Yesterday in Madrid, Carlos Mazón and Isabel Díaz Ayuso staged a strategic alliance with important organic effects on the Spanish PP and, in parallel, with the clear desire to form an axis of opposition to Pedro Sánchez's executive. An alliance that evidenced the complicity of both popular barons in matters such as infrastructure, with special attention to the expansion of the Port of Valencia; to the railway connections, with the benefits for Madrid of the execution of the Mediterranean corridor and, in addition, with an important change in Ayuso's position regarding regional financing and the possible reduction of the Valencian debt, for which he showed his support. The Madrid president affirmed that she shared the criterion defended by the Valencians that the new model considers the "population criterion", and was in favor of the Government canceling "that debt that others left to the new Valencian government."
Everything happened in the context of the Valencian Community and Madrid business summit organized by the Conexus Foundation. The meeting was convened, mainly, to address the logistical synergies between both autonomies, with special emphasis on defending the expansion of the Port of Valencia, which could be approved by the Government in the coming days. Ayuso made it clear: “The Port of València is the port of Madrid.” There were also extensive references to the benefits that the Mediterranean corridor has had for Spain's radial model, which also includes the Valencia-Madrid connection from 2021. A curious fact: this route was rejected in 2002 by José María Aznar and today It is an infrastructure recognized as vital by both popular governments.
But what was significant about the meeting was the political alliance between Ayuso and Mazón. An axis of collaboration that opposes Sánchez and that sends a powerful internal message in the Spanish PP: there is an axis established between Madrid and Valencia. Yesterday both popular barons charged against the Amnesty Law, which has begun its process in Congress. “Today is a bad day for Spain, they are attacking the Constitution, they want to end the separation of powers, they are leaving us scorched earth,” Ayuso said. Mazón maintained a similar line by stating that “it is a sad day,” to add that we are considering denouncing this law before the Constitutional Court.” The agreement between the popular leaders moves away from the position maintained by Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, Andalusian president, who is more likely to establish agreements with the Government such as that of Doñana.
What happened yesterday in Madrid represents a paradigm shift with respect to the relations that the previous Valencian executive chaired by Ximo Puig maintained with Ayuso. Mazón himself explained it: “we do not see Madrid as an unfair competitor, with fiscal dumping in mind, wanting to prevent it from growing; "In Spain you don't come to cry, you compete." The president was referring, without citing him, to the criticism that the Botànic executive made towards the Madrid resident for years. On the contrary, Ayuso stated that “we are two autonomies that want to go hand in hand and work for Spain; "They will not be able to divide us."
In 2004, Aznar promoted a strategic axis to oppose Zapatero with Esperanza Aguirre, Francisco Camps and Jaume Matas as protagonists. The “axis of prosperity” sought to offer a strategic alternative to the Mediterranean axis. He failed when suspicions of corruption dynamited the political careers of the three former regional presidents. The axis staged yesterday by Mazón and Ayuso was not designed by Feijóo, but by the two barons, an important fact. And it is proposed as the first great agreement between two key barons of the PP at an important moment for the future of the Spanish PP, which will face important electoral events in the coming months.
Mazón and Ayuso have joined forces, and the decision will have consequences outside and within the PP.
