The examination in the European Parliament of the third vice-president of the government, Teresa Ribera, to become executive vice-president for a clean, fair and competitive transition and responsible for the Competition portfolio of the European Commission, was marked by national politics and , specifically, for the reproaches of their lack of responsibility in the face of the natural disaster derived from Dana in the Levant and the south of the country. Reproaches against which the Minister of Ecological Transition stressed that the The responsibility for the response to Dana corresponds to the Valencian Executive by Carlos Mazon.
“In a decentralized country like Germany, the national government is responsible for weather warnings and real-time water flow and the rest is regional responsibility, as in other decentralized states,” said the future commissioner. . He defended it like this “The alerts were issued within an appropriate time frame”to emphasize that the notice had been sent by the National Executive at 7 a.m.
Ribera showed that while some entities, such as universities, decided to suspend their activity, “this was not the case for other local entities.” His warning was clear: ‘Failing to take warnings seriously’ has ‘catastrophic consequences’. In any case, he postponed the conversation until next week: “we will come back to it. I will go to the Madrid Congress next week.”
The answer was given to the question posed by the popular MEP Dolors Monserrat, who not only criticized the fact that Ribera appeared before the European Parliament and not before the Congress due to her responsibilities in the Dana of Valencia, but she also warned her that “history and perhaps the judges will judge her for her inaction and incompetence.”. In a further step, the popular MEP declared that “this exam is not necessary. Fifteen days ago she took the exam of her life in Valencia. As current Minister of Climate, she failed. It was up to her to have avoided tragedy because she is responsible for preventing, preparing for and responding to climate disasters.
The day of evaluation of the candidate for vice-president of the European Commission by Spain began with a controversy. Before starting the assessment, the deadlines changed. European Parliament coordinators’ vote postponed for Ribera’s candidacy, scheduled for Tuesday after the hearing, and for all future vice-presidents of the European Commission, in principle for next week.
There was no shortage of reproaches, boos and disbelief when the Spanish woman appeared. In a series of questions and answers punctuated by boos, Vox MEP Jorge Buxadé criticized Ribera for his inaction as a catalyst for the floods of recent weeks. “Lack of budgetary support makes it difficult to invest in public services,” replied the Spanish candidate.
The far-right MEP did not skimp on a list of actions falling under the responsibility of the Minister of Ecological Transition, from information on overflow to the execution of the work of the national hydrological plan. “It is bad luck that the crisis – the 2008 financial crisis – has destroyed Spain’s investment capacity. The lack of budgetary support makes it difficult to invest in public services. Reducing taxes makes it difficult to obtain resources“, argued Ribera.
The socialist recommended avoiding reproachful comments and “strengthening preparation and alert” so that “people can be protected”. He then criticized the Vox MEP by saying that there was no “Nothing is more dangerous than undermining the credibility of the institutions that warn us.”
On the economic front, Ribera is committed to simplifying the framework for “state aid, giving priority to aid that most distorts competition”. The objective is for this new framework to accelerate “the deployment of renewable energies, enable industrial decarbonization and guarantee sufficient manufacturing capacity for clean technologies”.
