BNG seeks to make noise with commission on Xunta contracts

It seems that it is now necessary to press the button, just four months later and with more than three years of legislature ahead of us. Or perhaps the BNG has been cornered by the media uproar it has generated around a possible favoritism towards the relatives and friends of PP members in the hiring of the Xunta, aware that not automatically creating the commission would be tantamount to admitting that they were only looking to make noise. “If they give up this right for the umpteenth time”Alberto Pazos, spokesman for the Popular Group, said last Tuesday, after the vote in the House, that Pontón should “resign.”

“The strength” of the 25th

But as Ponto had already advanced, The BNG used the “force” of its 25 deputies to register the commission of inquiry, The condition being that a third of the members of the Chamber belonging to the same party make the request, a modification of the regulation approved in 2015 by the PP. In addition to the contracts concluded during the health crisis, it will also investigate an alleged overcost of one million dollars in the construction of the Álvaro Cunqueiro hospital, in Vigo, and allegations of irregularities in the contracts of the Xunta with the company Eulen, where the sister of the current national leader of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. This is Micaela Núñez, who joined the company before her brother became president and is currently director of the North-West zone.

To do this, they have the support of the PSGeG, which is pleased that after “the whole salad of commissions that have been presented in this legislature”, which has only been in operation for six months, it will be created, as its spokesman, Julio Torrado, ironically stated. Of course, in an attempt to avoid being overshadowed by a BNG that, in the last elections, won over a large part of its voters, and still with the bad taste in its mouth of having obtained the worst results in the history of the party in the Community, they wanted to clarify that the socialists have been warning for “years” about alleged irregularities in the hiring of the Xunta. “The commission of inquiry that we socialists have requested, that we have demanded from the beginning, will be launched. It is indeed important and we are pleased that it is understood that we highlight important things,” he said. His party, he said, will request the appearance of Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s relatives.

The aim of this commission, as the nationalist leader told the media after registering its constitution, It is “to shed light where the Popular Party only wants there to be darkness” and “monitor how public resources are managed” in Galicia. However, they already seem to consider the people under investigation as guilty. In any case, the effectiveness of the regional parliaments’ commissions of inquiry is questionable to say the least. You don’t have to look far in the newspaper archives to find examples that come to nothing. Perhaps the most high-profile case is the savings banks case of 2012, which is still ongoing. It was reactivated for the third time in 2020 but, with the end of the previous legislature, it was extinguished again.

Another example is the commission of inquiry into the payment of a trip to Argentina for a PSdeG electoral agent just before the municipal elections with public funds from the Secretariat of Emigration. In 2008, public pressure forced the bipartisan to accept its creation, although, contradictorily, it at the same time set aside the internal investigation of the Xunta when it understood that the “usual procedures” were being followed, as reported by Ep.

From the beginning, the people called this order a “paripé”, with rules approved by those who then had the majority in the Chamber: socialists and nationalists, as provided for in the regulations. Finally, they chose to take the matter to court. A more recent case is that of the commission of inquiry into the Marisquiño accident in 2018, in Vigo. Although he ended up appearing in the Chamber, the Council of State ruled in favor of the mayor, Abel Caballero, who always defended that as a local official he was not obliged to appear in the Autonomous Parliament. Something similar happened with the municipal secretary: he was absent, but the prosecutor’s office ruled in his favor.

This is not a court

The first thing to keep in mind is that a commission of inquiry “is not a judicial tribunal”, and that its opinions are in no way “binding”, as Carlos Ruiz Miguel, professor of constitutional law at the University of Santiago de Compostela, points out in a conversation with ABC. In addition, once constituted, it must reflect the composition of the Chamber, so that the majority party will always have the majority. “What does this mean? That a commission of inquiry can be opened until the end of the legislature”, at which point those that remain open are extinguished. Its result is predictable. According to him, this commission does not “predict anything” in reality, beyond “the news of its creation and the news that the PP is blocking its operation”. In short, a way of making noise, but which foresees “a relatively short journey”.

But the fact that what matters most in commissions of inquiry are the headlines that come out along the way is nothing new. For some reason, the BNG has already announced – the only thing it has announced – that it will request the appearance of Rueda and Feijóo, and that their absence would be “a real declaration of guilt”, if not an unprecedented “scandal”. A decision that the Popular Party considers at the very least “premature”, while waiting for the work plan to be known. “It seems to me that there are much more enlightening appearances” in order to know “how each party behaved,” Pazos explained.

“We are very interested in knowing everything about the construction of the Álvaro Cunqueiro and the procurement. I think we have many reasons to be proud and Some of those who are demanding information today are truly ashamed”he said, demonstrating the “calm” with which the party has always said it faces this situation.

Regarding the investigation, he reiterated what he had already said on several occasions: denying the existence of this additional cost of 470 million euros in construction of the Álvaro Cunqueiro Hospital, which, he recalled, was built during a deep economic crisis. “The only references to the word extra cost that appear [en el informe del Consello de Contas] must show that this did not happen […] and that the Administration never paid any additional costs,” he said.

There is also tranquility in the ranks of the popular regarding the Xunta contracts during the pandemic, “inspected twice”, and those concluded with Eulen. During Feijóo’s first term, Pazos recalled, the amount of contracts with this company was reduced by 65% ​​compared to the previous legislature, the bipartisan one, stressing that “this is public data” that everyone can consult. “This commission of inquiry will serve to reveal, once again, the demagogy and constant lies that dominate the discourse of the nationalists and socialists. More concerned, it seems, with serving as a vassal to Pedro Sánchez and concealing at all costs the shame and corruption of the president and his government,” he assured.