José Muñoz (Valencia, 38 years old) has been, for less than a week, the spokesperson for the Valencian socialists in the regional parliament. He has taken the reins after the departure of the still leader of the PSPV, Ximo Puig, and after the resignation of his predecessor, he has become part of Pedro Sánchez's Government. He has been affiliated with the party for 17 years, in which he began as part of Joves Socialistes. Three years later he reached the leadership of the organization. He studied Law and Business Administration and Management and combined his university studies with various jobs such as being a warehouse worker on an assembly line at Ford. But before that, being very little, he already showed his tenacity by insisting on going to kindergarten every day dressed as Superman. Later he worked at a large international consulting firm, whose annual party he continues to attend. He now has the responsibility of supervising the PP-Vox Government and the task of trying to calm, from the Organization Secretariat, the internal battle of the PSPV ahead of the congress in which a new leader will be elected.
Ask. What does the spokesperson for the socialist group in the Cortes mean?
Answer. It is an honor. It is doing the work of opposition to the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, and generating a progressive alternative so that these years are a parenthesis. By working with rigor and effectiveness, we have great opportunities to return in 2027 and the work of the Ombudsman can be important for that opposition work.
Q. Do you think they will return alone or with another coalition government?
R. Our roadmap is clear, to try to bring together the highest percentage of votes. Time will tell the possible combinations.
Q. I ask because lately there doesn't seem to be much harmony with Compromís
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R. I think that in opposition work everyone has their project. Now the differences between both projects could be seen more clearly. We have always wanted, from the center left, to expand our spectrum of social-based support. In any case, our only adversary is the PP which, hand in hand with the extreme right, we have seen how it is radicalizing its policies.
Q. Are you aware that with the positions you occupy, institutionally or organically, you are going to be the most visible face of the PSPV for a few months?
R. I have been in different situations, some more favorable and others more complicated, but my obligation is to stand up for this socialist project. Furthermore, I believe that we have a great opportunity in 2027 and we cannot waste a single minute. I saw it these days with the preparation of budgets and we are finding a PP heir to Zaplanism. We just found out that in January they will not undergo the control session. Ximo Puig, when he arrived at the Generalitat in 2015, in the first period of sessions he underwent six. Mazón has done it three times. He wants to escape parliamentary control, like Zaplana did. He is an irresponsible president because he has proposed a deficit objective that he knew the Government of Spain will not authorize and is leading the budget to cuts. And, furthermore, he is being untrue because he knew that this objective was 0.1% and he, on his own initiative, sets it at 0.3% and says that he did not know it. He said that the expansion of the port of Valencia was not going to be carried out because Sánchez had a hidden agenda with ERC and the expansion is a reality, it is approved and he knew that there was no hidden agenda but he wanted to create a falsehood. Just like with the Montixelvo fire, which he said had been caused by someone who knew about fires, pointing out the firefighters with whom they had a conflict. In the end it was learned that it was an electrical substation. This is very dangerous for a president of the Generalitat who, in so few months, is caught resigning three times. Another legacy that he copies is that he faces the Valencians. He governs with the extreme right and allows behaviors like those that are happening: they continue to besiege our headquarters, they make videos pointing out us for voting in favor of the investiture, and it is seen with cultural censorship, the attack on the AVL because it seeks good Valencians and Valencians bad In Puig's eight years, there was never this social tension or the pointing out of good and bad. He should be the president of all Valencians and not just the PP.
Q. Are they going to miss Ximo Puig a lot?
R. There is no doubt that we Valencians are going to miss him. We know that his work has been recognized. People have esteem for him and all the social and economic indicators have been positive, but I think that the best recognition we could give him is to have a winning candidacy for 2027 and a powerful collective project that allows us to return as soon as possible. It is the greatest recognition we can give him. We will miss him but with a return of the socialists to the Generalitat, he will be well rewarded.
Q. Did you expect his resignation?
R. Ximo Puig is a generous person and I think what he is trying to do is give a boost to the socialist project and, by doing it this way, I think he wants to help the agreement. He steps aside so that there is a generation that takes a step forward and helps and works so that there is an agreement, because I know that too.
Q.Do you think I should have done it sooner?
R. No, I think it was an act of generosity to hold on after the election. He had alternatives that would have been better for him. Resisting when you fail to govern is very complicated but he stood up, assumed his responsibility and now helps us have a transition process that we hope will be peaceful. If he had left after the regional elections, the general elections would have had a different result and I believe that this process would not have been faced with the possibility of there being an agreement.
Q. Doesn't the fight for the leadership of the PSPV call you?
R. No. I think that political cycles go much faster than at other times, that the Government of Spain has tremendous political power. I believe that the collective project must prevail and there are people who are in a position to lead the party with a magnificent opportunity to win in 2027. I am aware of my reality and I believe that there are other people much better positioned to achieve the objective of recovering the Generalitat Valenciana in 2027. That is why I do not have any type of aspiration beyond participating in that project of recovering the Generalitat.
Q. Who are those people who, according to you, are better positioned and have more opportunities?
R. You have to be very cautious. There is one very important thing, timing. There is a party culture and now is the time to work to promote collective agreement and putting names on the table can distort. My job as Secretary of Organization is to ensure that all the sensitivities of the party can be understood to reach an agreement with the best possible leadership. I think we have to respect the times. Being loyal to the party also means respecting its times.
Q. Are you betting on a single candidate?
R. It would be positive if it were a single and unified candidacy. Not from a single candidate but rather by agreement, collective, in which, represented under one leadership, the entire party would be represented.
Q. But it is evident that there are those who are already applying…
R. It is normal that there is a legitimate ambition to lead the party. It's even good because if it weren't valuable, people would have no interest in leading it. But we are the alternative to the PP and those who are going to govern again in 2027 and, therefore, it is normal that there are those who have that ambition. But we all have to be generous and see how we can reach the Generalitat with this collective candidacy.
Q. In what percentage do you think that this collective candidacy can occur?
R. I am optimistic, 100%.
Q. And being realistic?
R. Also 100%, I am convinced. With will it can be done.
Q. Do you think that all possible candidates have the will to reach this collective agreement?
R. I think so. The final objective is clear, we have to work on how. This is what Enrico Berlinguer, el culo di ferro, said: We must sit down and, until we reach an agreement, not get up from the table and, above all, do so discreetly.
Q. Are you worried that after the Congress you will lose your positions as spokesperson and Secretary of Organization?
R. All positions are temporary. There is no lifetime position. I am going to try to do a good job and present a good service record for the Valencian citizens and be useful.
Q. He has already faced, in parliament, the PP and Vox in the budget debate. What do you see?
R. I see them extreme, dividing Valencians and making policies for a minority minority. Vox does not stop being the PP and the PP does not stop being Vox. In the end, they are the same. The extreme behaviors of the PP are those of a lifetime but now they are more evident and are generating a society of conflict among Valencians, not only for issues of identity or the Valencian, but also for economic issues. They are making economic policy for a minority minority. Only 18,000 Valencians have paid the inheritance tax, which is a tax on the rich, who will save, on average, 21,800 euros. To hide this shame, the deductions that you have to look at and justify have increased and the total of the bonuses, assuming that all beneficiaries take advantage of them in their maximum amount, represent a benefit for them on average of 48 euros. We have normalized that someone who is Mazón's vice president wonders whether to call his horse Duce or Caudillo. Mazón is hostage to Vox. It is an artificially stable government. We will see what they do with the debt forgiveness debate with which Vox does not agree.
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