“We want to take risks and commitments. We must take them,” declared Jorge Azcón, then candidate, in his inauguration speech, in August 2023. He was referring to the character of the Aragonese, but also, by extension, to his own government action. This Monday, however, the regional president, amid criticism from the opposition, put an end, 28 months later, to a legislature marked by instability, parliamentary quarrels and the weakness of the PP in the Cortes. The first with the far right in power and the only one where the elections had to be anticipated. A period marked by major economic announcements and marked social opposition among public education and health groups.
A clear symptom of the paralysis that the community has experienced at this point are the laws approved by the Autonomous Chamber: only twelve regulations, many of which are a continuation of the government of Javier Lambán and others, precisely repeal the socialist executive. Among the first, emergency or energy laws; among the latter, democratic memory, family farming, shared custody. “They are in dry dock and they don’t want to admit it,” Socialist MP Darío Villagrasa said last month. “What matters is not a list of decrees, but a list of results,” replied Vice President Mar Vaquero.
Azcón’s greatest achievement during this period has been the red carpet for large private projects, the vast majority of them data centers with multibillion-dollar investments and resource consumption that calls into question their joint viability. With each new announcement, the popular leader summarizes the figures made public by companies, many of which are American multinationals: in the latest “Excel”, the balance already amounted to 70 billion euros. However, as regional and state officials publicly and privately acknowledge, many of these projects will be abandoned.
At the same time, the general director continued to welcome the “historic moment” that the community is experiencing. That same Monday, with the signing of the decree dissolving the Cortes, he highlighted that Aragon will close the year with 48,000 unemployed compared to 58,000 three years ago, a figure that follows the evolution of the labor market at the national level. “Aragon is experiencing a moment of prosperity that we have no memory of in the history of our democracy, an unprecedented stage of growth,” he also launched this Monday. However, the horizon also shows shadows: according to BBVA Research, for example, the community will be at the bottom of regional growth in 2026.
Faced with data on private investments, the management of health and education has sparked significant social protests, particularly due to complaints about privatization and the lack of public resources, and this in a context – as the Executive has constantly repeated – of expansive spending. The last two episodes were the four-day health strike last week and the three-day strike of IES teachers Martina Bescós de Cuarte over staff shortages. It is precisely in terms of work that there have been chaotic moments in these two areas, with continuous resignations and a marked feeling of bad governance.
In the Cortes of Aragon, during these 24 months, some of the most tense moments were experienced, with a harsh tone introduced largely by the far right. Even from the Presidency of the House, which has often forgotten its traditional institutional tone to opt for partisan attitudes: there is the absence of the President, Marta Fernández, in a minute of silence against the violence in Gaza and Israel or the episode experienced when she refused to greet the Secretary of State for Equality. The opposition even left the plenary session because of insults from Vox, whose spokesperson and then regional vice president, Alejandro Nolasco, recorded and broadcast to the media a private conversation with Minister Bolaños.
The Cortes having been dissolved, it was now time for mathematics. Because it goes without saying that, as has always happened in Aragonese democracy, no party will achieve an absolute majority. It is assumed that the PP and Vox will join, just as Azcón’s wish is not to have to do so. To do this, the figures require that the popular party joins forces with Exist Aragon-Teruel – something complicated, according to the surveys –, which has already given its support to the 2024 budget. The head of the Executive also aspires to include the PAR in the equation, although two difficulties arise here: the Aragonese supporters have difficulty revalidate the 2023 seat and, in addition, during this period they have experienced a confrontation with the formation of Tomás Guitar that complicates the three chord.
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