Alberto Núñez Feijóo was at the head of the Xunta for 13 years. And it is in this period that public contracts are concentrated, which a commission of the Parliament of Galicia will investigate. But the work will have to be carried out without the current leader of the Spanish PP showing up: his party used its absolute majority to control the body created in the Autonomous Chamber and prevent it from being summoned to give explanations.
The PP blockade has been the constant in the face of the opposition’s attempts to examine emergency contracts during the pandemic, the attributions to the company in which Feijóo’s sister, Micaela Núñez Feijóo, is director or the decision to raise the Álvaro Cunqueiro Hospital in Vigo with a privatization model that resulted in an additional cost of 470 million euros. The reason why Feijóo is refused to be summoned now, according to the current head of the Galician government, Alfonso Rueda, is that the questions could have been asked during his 13 years at the head of the Xunta – at that time he There were already proposals for an investigation and information was requested, although they were not always answered. He considers that the idea of calling him is to try to “create opposition at the national level from the Parliament of Galicia and to do Sánchez a favor”.
But the obstacles did not begin with this commission. The Xunta contracts were planned during the last plenary session of Parliament attended by the leader of the PP as head of the Galician Government. During this session, held on April 27, 2022, the Conservative Party presented a proposal, presented by the BNG, aimed at carrying out an external audit of contracts processed urgently due to the pandemic. Two years later, the refusal was repeated. And last summer the conservative party also prevented Rueda from appearing due to the additional cost of Álvaro Cunqueiro. Then, the report of the Consello de Contas on the model chosen by Feijóo to build the hospital had already been published. Commissions received by Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s associate, Alberto González Amador, for negotiating the purchase and sale of medical supplies during the pandemic were also revealed. And that the Galician company Mape Asesores, which sold disposable blouses to the Xunta, raised 2 million euros.
In this context, the BNG registered, for the current political course, the proposal to open a commission of inquiry in the Parliament of Galicia on all these contracts and also added the orders to Eulen, where Micaela Núñez Feijóo is director for the Northwest. Ultimately, the Galician Chamber created the body, although subject to the preferences of the PP. These are the latest maneuvers by the conservatives to maintain control and block the appearance of their leader.
September 10: votes against the PP, announcement from the BNG
This was the first question of the return to activity of the Parliament of Galicia. The plenary session debated the proposal, recorded by the BNG, to create the commission of inquiry. The initiative had the support of the PSdeG and the sole representative of Democracia Ourensana, but the PP opposed it. Among the reasons given by its spokesperson, Alberto Pazos Couñago, was the opposition’s intention to “broadcast fake news in the hope of covering up his electoral failure.
The BNG then announced that Parliament would also have such a commission. A point in the regulations allows a parliamentary group to open it unilaterally if it meets the condition of having a third of the votes. In the Galician Chamber, this translates into 25 seats available to the nationalist party. However, this resource can only be activated once per legislature. Three days after the PP’s negative vote in plenary session, Ana Pontón registered the petition.
October 4: the presidency, for the PP
The commission was officially created on October 4, but control of its development was retained by the PP. The majority group in the House took over the presidency and nominated Elena Candia. The vice president is Carmen Pomar, another member of the ranks. The secretary, Luís Bará, is a deputy of the group that promoted the creation of the body.
The BNG and the PSdeG have already taken advantage of this day to insist on the need for Feijóo to give explanations to the Galician Parliament and announced that they would also demand the presence of the current president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda. “We cannot let those at the top of the pyramid evade their responsibilities,” reasoned the leader of the socialists, Xosé Ramón Gómez Besteiro. Rueda hinted a few days later that he would attend: “I have no problem. »
October 15: the operating rules, those of the PP
The first step of the commission of inquiry was to adopt rules for its operation. The proposal accepted was that of the PP, despite complaints from the opposition. Both the BNG and the PSdeG demanded that the agreements be adopted by a qualified majority of two thirds. But from the start of the session, the president, Elena Candia, made it clear that this would not take place. He cited a legal services report that opposition groups had not been briefed on to ensure the proposal “deviated from the regulations”. In other words, with a simple majority, for which the votes of the PP are sufficient, it would be enough to block appearances or requests for documentation.
During this session, the deputies of the conservative party only accepted two suggestions from the opposition: a correction of what they considered to be a typing error concerning the aim of the commission and an addition from the PSdeG so that the documentation is sent as soon as possible.
November 8: veto the appearance of Feijóo
The second stage of the investigation was to clarify which documents and declarations were necessary. The commission met last week in a tense atmosphere: the BNG had previously accused the PP of having shown signs of change of heart. As the meeting was scheduled for the afternoon, the groups attempted to reconcile in the morning. They even took a break in the session, but the result was once again that the most popular ones put forward their proposal without any changes.
The name of Alberto Núñez Feijóo does not appear on the list. Neither that of his sister nor that of Ayuso’s partner. All the Ministers of Health appear since 2005, that is to say since the bipartisan PSdeG-BNG which preceded the Feijóo governments. The requested documents also date from that same year.
