2023-11-09 17:40:21
The Spanish politician and co-founder of the right-wing populist party Vox, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, was gunned down on the street in Madrid on Thursday. The 78-year-old was taken to hospital conscious and, according to Vox boss Santiago Abascal, his life is not in danger. The former EU MP was hit in the face, the police said. She was looking for two men who were riding a black Yamaha motorcycle.
According to media reports, Vidal-Quadras was regarding to get into his car in the central Salamanca district at around 1:30 p.m. when a man wearing a motorcycle helmet approached him and started shooting. Eyewitnesses described him as “young and slightly corpulent.” The motive was initially unclear. According to the media, the police did not rule out a robbery.
But since Vidal-Quadras had recently sharply criticized the agreement between the socialist PSOE and the Catalan separatist party on an amnesty on Platform X, there was also speculation regarding a political background to the bloody act. Abascal emphasized that it was “obviously an assassination attempt” and that “nothing might be ruled out.”
Vidal-Quadras, who had been a member of the conservative People’s Party PP for a long time before Vox was founded in 2013 and was at times its leader in Catalonia, was also a PP MP in the EU Parliament (1999 to 2014) and was First Vice-President there from 2004 to 2007.
Previously, the PSOE (Socialists) of acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had secured the support of the Catalan Junts party of separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, who lives in exile in Belgium, in return for an amnesty for around 1,400 convicted separatists. Sánchez can now rely on the Junts votes when the lower house of parliament is expected to vote on another four-year term for the socialist next week.
The former head of government in Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, would also be the beneficiary of a penalty waiver. In order to achieve a governing majority in parliament, Sanchez still lacks the support of the Basque nationalist party PNV. PSOE circles said the talks were very advanced. Forming a government with regional parties is very controversial in Spain.
Vidal-Quadras, like other conservative politicians, expressed sharp criticism. This pact “destroys the rule of law in Spain and abolishes the separation of powers,” he wrote. “Our nation will therefore cease to be a liberal democracy and become a totalitarian tyranny. We Spaniards will not allow that,” added the politician, who later turned his back on the party following co-founding Vox.
The President of the EU Parliament, Roberta Metsola, was shocked by the attack on Vidal-Quadras. The shooting of the former Vice President of the EU Parliament is “terrible news”. She wishes him a speedy recovery, wrote Metsola on the X platform.
Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and opposition leader, PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, also condemned the act and wished the victim a speedy and full recovery. Sánchez emphasized that he trusts that the police investigation will clarify the background to the crime and that those responsible will be caught.
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