The PP of Alberto Núñez Feijóo found in DANA a new pretext to attack Teresa Ribera, the Spanish candidate for one of the vice-presidencies of the European Commission of Ursula von der Leyen, and took this battle to the European Parliament. After a tense examination of the Spanish candidate this Tuesday before the corresponding parliamentary commissions which must evaluate her, during which the PP even suggested that she will have to be held accountable before a court, despite the absence of an open procedure, the popular deputies redoubled their offensive during a debate on the disaster, previously planned at the request of Compromís, in front of an empty room.
It is common for the room of the European Parliament to be practically empty during plenary sessions, but in this case the EPP has made the management of DANA a casus belli against Ribera, which has triggered a political crisis that threatens even the majority that so far supports the European coalition.
“I underline the terrible contradiction that we are committing by devoting ourselves to mourning the dead at the same time in the next room that we reward with a vice-presidency of the European Commission to the minister who, in the Spanish government, is responsible for the floods”, declared MEP Esteban González Pons: “With all due consideration, but with a heavy heart and as a Valencian, I ask the Socialist Group to have the sensitivity to propose another candidate “. The request, which Feijóo had verbalized this morning, comes despite the fact that Von der Leyen, who belongs to the same political family, maintains intact her support for Ribera as vice-president of Competition and Fair and Clean Transition for his new government.
“Is the competent minister going to be rewarded when there are still unfound bodies under the mud?” he asked in a room where there were barely a handful of representatives using the victims. for political purposes before asking yourself: “Do I see immorality?” » What González Pons recognized was that “the institutions were not up to the disaster” in general.
However, the PP of Feijóo has placed Ribera in Brussels as practically the only one responsible for managing the crisis, even if control falls to the regional authorities, thus exporting the national debate, something to which MEPs from the rest of Europe are already used to it. “He has abdicated all his powers, he is responsible for preparing, preventing and responding to a climate catastrophe,” reinforced the spokesperson, Dolors Montserrat, who assured that DANA “invalidates its future in Europe” .
Amid tensions within the coalition that supports Von der Leyen, precisely because of the EPP’s threat to Ribera’s nomination, the leader of the socialist group at European level, the Spaniard Iratxe García, accused the right of ” politicizing the tragedy. “. “Just yesterday they had the audacity to accuse Teresa Ribera of being responsible for the management of DANA with the sole cowardly objective of hiding their own errors,” he criticized the PP after recalling that the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, was absent and untraceable during a meal when the situation was complicated and his government ignored the alerts.
“I am really ashamed that we are using pain in a partisan way, that we are using the death of more than 200 people,” recriminated the MEP of Compromís, Vicent Marzà, who recalled that the “Valencian people” know who is the “culprit”. Thus, he asked the conservatives to remove Mazón from power: “He is responsible for the human victims.” He also addressed the PSOE, recalling that the aid did not arrive “on time”. “Even if the powers are clear, we need help to arrive from the first moment,” criticized Marzà, who believes that Mazón should have been removed from office. “We have been abandoned,” concluded Marzà, who asked the EU not to abandon the Valencians.
“The PP has carried out incompetent and murderous management,” declared Podemos parliamentarian Irene Montero, who assured that “the management of the PP has cost lives”. He also defended that from now on “the priority is to build a strong social shield” and took the opportunity to attack the socialists for “having agreed” on a new mandate with Von der Leyen.
“The Valencians do not deserve the embarrassing spectacle that we have been witnessing for two weeks and two days in this Parliament. I’m ashamed. Aren’t you ashamed of using this misfortune for political purposes? Given the negligence of Mazón and his government, the embarrassing climate change denial speeches and the far-right hoaxes, our response can only be a social shield,” added MEP Sumar Estrella Galán.
Denying that climate change is responsible for DANA is what Vox spokesperson Jorge Buxadé did: “Stupid politicians like Ursula, Sánchez, Teresa Ribera, Iratxe García say climate change is to blame . “All Spaniards know that torrential rains and floods in the east are periodic and that what is lacking is infrastructure.” The far-right MEP assured that “what kills is not declaring a national emergency”, as a reproach to the Central Executive.
