Carlos Mazón has been president of the Generalitat Valenciana for a hundred days, after a pact between the Popular Party and Vox that left the Valencian left in opposition, which had governed the community for two legislatures. La Vanguardia interviewed the new Valencian president on Wednesday.
Let's start with the most intense political current affairs. The investiture of Pedro Sánchez is being negotiated and the central point of this negotiation is the amnesty for the Catalan independence activists who have been prosecuted. What is your opinion on this?
Amnesty is outside the Constitution. The State is empowered to forgive, not to ask for forgiveness. All this comes from a devilish electoral math and the artificial construction of a story.
A devilish electorate mathematician. Why was the prediction of most polls not fulfilled on July 23?
For Pedro Sánchez's extraordinary sagacity and surprise effect in the call and for the strategy of fear, centered on the pacts with Vox. There were more factors and they all came together to prevent the expected majority.
You were the first to agree with Vox. Don't you think it would have been better for the PP to follow a concerted strategy to postpone the pacts with Vox until after 23-J? Have you made any self-criticism about this issue?
Mirin, I made the first self-criticism on the election night of July 23, when the Valencian PP won 60,000 more votes and we went from nine national deputies to 15. I am not able to calibrate the electoral punishment that the PP would have had if not had set in motion the change in Valencia. It was not easy to establish a common policy with other autonomies: the deadlines were not the same in all cases.
He is telling us that postponing the pact with Vox would have harmed the Valencian PP.
It could not be postponed, nor should it be done, nor did we want to do it. Our obligation was to materialize the change wanted by a majority of Valencians and put an end to a time of waste and mismanagement.
How is your relationship with Vox today?
We agree on the priorities and will agree on the budgets. I'm comfortable with it. There are obvious differences, but they have all been saved.
You have said that there is a hidden agenda between Sánchez and the Catalan independence activists. What does it refer to?
It's been a month since Mr. Sánchez hasn't explained what he's negotiating. Together and ERC do not explain it either. It is clear that they are hiding something from us. They are negotiating privileges with respect to the rest of the Spaniards. Sooner or later we will know the details, and I expect the worst, honestly.
Do you think that this hidden agenda includes the suspension of the expansion of the port of Valencia? Do you have proof?
Yes, of course. I have evidence. Together with Compromís, ERC presented an amendment to the Senate and then a PNL [non-legislative proposal] to Congress to paralyze the expansion of the port of Valencia. It's not suspicion, it's evidence. I want to remind you that the current president of the port of Barcelona [Lluis Salvadó] is part of a party (ERC) that has submitted a petition to the Senate to stop the expansion of the port of Valencia. I'm not speculating.
The question is whether you have evidence that in the negotiation of the investiture there is talk of paralyzing the port of Valencia.
Of course I suspect it, needless to say! They have always harmed us since Catalan separatist sovereignty. They have done it with the dream of the Catalan Countries, with the refusal of a strategic partnership to change regional funding, denying help with the water issue, or trampling the Statute of German Autonomy every day, belittling the name of our language
What is the relationship you want to have with Catalonia?
The best possible, equal to equal. Catalonia is the main client of the Valencian Community and vice versa, and I will favor this relationship. But there are red lines that mark common sense, our Statute and our identity codes. Ximo Puig used public money to fuel ideas such as a Commonwealth with Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, which evokes London's relationship with its former colonies. Look, we don't want to depend on Barcelona. Puig donated 11 million euros to entities that defend the Catalan Countries. Perhaps what we should do is to Valencianize Catalonia before Catalanizing the Valencian Community.
Is President Pere Aragonès a good interlocutor for the Generalitat Valenciana?
I won't qualify him, but he doesn't seem like the best interlocutor because the only sentence he has dedicated to me is that if we eliminate aid to pan-Catalan entities, he will pay for it. Doesn't seem like the friendliest way to start a relationship. It is difficult to respect the Statute of Autonomy of a president who does not respect mine. It is difficult for him to be a valid interlocutor.
Aragonès was in Valencia last night to participate in the Octubre awards party. [ This question was added yesterday.]
A Spaniard can move freely through the territory of Spain. If he is also polite and warns, that would be wonderful.
What do you want to do with the Valencian Language Academy?
During Ximo Puig's term, the linguistic criteria have been changed twice, moving towards philological Catalanization without asking for reports from the AVL. We will respect it and work to encourage the use of the most common Valencian.
What does it mean to revalencianize Valencian?
It means that there is not just one type of Valencian. It means recovering terms that are used on the street that the Botanic [alliance of the left] decided to exclude in an arbitrary way.
When he says that it is necessary to Valencianize the language, is he referring to incorporating new words into the lexicon or to changing the Normes de Castelló of 1932, the orthographic rules shared with Catalan?
I mean the lexicon. There is an academic authority, there is a science, and there is an academy, which could perhaps change its name.
Would you change the name?
I would be in favor of changing it. Not to impose it. It would be interesting, the Valencian Language Academy, which is not the same as the Valencian Language Academy. Because the name of our language is Valencian. I am not naive, I am aware that some try to torpedo or manipulate the philological debate. They speak of language unity as a precursor to political unity. At that point they will face me.
Colombians speak Spanish. They don't call it Colombian, although they use many words and turns that are not common in Spain. The same thing happens in the other Hispanic American countries and no one questions the unity of the Spanish language in the world. They share a language, a large language, which contains many variants, and they do not seem to be subject to Spain.
It seems like a dangerous analogy to me. In the Constitution there is an article that says that its language is Colombian, but in the Valencian statute it says that Valencian is spoken.
Why are you against fiscal harmonization to avoid unfair competition between autonomous regions?
They want to undermine autonomy. It's better if they say: "We want the PP autonomies not to be able to lower taxes". How is it possible for the PSOE to say in the morning that it has a federal soul and in the afternoon to say that everyone must pay the same taxes and put an end to fiscal autonomy?
What would be your solution to compete with Madrid, which enhances its attractiveness as a capital with great tax incentives?
Change the regional financing system and do justice to Valencia. Madrid has the capital and we have the Mediterranean, each tries to take advantage of its advantages and it is legitimate. The sovereignists can take their Statute towards independence and I can't offer tax deductions to low incomes for the expenses derived from alzheimer's?
The alternative that you propose for the Valencian Community is a more intense relationship with the Community of Madrid?
We must create complicity with all those who can help us: Madrid, Castile and Leon or other autonomous regions..., we are their natural exit to the sea, the port of their goods. The priority now is for the Government to approve the expansion of the port of Valencia, a port that is also key for Madrid.
