The plenary session of the Valencia Provincial Council approved this Tuesday the reprimand of Vice-president Natàlia Enguix, from Ens Uneix and an ally of the PP in the provincial corporation. The vote was supported by PSPV and Compromís, while Vox abstained.
This action stems from Enguix's decision, through the Municipal Cooperation area she leads, to block the processing of the plan for municipalities over 50,000 inhabitants. This plan intended to allocate 10 million euros to municipalities, mostly governed by Valencian socialists, with funds already budgeted and ready for disbursement.
Ens Uneix's rejection of these funds is part of the strained relationship between the Vall d'Albaida party and the PSPV, the party to which Ens Uneix leader Jorge Rodríguez, mayor of Ontinyent, once belonged. The tension persists since Rodríguez was expelled from the PSPV and decided to support the PP in forming the government of the Provincial Council.
This strained relationship has resurfaced, placing the institution's president, Vicente Mompó (PP), in a difficult position. He needed the support or abstention of the PSPV to approve the provincial corporation's budget. Negotiations have been hampered by various factors, the latest being Ens Uneix's refusal to grant aid considered crucial by the PSPV, led in the Council by Carlos Fernández Bielsa, to initiate budget talks.
Mompó's problems do not end there. Vox's abstention this Tuesday suggests less complacency with the PP. After over three years of accepting Ens Uneix as a preferred partner, the reprimand of the president's ally makes it clear they will now demand more from the Popular Party and Jorge Rodríguez's party.
“"Love is repaid with love. Recognize that we are right: that violence has no gender, that the Historical Memory Law is vindictive, that the Valencian Language Academy is a Catalanist entity, and that social policies must be based on national priority. Otherwise, we will not lift a single finger for you and will remain abstaining."
Vox spokesperson Sergio Herrero warned that without a satisfactory response from Enguix to these demands, his party would abstain, which allowed the reprimand. Vox's demands to cut funding for historical memory, equality, or linguistic policies directly clash with Ens Uneix's stance, creating a complex scenario for Mompó to approve the budget before summer, an objective he desired.
This situation leaves the president of the Provincial Council and provincial leader of the PP in a less favorable position. Weeks ago, it seemed he could finalize the budget before the President of the Generalitat, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, with whom there is some rivalry to be the reference for the PPCV. Now, Pérez Llorca is firmly advancing towards budget approval thanks to his pact with Vox, while Mompó must navigate increasingly difficult obstacles to pass new accounts for the provincial corporation.
