“Human errors can be forgiven, but blatant indolence is never excused. » This is how the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, summarized the management of the Generalitat of Carlos Mazón and of the central government the management of the DANA which caused more than 200 deaths in Valencia three weeks ago. Before the leadership of his party, although with notable absences among the barons as has become usual, Feijóo approved the “explanations” that Mazón proposed last Friday to the Valencian Cortes, while demanding that Sánchez “abandon arrogance and political calculation.” .”
The PP was already satisfied with Mazón’s speech last Friday in which the “president” of the Generalitat justified from start to finish his actions of October 29, including the total absence that he carried out for hours, supposedly during a “working” lunch with a journalist. Mazón said he kept his schedule “fully aware of the situation.” A “situation” which, at that time, was already that of cities flooded by water, the UME intervening and the technicians requesting that the alert be sent to citizens.
Feijóo thus closes ranks with his baron, who not only did not resign, but declared that he would remain at the head of the Generalitat during the “reconstruction” and that it will be in 2027 that he will decide whether to run or no to elections. re-election. The government selected one of the first emergency contracts for the company where its chief of staff worked.
The leader of the PP expressly approved the “president” of the Generalitat, his “explanations” and his decision to remain in office, as well as that of the other institutional positions of the party in the autonomous community. “Mayors, councilors, members of the Generalitat and its president,” he said. And he added: “We must continue. We have to continue to show up, to help people, to listen to them. Because anger and disappointment must be understood. Give explanations, recognize mistakes, take responsibility and make social, economic and emotional reconstruction an obligation in which there is no room for error. This is the path you have followed so far and it is the one you must continue.
Feijóo asked his people for “the humility to recognize” what was done wrong and “the willingness to amend it,” even though Mazón has not yet shown signs that he will fire anyone from his government , while he himself does not take responsibility. These “humility” and “will” were “extended to the two competent administrations”. “If they aspire to be equal with the people, to honor the victims and to be fair to what happened, they are obliged to do two things,” he added. The first consists of “evaluating based on criticism and self-criticism”. The second, “to compensate for what happened through reconstruction which allows people to live normally again and to have the certainty that it will not happen again”.
Sánchez, “indolent”; Ribera, “without working”
If Feijóo believes that Mazón and the Generalitat may have committed “human errors” that have already been “explained” and that can be atoned for by reconstruction, the PP leader has not shown an iota of understanding with the central government, which he directly accused of “indolence”. That is to say the insensitivity to the suffering of the Valencians.
“Even if it tries to fade away,” he said of Pedro Sánchez’s executive, “the citizens know perfectly well that a national emergency is not the exclusive responsibility of an autonomous community” . “If the government is not there for this, what is it for? » “You have to show your face and not hide,” he assured. “We must help people, not force them to ask for help,” he added. “You must recognize your mistakes and not blame others for yours; You must assume your responsibilities, not avoid them; and make reconstruction an obligation. Without flaws, without haggling from the first moment for help,” he concluded.
Feijóo spoke “with legitimacy” of the “leadership of a party that took charge of the physical and emotional consequences” of DANA, he demanded that Sánchez “assume his responsibilities.” “He is not a simple spectator, he is not a simple volunteer, he is the first actor in the channel and he did not exercise his duty from the first moment,” he declared. Feijóo denounced “the opposition to the Generalitat Valenciana” following the disaster.
“I ask you to abandon arrogance and political calculation. “It’s offensive and inhumane,” Feijóo said of the president of the government, who also took the opportunity to attack Teresa Ribera. The vice-president, immersed these days in her race for vice-president of the European Commission, was the target of as many words, if not more, from the leader of the opposition.
Feijóo accused Ribera of “not showing up for a month”, of being “paid, but without working”. “He didn’t even have time to put aside his aspirations and roll up his sleeves for our people. Not the slightest modesty,” he declared about the Spanish candidate for the Community Executive that Ursula von der Leyen will lead and who this week faces the last obstacle to her election.
The PP tried to boycott his nomination, but they are already assuming that he will pass the exam after the leader of the European PP, Manfred Weber, proposed that the social democrats support the ultra-Italian Raffaele Fitto, proposed by Giorgia Meloni.
“Whoever proved to be a bad minister in these times of emergency does not deserve to be rewarded and even less to be appointed vice-president of the Europeans,” said Feijóo, who reiterated that the Spanish PP does not will not vote for Ribera. Official PP sources could not guarantee that other MEPs in his group from other countries would support those of Feijóo.
The leader of the PP assured that DANA “has served the Spanish people to verify once again the moral character of socialism”. “The principles of the PSOE begin and end with the principles of Pedro Sánchez,” he said. “Their international credibility is fading,” he added. “The PP remains available to offer the only alternative to the Spanish people. And I can assure you that we will give it to them,” he concluded.
