Madrid's shift to the right taking shape
The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso of the conservative Partido Popular, who governs with the support of the far-right Vox party, officially began her new term on Saturday. Commentators analyse her first policy announcements after her election victory at the start of May and contemplate, with some apprehension, the prospect of Ayuso aspiring to higher office.
Hidden racism becomes law
Mothers in the Madrid region are to receive child benefits in future, but only if they are under the age of 30 at the time of the child's birth and have been registered in the region for at least ten years. Editor-in-chief Ignacio Escolar strongly criticises this in eldiario.es:
“Because official discrimination on the basis of skin colour or country of birth is not allowed, they are resorting to this criterion instead. ... All these women, including the foreigners, pay their taxes, just like everyone else. ... The ten-year minimum residency to qualify for the new benefits - ensuring that many foreign women won't receive this support - can only be explained by the desire to please Vox. ... Yes, we'll pay for children, but only for white children with a proper Madrid pedigree. Not for the children that Vox dismisses as delinquents and wants to throw out of the country.”
Countermodel for all of Spain emerging
In Ayuso's first announcements after her confirmation, El País sees clear signs that she wants to present herself as an alternative to the socialist prime minister:
“Isabel Díaz Ayuso began her new term this week by turning the Madrid region into a battleground in the ideological fight against Pedro Sánchez: through tax relief that mainly favours high incomes; through financial support for mothers that cuts out those who are not sufficiently rooted in the region; and through her silence in the face of the racism of the Vox party, to which she ultimately owes her presidency of the Community of Madrid - and to which she also gave a gift in the form of sharp critique of abortion.”