Santiago Abascal, a member of the Spanish Congress of Deputies since 2019, has been the leader of the right-wing conservative party VOX since 2014 and a vocal defender of Spain’s right to protect its own borders. He spoke with Sergio Velasco about VOX’s decision to leave its regional coalitions with Partido Popular (PP) over PP’s agreement to redistribute migrants across Spain, the upcoming American presidential election, and what another five years under Ursula von der Leyen’s EU leadership will mean for sovereign European nations.
VOX has broken the deals it had with the Partido Popular (PP) in the regional governments. This is because the PP have accepted the distribution of MENAs (unaccompanied minors) throughout the nation. The PP-aligned media called it an “oxygen balloon” [a lifeline] and a gift to the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE), how do you respond to that?
Encouraging and legalizing illegal migration is a very serious mistake that will have terrible consequences for Spain and the Spanish people. Our geographical situation has to lead us to protect our borders, to guarantee security in the streets and to recover the welfare of the Spanish people. The PP with its agreement with Pedro Sánchez goes in the opposite direction.
They talk about being in solidarity with those from abroad but, really, they are unsupportive of those at home as they condemn Spaniards, particularly the ones of most modest means, to live with crime and violence, to suffer the consequences of the Islamization of their environments, and to suffer the overwhelming of public services or the deterioration of working conditions.
When we reached agreements with the PP in the different regional governments, we did so with a clear premise: agreements are there to be respected. All of them contained a clear commitment to stop illegal immigration and the PP has decided to break them. We are not going to participate in swindling the Spanish people; all those who vote for VOX know what VOX stands for.
Government agreements are broken because Alberto Núñez Feijóo [leader of the PP] pressures all his regional presidents to accept the migratory suicide, even against the will of a good part of them. And all with the support and applause from Brussels of von der Leyen. We ask ourselves, who is von der Leyen to tell Spain what to do with its borders?
The media in Spain works as a great political propaganda machine in favor of bipartisanship. We are not surprised that we are attacked for keeping our word. The only party that has a great agreement with the PSOE in Spain, which legitimizes Sánchez’s outrages day by day, is the Partido Popular. The great “oxygen balloon” of Sánchez is Feijóo.
The PP in Europe votes 89% of the time the same as the PSOE—do you think there is any difference in Spain?
In recent months, their only difference is the tone. Feijóo’s strategy is to point fingers at Sánchez or mobilize Spaniards on weekends against the government, only to then reach agreements with them. They have just made a deal on the General Council of the Judiciary, they have started the regularization of 500,000 illegal immigrants and now they have accepted Sánchez’s migratory quotas.
Some in the media ask us if illegal immigration and insecurity is such an important issue and we argue that it is. More and more Spaniards are concerned about this major problem and more and more are seeing how their neighborhoods have been degraded, how criminals have taken over the streets and how freedom has been taken away.
What is your position on the reelection of von der Leyen?
The European Commission chaired by von der Leyen was the greatest enemy of freedom, prosperity, sovereignty, and security of the European nations during the last legislature. She is the face of all the policies that persecute our producers, of all the regulations that make industrial work impossible, of the massive layoff plan that the Agenda 2030 and the Green Pact entail, and of the harakiri for our security and our identity that the European migration policy entails. To vote against von der Leyen was to vote yes to jobs, yes to factories, yes to a future for the rural world, yes to quiet neighborhoods, and yes to the ability of nations to decide their future.
What is the strategy that VOX will follow at the national and regional level?
Our strategy is to be faithful to our principles. We believe that what Spaniards value most about VOX is that they know exactly what they are voting for.
And Spaniards have voted for us to completely oppose the PSOE and all socialist policies, before and after Pedro Sánchez, whoever applies them. We have always said that the objective is to dislodge Sánchez from the Palace of La Moncloa [the official residence of the prime minister], but also all the policies that have done so much harm to the Spaniards. Spaniards already know precisely what happened when a government was changed, but all its mistakes were maintained and reinforced during the time of Mariano Rajoy [former Spanish Prime Minister during 2011-2018].
At the national level, we will continue to be the opposition force to Sánchez—and unfortunately also to Feijóo—in all the policies that they share in Spain and applaud in Brussels.
At the regional level, we will only support those measures aimed at reversing socialist policies and guaranteeing the security, prosperity, and welfare of the Spanish people.
VOX has left the ECR, what were the reasons?
VOX has always played an important role at the international level working for the union of patriots. The new group has a character that provides continuity to this process where we believe that the ECR will also have a fundamental role with Giorgia Meloni at the head.
The patriotic forces today have a historic opportunity to make the voters’ desire a reality in a large group that stands as an alternative to the coalition of the European People’s Party (EPP), the socialists, and the extreme left—a coalition that has had particularly devastating consequences for the Spanish people in areas such as security, freedom, the rural world and its economy, the future of industry, energy, and the sovereign control of the decisions that affect our country.
You have spoken of Giorgia Meloni as an ally and as a friend, is the relationship still as strong as ever?
Exactly the same as always. We are proud to count Fratelli d’Italia as an ally party and for me, on a personal level, Giorgia Meloni as a partner and friend. Her victory in Italy was the victory of hope and her government teaches many others the way forward.
All the Spanish mainstream press, as well as the international one, talks about Viktor Orbán being Putin’s biggest ally. However, we have seen him in recent weeks meeting with Zelensky and other international leaders. Why do you think there is such a widespread attack on the figure of the Hungarian Prime Minister?
Viktor Orbán is the most attacked European prime minister of the last decades. In recent years, we have seen a real hunt against a man who has always defended freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and the interests of Hungarians.
From Brussels, he has been attacked and blackmailed into taking on the progressive dogmas of socialists, the EPP, and liberals. All lines have been crossed against the leader of a sovereign country.
In January 2022, when Russia’s attack on Ukraine had not yet taken place, Orbán participated in the Madrid Summit where he warned of Putin’s intentions and the danger he posed to European countries. Orbán was one of the first European leaders to do so.
Neither he nor any patriot will tolerate lessons from those who have, all over the world, the worst possible alliances: with terrorists in the Middle East and Palestine, with narco-communists in Latin America, with separatists in our countries.
Moving on to the United States, a few weeks ago former President Donald Trump was shot. VOX was the first political party in Spain—and you were the first leader of a party—to condemn the attack. Do you think the Left and the elite have a real fear of Donald Trump? Do you think the attack would have been reported differently if it had been Biden who was attacked?
The Left has been encouraging violence for decades, criminalizing and besieging all who oppose their policies. Attacks such as the one suffered by Trump are the result of this strategy. There are many who have suffered them before: Alejo-Vidal Quadras in Spain, André Ventura in Portugal, Robert Fico in Slovakia, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Pim Fortuyn in the Netherlands, Villavicencio in Ecuador…
I don’t know who is afraid of Trump, but I do know who is not: average Americans, ordinary people, who want their country to regain the strength, security, freedom, prosperity, and vigor of yesteryear.
Recently, the nomination of J.D. Vance as Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate has been announced. What is your opinion of his nomination?
I had the pleasure of meeting J.D. Vance and talking with him recently at CPAC in Washington. He is a man of deep social convictions and deep faith. Senator Vance is an ideal candidate to join Donald Trump in this momentous election race. He is a person of great worth who has demonstrated a fierce commitment to the preservation of industrial and rural jobs so threatened in the United States by the offshoring of production and unfair competition from other countries. His presence is a reassurance to all those Americans who rightly fear the demise of their ways and livelihoods. Vance’s fight is the fight to keep America as the land of opportunity and effort. But also of freedom, family and community.
