The secret pacts in Leganés: from Vox’s “Meloni pepinera” to the sanitary cordon against the PSOE

Four minutes had passed into the interview when the leader of Vox in Leganés, Beatriz Tejero, made a surprise announcement: “I’m going to say it right now here for the first time,” He told the LGN Radio announcer this Thursday, preparing the ground for impact news for this Madrid municipality of 190,665 inhabitants. Tejero has been nicknamed “la Meloni pepinera”, a local version of the Italian president, Giorgia Meloni. Her expression was angry. The day before they had had a full fight. It had been voted to allocate the 28 million of the previous year’s surplus to eight investments that were going to benefit the neighbors, but nothing came of it because the opposition, including Vox, shot down all the proposals of the two parties that have governed since last year in minority, the PP and the small local party, Unión por Leganés (ULEG).

In the interview, Tejero had stated that Delgado knew about the agreement, so the left went after him. The PSOE accused him of being an “complicit” and Más Madrid of having opened the door to the ultras. Although ULEG presents itself as progressive, the left has long associated it with the right. In the regional campaign of May last year, anonymous leaflets had appeared on the streets claiming that ULEG was hiding from voters its intention to reach an agreement between the Government and Vox and the PP. Finally, Delgado allied himself only with the popular ones and they obtained one of the most relevant mayorships in Madrid’s red belt. Leganés had been governed by the PSOE since 2015.

Now, after Tejero’s revelation, Delgado has maintained that he was unaware of that March pact between the two right-wing parties. He challenged in a tweet to “la Meloni pepinera” challenging her to publish that agreement and promising to resign if her signature appeared in that document.

Delgado has not been bothered by the secret alliance of PP and Vox, he tells EL PAÍS. In fact, he confesses that they have made their own written pact with another party on the left that he does not want to reveal for reasons of loyalty. “Our government agreement with the PP means that, out of ideological harmony, they seek support from Vox and we from Más Madrid or Podemos,” he explains. He leaves the PSOE out of the equation because his bad relationship with that party is well known in Leganés. “The Government is one, but we understand that dad and mom must share the roles.”

Sources from the Leganés PP emphasize that this is a party agreement, not a government agreement. “As the Government of the Leganés City Council, we are obliged to reach understandings with different opposition political forces. In fact, we have occasionally obtained support from Más Madrid and Podemos Izquierda Unida. The one that is never in these agreements is the PSOE, and not because we have not tried, but because they do not want to.”

EL PAÍS has had access to that pact where the Vox and PP logos appear. This is a “programmatic agreement” for “the stability of the current government during the period 2024-2026.” The eight-page document contains a series of investments and gives freedom to vote on ideological motions and institutional declarations. It also establishes the creation of a monitoring commission that will meet monthly. The investments consist of three projects for 15 million euros channeled through the local Land Company (Emsule) and another seven items for the following budgets for sports, education or commerce.

Tejero answers this newspaper that he does not deny his nickname, given by the left: “I don’t take it as an insult.” He says that the occurrence has to do with the Italian’s recent prominence in national politics. Apparently, she does not cultivate a radical profile. In her confrontation with ULEG over the veto of Vox, she reproached them for the fact that in Leganés her party gives priority to neighborhood issues: “At the local level we are not so far-right,” she said on Wednesday in plenary session. .

He assures that Delgado, from ULEG, did know about his agreement with the PP: “He has not been to any meeting, but things have been modified [del acuerdo] at his request. For example, she removed the phrase that there was help not to have an abortion. There was an advisor of yours at a meeting. There was nothing ideological in the agreement. “He always wants to separate himself from the Vox ideology.”

The impotence of this Government causes obvious frustration in its mayor. After the failed plenary session on Wednesday, Recuenco criticized that “the opposition parties have kidnapped the residents of Leganés.” But Delgado rules out that this crisis will mean the end of the coalition. He says that there is no alternative because all the pacts to overthrow them seem unlikely: “The one that is weak is the opposition.” Bet on a marriage where each member plays on their own to find third parties.

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