The general secretary of the PSPV and former president of the Generalitat Valenciana from 2015 to 2023, Ximo Puig, will announce this Saturday in the party's National Committee the beginning of a renewal process in the second federation of the PSOE that necessarily involves taking a step back and open the process of electing a new leadership of the Valencian socialist federation. All of this, while the socialist president meditates on his political future, more in a personal than party way, after the electoral defeat of March 28 that deprived him of a third term in the Valencian Consell, according to sources close to him.
There are two options that Puig has on the table and that, as La Vanguardia has learned, he is considering very seriously. The first involves remaining as a territorial senator - a few days ago he was named president of the Budget Committee of the Upper House - and the other, which he seems to like more, is becoming the Spanish ambassador to the Organization for Cooperation. and Economic Development (OECD).
This Friday morning, when asked by the media, Puig already advanced the need for "new winds" and "new leadership" in the PSPV. In addition, he insisted that he "would not be an obstacle", despite not wanting to clarify his role in the future before the media. At the time there was talk of the possibility of him becoming part of Pedro Sánchez's executive as minister. This was not the case, and this fact has accelerated the changes that will be announced tomorrow. Conditional situation also because his two main supporters in the parliamentary group of Les Corts Valencianes, Arcadi España and Rebeca Torró, have been appointed Secretaries of State,
Along these lines, Puig wants to open a "calm" process without internal battles to avoid the tragic errors that condemned the party to decades of opposition after the defeat in 1995. For this reason, according to sources from the PSOE, the Valencian leader would have claimed Ferraz's management helps to promote a calm transition in order to overcome the usual organic battles of the Valencian federation. For now, the Secretary of Federal Organization, Santos Cerdán, will be present at Puig's key speech on Saturday. Before and after, the mood of the Valencia and Alicante militancy will pulse.
As this newspaper has learned, the announcement that Puig will stage in the National Committee this Saturday will take place in a short period of time with Puig's decision to abandon his seat in Les Corts Valencianes. A position that is simultaneous with the position of territorial senator, which has prevented him from attending more than one important session and vote in the regional Parliament, to the discomfort of part of his party.
There is no date for this resignation nor is it clear if Puig finally accepts the OECD offer and leaves for Paris. This last possibility, which seems to be gaining strength in the last few hours, would cause the resignation of the General Secretariat and would force the formation of a manager who would have to lead the party until the next congress.
Puig's entourage believes that there are strong alternatives in the party who can take the reins of the project, such as the current Government delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, or the recently appointed Secretary of State for Territorial Policy and former councillor, Arcadi. Spain. It is striking that the names of the current Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, who has maintained and expanded her powers after the formation of the new government, are not mentioned. Diana Morant would be, in this sense, the person supported by the national leadership of the PSOE, and by Pedro Sánchez, to lead the new stage of the PSPV.
And the fact is that, as much as Puig wants a calm process, it seems complicated - in the absence of a single and unanimous alternative - that this can occur in a federation with as many edges and families as the PSPV. Already the general secretary of the province of Alicante, Alejandro Soler, critical of Puig, offered himself as a possible replacement for the current socialist leader, something that did not please the critics of Valencia who, for the moment, are guarding weapons and seeking support for an eventual battle. .
The former president's decision will generate inevitable tensions between his "loyalists" and those from other PSPV families who aspire to occupy the power that Ximo Puig will soon leave. Tomorrow the announcement will be made in the National Committee, and on Monday there will be an executive. Everything seems decided for Valencian socialism to begin a new stage, with probable shocks.
