The Government came to admit this Wednesday, although in a veiled manner, that the situation caused by DANA in the Valencian Community constitutes a national emergency. “This is the largest deployment of resources in peacetime,” explained the Minister of Territorial Policy. Angel Victor Torreswho appeared at the Congress of Deputies.
This is the second time, the first in Parliament, that the Executive has recognized the situation in this way. In the BOE of this Tuesday, which includes the royal decree-law which includes the second aid package for those affected by the devastating floods, the maintenance of the DAO of the National Police in its position is justified by the argument that “in “In the event of a national emergency, it would be highly dysfunctional to proceed with the replacement.”
Since the events of October 29, the Executive has refused to declare the state of emergency of national interest (level three) which can be activated by the Ministry of the Interior, either at the request of the autonomous community or at the request of the government delegation. This means that the responsibility for managing this crisis lies with the Generalitat Valenciana and its president, the People’s Party. Carlos Mazon.
This Wednesday saw the first appearance of a member of the Government in Congress to give explanations on the actions of the Executive before DANA. The president’s absences Pedro Sanchez and Teresa Ribera, harshly criticized by the PP, made the Minister of Territorial Policy their spokesperson de facto of the Executive.
According to the account of Ángel Víctor Torres, all the agencies dependent on the Central Executive carried out their work well on October 29 and in the preceding days and, although he did not say it explicitly, he accused the Generalitat of not having acted before the various opinions.
Torres explained that the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) “A red alert level means that the danger is extraordinary, that vulnerable assets and people could suffer very serious or catastrophic impacts,” he explained.
He also stated that on the same day, Júcar Hydrographic Conference reported, at 12:07 p.m., the increase in flow in the Rambla de Poyo. “In no case has the Conference activated or deactivated an alert because it is not competent. Alerts are the responsibility of the Civil Protection of the autonomous community,” he added.
He also explained that the Minister of Justice only convened the emergency meeting at 5:00 p.m., despite the fact that the activation of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) was requested after 3:00 p.m. certain areas. However, EMU was requested for the entire province at 8:36 p.m.
“When the EMU was requested, significant flooding had already occurred and the situation was dramatic”Torres pointed out. Even if in his story he places the responsibilities on Carlos Mazón, the minister called to “work together, to participate, to share the sacrifices to give the best response” to reconstruction.
Y no ha dado signos de que el Gobierno central vaya a asumir el mando. “Queremos hacer todo esto [la reconstrucción] co-governance, institutional loyalty and shared work. I would like us to take for granted the support of the parliamentary groups present in this Assembly,” he said.
“There is no room for complacency,” Torres added. “There will be mistakes, there will be actions that could be improved. Let’s help each other,” he continued, asking make the grade “just like the hundreds of volunteers who fill themselves with mud these days without asking for anything in return.” “Let us live up to the victims, families, volunteers and officials. We owe it to the citizens,” he concluded.
Absence of Sánchez and Ribera
Although Torres told a very specific story, in the PP the reading is quite the opposite. The Valencian deputy César Sánchez Pérez declared that the Generalitat Valenciana “acted with the data provided to it by the mechanisms of the central government.” “It is important to clarify who was managing the information about this disaster,” he said.
Sánchez Pérez explained that around 4 p.m. there was an interruption in communications from the Júcar Hydrographic Conference and that they alerted with a simple email, without a phone call. He also showed a graph of the increased flow of the Poyo, saying it was not being communicated properly.
“I wonder what Mr. Sánchez was doing in India and Ms. Ribera in Brussels,” the MP said. “Why didn’t Mr. Fernando Grande-Marlaska declare a state of national emergency that afternoon?”he added. He also criticized the fact that the Minister of the Interior did not make the statement the next day, after seeing the terrible consequences that DANA had had on certain municipalities.
“The government resigned its responsibilities and abandoned the Valencians on the afternoon of October 29. We wonder how many resources and how much aid did not reach the Valencian Community for not declaring the “national emergency”, accused Sánchez Pérez.
The PP deputy highlighted the striking fact that Sánchez and Ribera will not be present at the Congress of Deputies this Wednesday, in the first appearance of the Government after the DANA and the first control session of the Executive.
The president participated in COP 29 in Azerbaijan yesterday and the Minister of Ecological Transition was at the European Parliament yesterday to take her exam to be part of the European Commission. None of them, however, have an agenda planned this morning.. Sánchez has a meeting at 4:00 p.m. in Moncloa and Teresa Ribera has an empty agenda all day.
“Where is Mr. Sánchez? Where is Ms. Ribera? Because they, and not you, should be giving explanations this morning,” Sánchez Pérez told Minister Torres. “Is there anything more important today than being here to give explanations?” he added.
