The expulsion of Le Senne and De las Heras leaves the Parliament without a president and delves into the division of Vox in the Balearic Islands

PALMA, 29 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The expulsion of the Vox parliamentary group of the president of the Parliament, Gabriel Le Senne, and the president of the party in the Islands, Patricia de las Heras, deepens the internal division of the formation in the Islands, opening an institutional crisis by leaving the Chamber without presidency and the deputies who remain in the group, outside the party.

The main political partner of Marga Prohens' PP remains in an anomalous situation in the Chamber, where five deputies will retain the parliamentary group despite being expelled from the party by the national leadership, while Le Senne and de Las Heras, still affiliated, will appear as unaffiliated.

The news broke a few minutes before 11:00 a.m. The parliamentary group had called a routine press conference at 11:30 a.m. in Parliament, but two hours earlier it modified "the format of the appearance," converting it into a statement in which it would not allow questions.

A few minutes later the expulsion of Patricia de las Heras and Gabriel Le Senne from the parliamentary group was registered in Parliament. According to the document presented, the decision was made by a majority of the five remaining deputies - the spokesperson, Idoia Ribas, the deputy spokesperson, Sergio Rodríguez, and the parliamentarians Manuela Cañadas, María José Verdú and Agustín Buades - in a meeting at that the two affected were also summoned.

The expulsion implies that De las Heras and Le Senne will have the status of non-attached deputies, like their former colleague Xisco Cardona, who left the party a few months ago also amid internal divisions.

In the case of Le Senne, it also implies that he will cease as president of the Parliament, as already happened with and process the briefs that the spokesperson presented this Monday. The next meeting of the Board is scheduled for Wednesday.

The new presidency will have to be voted on in plenary, so if there is a candidate the groups could include that point in the session next Tuesday, February 6. The regulations require an absolute majority in the first vote and a simple majority in the second.

In her appearance before the media, Idoia Ribas referred to "internal circumstances of the group" to justify the decision, "to achieve the best possible organization and the best possible unity, in order to continue moving forward", without giving further explanations for not admit questions.

He has dedicated the rest of his parliament to talking about work in the next period of sessions and the governance agreements with the PP, with which he will continue working "side by side" since he "needs" them.

According to sources from the parliamentary group, this Monday Idoia Ribas sent a letter to the national leadership requesting the immediate dismissal of the Provincial Executive Committee (CEP) chaired by De las Heras.

In the letter, Ribas censures the sending of a statement to the media with statements by Patricia de las Heras on linguistic policy that would be contrary to the position of the parliamentary group. According to those same sources, this statement - which was sent from a party email and not from the group in Parliament - would be the result of pressure from a civic platform.

The five deputies remaining in the group understand that what was agreed with the PP is the free choice of language that will begin to be applied voluntarily this year with pilot plans, but the statement spoke of the minimum of 25 percent of the schedule teaching in Spanish and to "end linguistic immersion". The group understands that this action harms parliamentary work.

Likewise, the sources consulted indicate that, when the budgets were being processed, the group had an advantageous position to negotiate with the PP and wanted to organize meetings with municipal coordinators to incorporate their requests, but they were called off by the president.

Le Senne and De las Heras maintain that they are the ones who, despite remaining non-affiliated, represent the party, whose national leadership has shown them support. From Madrid they consider the two expelled people more committed to Vox while the five wayward ones would be more inclined to go hand in hand with the PP.

In a statement published on the national Vox website, the party describes as "betrayal" the "unilateral" action of the five deputies, who will be expelled from the party.

At the microphones in front of his office in the Parliament, Le Senne criticized that he was fired "for following the guidelines of the national leadership", and that he has tried to "calm things down and reconcile, but it has been impossible."

Meanwhile, De las Heras has asked the five deputies who signed the expulsion to return the minutes, accusing them of having joined the party "out of personal ambitions."

The former Vox deputy For Cardona they are "the consequence of denying an evident crisis in October", which culminated in his departure from the party.

Precisely, at that time it was the parliamentary group that pressured the PP by subjecting the spending ceiling to the choice of language, while Cardona was in favor of not blocking it following instructions from the national leadership.

Although the spending ceiling was approved, the processing of the budgets was once again focused on the clash between PP and Vox, which finally managed to have all of its amendments incorporated, including the 20 million for free choice of language.

Vox then changed its abstention to a yes, although the favorable votes of Cardona and the Formentera deputy, Llorenç Córdoba, already saved the accounts for 2024. In this way, the only scenario in which the budgets would be in danger would be for Vox to add its votes for those on the left and voted against. The PP has 25 seats in the Balearic Parliament, the same as PSIB, MÉS and Unidas Podemos.

At the same time, the president of the Government, Marga Prohens, has made a "call for responsibility" in the face of the crisis in Vox in the Balearic Islands, while maintaining that "it is a situation that affects the Parliament" and not the Government.

Although "it is obviously an unpleasant situation", Prohens has stressed that he continues with his "normal agenda" while the Ministries function with "the stability that comes with having approved the budgets" to "implement the project of change that the citizens of forceful manner on May 28".

From the opposition, the PSIB spokesperson, Iago Negueruela, has blamed Prohens for this "unprecedented institutional crisis": "This is what happens when you don't want to govern," said the socialist.

Among the eco-sovereignists, the spokesperson, Lluís Apesteguia, has demanded "responsibility" from the PP and lamented that "Prohens supports his Government with constant episodes of transfuguism."