"He has killed a roommate." With this metaphor they described in the Presidency of the Generalitat Valenciana the firm (and surprising) decision of Aitana Mas to force Ximo Puig to dismiss the Minister of Agriculture, Ecological Transition and Climate Emergency, Mireia Molla, a few days after turning 100 days in the position of vice president. She will be replaced by the current regional secretary for Public Health and the Public Health System, Isaura Navarro, a person trusted by Mas in a complicated game of internal balances.
The tension between both leaders of Mónica Oltra's party, PV Initiative, has been increasing in recent weeks. They are both from Alicante and with two powerful political fathers (Manolo Alcaraz and Pasqual Mollà), who have different ways of understanding the role of Initiative within the Consell. There are even those who look back to the day of Mónica Oltra's resignation, when Mollà did not understand that she was not appointed vice president. At that time the relationship between Oltra and Mollà had already cracked.
"The dismissal has to do with the fact that Mollà did not recognize Mas as vice president", points out a senior position of Initiative in the Consell. "It's been a question of loyalty," she adds. Another prominent member of Oltra's party recognizes that Mas "is entitled to make this change" and stresses that she will contribute to "a better cohesion of the Consell". Likewise, they underline that Mollà's departure will serve to give internal stability to the executive when preparing the budgets of the Generalitat Valenciana for 2023.
Precisely, the preparation of the accounts for next year has been one of the triggers for the cessation. They point out from the Consell that Mollà maneuvered to negotiate good budgets for his ministry to the detriment of other Compromís departments such as the Vice Presidency itself and the Ministry of Inclusive Policies or Education.
In this regard, from the Treasury it is admitted without going into evaluations that Mollá, -like other ministers- met with the Treasury to "transfer him the budget priorities of his department for the next financial year". And from the former minister's environment it is denied that she tried to seize resources from other Compromís ministries.
The criticism of the Minister of Agriculture, Climate Emergency and Ecological Transition to the management of the Departments of Economy and Territory for the management of renewables also generated discomfort within the Valencian executive. The Compromís parliamentary group did not support Mollà's words either. By the way, in Més Compromís they support Mas's decision and give "absolute support to the vice president".
For this reason, it does not seem that the dismissal will generate too much internal commotion within the coalition. However, from the environment of the minister they cross out the decision as "incomprehensible" and indicate that "no justification" has been given. In this line, they point out that already facing the end of the legislature, it has been decided to open "a crisis in the Consell and in Compromís that could put the Botànic at risk" because they do not understand that the president of the Generalitat has signed the dismissal.
Thus, it will be necessary to see how Initiative assumes this internal fracture after Mas's blow of authority. With Oltra's authority becoming more diffuse -on Monday it was learned that the judge will keep her under investigation until April 2023, leaving her with no chance of being a candidate for the Generalitat-, the current vice president seems to be gaining stripes and marking territory with a risky decision that can ensure you full control of the match.
It cannot be ignored that both the vice president and the councilor were potential rivals to represent Initiative on the regional list for Alicante. And it is that part of what happened this Tuesday cannot be understood without attending to an old internal rivalry in this province.
