Vilaweb examines Valencian political power

Valencian politics is full of ghosts. That is basically the point of Ricard Chulià’s new VilaWeb piece, published on May 4. He goes back to the 1990s and argues that what got sold as “Valencian power” was never just a mood or a slogan — it was a concrete political machine, with Eduardo Zaplana at the center. (vilaweb.cat) ### What is Chulià actually arguing? He is not just doing nostalgia or biography. He is saying the current Valencian political order still carries the shape of that earlier era — the media alliances, the business ties, the way regional pride got packaged, and the way power was personalized around one operator. In his telling, “poder valen(vilaweb.cat)ough conservative media, to promise that Valencia would stop being treated like an afterthought inside Spain. (vilaweb.cat) ### Why does Zaplana matter so much? Because Zaplana was not just another PP politician. He was mayor of Benidorm, then president of the Generalitat Valenciana from 1995 to 2002, then a minister under José María Aznar. Chulià treats him as the flesh-and-blood version of Valencian power — a politician who fit the style of the post-Cold War 1990s and imported a kind of Berlusconi-like model into regional politics. (vilaweb.cat) ### What did “Valencian power” promise? It promised recovery, swagger, and status. The backdrop was a grievance that Valencia had missed the big symbolic rewards of 1992 — Barcelona had the Olympics, Seville had the Expo, Madrid had the visibility. Chulià points to the old graffiti “España 92 – València 0” as a clue to the mood. The sales(vilaweb.cat)ugh a strong regional elite. (vilaweb.cat) ### So where is the sting? The sting is that Chulià says the whole thing mostly enriched a small clique. He argues that behind the rhetoric of Valencian affirmation sat a system that channeled benefits upward, not outward. He even uses the “model Zaplana” financing reform as an example of how the region’s supposed empowerment ended up dee(vilaweb.cat)and said autonomy and strength, but the machinery served insiders. (vilaweb.cat) ### Why bring this up now? Because Zaplana is no longer just a historical symbol. In October 2024, a Valencia court sentenced him to 10 years and 5 months in prison in the Erial case, after finding that he took commissions tied to ITV concessions and other awards, and routed money through a corporate structure in Spain and abroad. That conviction turned an old political story into a live question about legacy. (poderjudicial.es) ### How does this connect to today’s government? Chulià makes the link explicit with Carlos Mazón. He writes that Mazón is a model disciple of Zaplana, and VilaWeb has separately argued that both Mazón and vice-president Susana Camarero built their political careers in Zaplana’s shadow. So the piece is not saying the past merely echoes — it is saying the personnel line never fully broke. (vilaweb.cat) ### Is this also about the socialists? Yes — and that is where the article widens. Chulià says he has been reminded lately of a newer, smaller version of “power,” this time around Valencian socialists. But he also notes the paradox: the Valencian PSOE federation has long been one of the biggest inside the national party, without turning t(vilaweb.cat) deeper complaint is that Valencian political weight keeps getting advertised more than exercised. (vilaweb.cat) ### Bottom line? This piece matters because it tries to explain Valencian politics as a system, not a string of scandals. Chulià’s argument is that the 1990s did not just produce one corrupt leader — they built a durable style of rule. And if that is true, then Zaplana’s conviction closes one chapter, but not the book. (vilaweb.cat)