The delegate of the Sánchez government, Francisco Martín, has done it again. Another institutional shock in the Community of Madrid, and once again the protagonist is the delegate, whose political activity manages to eclipse the socialist spokesman in the Assembly, Juan Lobato, in the middle of the internal debate of the PSOE on its leadership. On this occasion, the delegate sought to fight hand-to-hand not with Ayuso, but with several mayors of the Popular Party, whom he “asked” to activate the Low Emission Zones in their municipalities, “as mandated by the Climate Change Law.”
In a message on social networks, he also sent them a warning, which the mayors considered a “threat”: “From the Spanish government, we have warned them that if they continue to break the law, the “Municipalities will stop receiving state aid for public transport.”
The delegate specifically addressed the mayors of Arganda del Rey, Aranjuez and Valdemoro, all three of the Popular Party. Everyone rushed to answer him, but they were not alone. The secretary general of the PP of Madrid, Alfonso Serrano, and the president of the Federation of Municipalities of Madrid (FMM), Judith Piquet, who is also mayor of Alcalá de Henares, also entered the fray.
Serrano refers to the insecurity situation in Parla, a municipality he visited on Friday, to reproach the delegate that instead of fulfilling his “obligations”, he is dedicated to attacking the PP mayors: “In front of a supposed staff of 250 police officers in Parla, the reality according to union sources is that there are about 150 in the municipality where crime is increasing the most. The Government delegate has obligations before telling the PP mayors how to do their job,” he warns.
Judith Piquet, for her part, believes that the delegate has immersed himself in his own “regional campaign” to gain points within the PSOE in Madrid, while “cheating” with the data of the police and the Civil Guard “and without addressing the issues that really “are within their competence.” “Indeed, he is the delegate of Sánchez.”
After receiving the letter from the government delegate “threatening the city of Valdemoro with withdrawing aid for transport” if low-emission zones are not imposed, the mayor, David Conde, assures that his municipality complies with the law. Precisely, let us remember that this week they approved a garbage rate “imposed by the national government”. The mayor emphasizes that Valdemoro “will comply” and that low-emission zones will be created, but not against the neighbors, “and threats are not the best solution”.
The mayor of Arganda del Rey, Alberto Escribano, believes that the delegate is acting in this way because of his internal struggle within the PSOE: “Even if you have come here often in recent times, it shows that it was not to get to know Arganda but to fight for the leadership of the PSOE-PSM. Complying with the law means remedying the lack of Civil Guard troops in all localities, including those governed by the PP.
From Aranjuez, Miguel Gómez indicated that as mayor he would not consent to “threats, pressures or orchestrated campaigns of any kind” against his neighbors. And he also regretted that the delegate did not send police reinforcements to the festivities of the mutiny.
