them homes 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 for 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 it 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.
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