A new political year begins today, which closes an exercise that has been a harsh upheaval for the Valencian left. 2023 staged the change of cycle that began in 2015 and ended in the last 28-M elections with the victory of the PP and Vox against the sum of the PSPV, Compromís and Unides Podem. Change of cycle and change of president: Carlos Mazón for Ximo Puig.
2023 has left several pending issues to be resolved that are fundamental for Valencians, despite the fact that major projects and investments have been approved, such as the Sagunt gigafactory, the electrification of the Almussafes plant or the expansion of the port of Valencia. And it has opened important crises in the main forces of the Valencian left.
What will be the news of 2024? Aside from unexpected events, others are foreseeable and will condition the Valencian political ecosystem. Here we offer some keys:
The Valencian agenda
The Valencian agenda is understood as the demands that for years, in some cases decades, the Valencian executives have been putting forward to the Government to resolve, among others, underfinancing, the large debt of 53,000 million euros (most of it caused by underfinancing), the establishment of an "autonomous leveling fund" to compensate for underfinancing, water problems, the completion of the Mediterranean corridor or even the recognition of Valencian Civil Law.
Carlos Mazón has incorporated these demands of Pedro Sánchez into his political story. Until recently, it also included the northern expansion of the Port of Valencia, which was approved by the Government in December. It is likely that if the Government opens the financing melon, the Generalitat Valenciana will increase its pressure. This same week, the Minister of Finance, Ruth Merino, demanded from the Government around 1,500 million euros per year for the regional leveling fund while the financing system is not reformed.
Crisis in the PSPV
This same week, movements will begin to activate the PSPV congress in which a new political leadership must be elected after the resignation of Ximo Puig to continue leading the Valencian socialist federation. Shortly, the national committee will convene the congress and we will know how many candidates are presented or if there is finally an agreement around a single candidate.
What happens in the PSPV is very important, since it is the hegemonic party of the Valencian left. In principle, both Ximo Puig and Pedro Sánchez want the Minister of Science and Universities, the Valencian Diana Morant, to take over from the former Valencian president. However, nothing is written and the other two possible candidates, Alejandro Soler and Carlos Fernández Bielsa, could fight, separately or together. We will know soon.
Zaplana trial and Camps sentence
The trial for the so-called Erial case against Eduardo Zaplana, in which the former Valencian president José Luís Olivas is also accused, will begin in February, if there are no new delays. Zaplana is charged with six crimes: membership in a criminal group, money laundering, continued crimes of bribery, falsification of a commercial document, administrative prevarication and the crime of falsification of an official document. The prosecutor asks for 19 years.
We will also soon know the ruling of the trial that was held in 2023 against former president Francisco Camps for allegedly ordering contracts outside of administrative controls with the Gürtel network. The prosecution is asking for a sentence of one year in prison, six years of disqualification and a fine of 250,000 euros for influence peddling in an ideal competition with prevarication.
Leadership at Compromís
The Valencian coalition of parties must resolve several issues that have been pending for a long time. First of all, clarify what Compromís wants to be in the future, whether a federation of parties, a single party or continuing as before, among other possible formulas. To do this, the parties that make up it - Més Compromís, PV Initiative and Els Verds - must first resolve their organic life.
Afterwards, the three formations must also clarify whether they prefer to maintain a choral or sole leadership; Since Mónica Oltra resigned, Compromís has not resolved this issue. And we will have to be very attentive to the relationship with Sumar, which presents many threats of tension due to the former Compromís' intention to establish a delegation of Yolanda Díaz's formation in the Valencian Community.
Vox's "culture war"
It is probable, because their leaders have repeatedly announced this, that Vox's "culture war" will continue to star in new episodes this 2024. The vice-president and conseller of Culture, Vicente Barrera, has initiated significant changes in this capacity, with planned destitutions and withdrawals of subsidies to entities that Vox calls “Catalanists”.
Furthermore, in many town councils such as Burriana, Torrent or Elx, the extreme right is already adopting decisions that modify the consensus that existed regarding Valencian culture and the Valencian language in these corporations. We will have to be attentive to this drive and how it ends up being translated.
Changes in Education, the case of the Valencian
This will be the year of the change of linguistic model in the Valencian educational system. To begin with, the minister of the sector, José Antonio Rovira, has already announced that the presence of Valencian in Education in Spanish-speaking areas will be reduced. Now we are waiting to know the design of the new multilingualism strategy that will come into force from the next school year.
The desire of the department is for parents to have more weight when choosing the school language of their children, against the opinion of the centers; an objective that breaks with what the previous Botànic government had established. Returning to a double Valencian/Castilian line model as existed before 2015 is not ruled out.
European elections 2024
The result of the next European elections, which will be held in June, will help us clarify the Spanish and, therefore, Valencian political map: the situation of the left, the strength of the PP, the state of Vox and many keys that They will force parties to make decisions for the future.
It will also help us clarify if the socialist Inmaculada Rodríguez Piñero is running again on the list for the European Parliament and if the popular Esteban Gonzalez Pons returns to the European Parliament. Both are important figures in their respective parties.
