Burka bans, migrant crackdowns and a review of climate legislation are just some of the policy concessions won by Vox in Andalucia.
It comes after the hard-right party signed a coalition deal with the incumbent Partido Popular, allowing Juanma Moreno to return as president for the next four years.
Moreno was sworn in for a third term at a second investiture vote on Thursday night. He won 68 votes in the Andalucian Parliament, with the support of the PP’s 53 MPs and Vox’s 15.
The agreement contains 150 measures and gives Vox its first cabinet role in the region.
Vox’s Andalucian leader, Manuel Gavira, will become Vice President and Regional Minister for Tourism, Deregulation, Justice and Local Administration.
The party will also receive one of Andalucia’s five Senate seats and a vice presidency in the regional parliament.
Policy concessions
Among the most significant policy concessions is the inclusion of Vox’s ‘national priority’ principle, which places Spanish citizens first when allocating public resources and services.
On immigration, the coalition has pledged to oppose ‘by all legal, political and judicial means’ any redistribution of undocumented migrants to Andalucia.
The agreement also states that the Junta will stop accepting new unaccompanied migrant children, refuse to create additional accommodation centres for irregular migrants and seek to minimise public spending in this area.
The regional government has also committed to funding age verification tests for migrants arriving on Andalucia’s coastline, carrying out annual audits into spending linked to irregular immigration and withdrawing public subsidies from NGOs deemed to encourage illegal migration.
The agreement also promises tougher rules in juvenile centres and new measures aimed at tackling alleged fraud involving welfare claims and false residency registrations connected to so-called pisos patera (‘migrant flats’).
In education, the coalition plans to phase out the Arabic Language and Moroccan Culture Programme from Andalucian schools and says it will oppose what it describes as foreign influence that weakens Andalucian identity.
It also intends to expand publicly funded places at private (concertado) schools for Bachillerato students from the 2027/28 academic year.
The agreement also includes a commitment to ban the wearing of the burka and niqab in public spaces before 2027, although any such measure would almost certainly face legal scrutiny because many aspects of public dress are governed by national legislation and constitutional protections.
On climate policy, the new government will review Andalucia’s 2018 Climate Change Law, arguing that existing regulations place unnecessary burdens on agriculture, fishing, industry and small businesses.
The coalition says environmental policy should instead focus on water management, wildfire prevention, agricultural infrastructure and technological innovation.
Economically, the government has pledged to halve public subsidies to trade unions, business organisations and private entities from 2027 unless they can demonstrate a clear public benefit.
Finally, the PP and Vox have agreed to introduce a new Law of Concord, replacing Andalucia’s existing historical memory legislation.
Moreno acknowledged that the PP and Vox remain ‘different political projects’, but said compromise was necessary to avoid political deadlock and another regional election.
Andalucia now becomes the fourth Spanish region where the PP and Vox govern together, following Aragon, Castilla y Leon and Extremadura.
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
