Transport and sustainable mobility, Oscar Bridgewas disapproved in the Senate by the “chaos in rail services this summer” and the incidents on the Cercanías trains that have been recorded in recent months. The proposal was promoted and defended by the PP and was adopted with the favorable votes of the Popular, Vox and the separatist partners of the government of Pedro SanchezJunts and ERC. The final vote was as follows: 155 votes for, 100 against and three abstentions. Puente thus becomes the third minister of the Executive to be disapproved by the Senate, where the PP has an absolute majority, after the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaskaand the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Felix Bolanos.
The approved text urges Oscar Puente to resign due to “his inability to resolve the countless and constant incidents occurring in the railway network and for his lack of sensitivity and his absolute lack of respect in the face of protests by users due to the chaos in the railway services experienced this summer. The PSOE voted against this initiative of the PP while ERC and Junts, partners of Sánchez, supported it due to the latest incidents recorded in Rodalies, the Cercanías service of Catalonia, among other criticisms.
The PP senator Carmen Lopez Zapata took charge of presenting and defending this disapproval of Óscar Puente, denouncing that the socialist minister has “a very distant role of the one who claims his position” and criticized, for example, having insulted and threatened a journalist.
López Zapata also recalled his way of acting on social networks, giving as an example the diplomatic crisis with Argentina after he declared that its president, Javier MileI get high on “I don’t know what substances.” Added to this is his involvement in Koldo casethe system of commissions that was carried out for the purchase of medical supplies during the pandemic and its “disastrous” management of the railway system. Finally, the PP senator argued that Puente “puts his interests and personal image before the true responsibilities of his office.”
THE popular defended that this initiative comes after the “countless incidents” recorded in recent months, especially during the month of August, which affected thousands of users in the middle of the holiday period. In addition, the PP has already imposed an extraordinary appearance by the Minister of Transport on August 23 to explain his management in the middle of summer. It was in this appearance that he defended that “the train in Spain is living the best moment in its history”, statements that he has reiterated on several occasions in Congress and the Senate.
“A Sanchez loyalist”
For his part, Senator Vox Angel Gordillo explained that his party supports this motion even though it considers it “incomplete” for not demanding that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, immediately dismiss Óscar Puente, “one of his most faithful disciples”.
Junts voted in favour of disapproving Puente, while requesting that this initiative be extended to all transport ministers of the PP and PSOE governments. Eduardo Pujolspokesman for Carles Puigdemont’s party in the Senate, denounced “Rodalies is a bad dream” and that “the reliability of the AVE is beginning to weaken” because of the “Bermuda Triangle formed by the Ministry, Renfe and Adif.”
ERC supported Puente’s disapproval, assuring that “when there is a Chaos in Madrid catches fire in Spain while when this happens in Catalonia, decades can pass. The senator of the separatist party Laura Castell He argued that the motion illustrates “the Madrid centrism of Spanish politics.”
The PSOE defended the leadership of Óscar Puente, arguing that the PP’s initiative was due to the failure of the investiture debate of Alberto Nuñez Feijoo “They have not stopped persecuting the minister.” The socialist senator Antonio Poveda He stressed that “this is not the time to criticize the minister, it is time to encourage the Spanish government to continue building a more sustainable state through the railway.”
The third minister has failed
Óscar Puente thus becomes the third minister of Pedro Sánchez to be disapproved by the absolute majority of the PP in the Senate, after this year the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortés, Félix Bolaños.
Marlaska failed after the murder of two Civil Guard agents in Barbate (Cádiz), who lost their lives after being hit by a drug boat. The PP’s proposal was adopted with the majority of the PP and the abstention of some government partners such as ERC, Bildu, Junts and the Senator of Sumar.
Bolaños failed “his lack of respect” in the Senate and its attitude towards the Venice Commission report on the amnesty law. On this occasion, the Sánchez government and its partners rejected this disapproval in the Senate.
