Friday, March 29

Ciudadanos aligns itself with PP and Vox to prevent the dismissal of the president of the EMVS for the alleged espionage of Ayuso


The case of the alleged espionage of Isabel Díaz Ayuso from within the Madrid City Council itself has continued to kick in at the end of this month of July, when it seemed to be finished. The municipal group Ciudadanos, led by the deputy mayor Begoña Villacís, prevented last Friday the request for rejection and dismissal of the president of the Municipal Housing and Land Company (EMVS), Álvaro González, requested by Más Madrid, PSOE and Mixed Group.

The opposition concludes that Almeida lied and boycotted the commission that investigated the alleged espionage on Ayuso

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It happened during the last meeting held by the Board of Directors of the municipal company. In it, these three opposition groups had asked for a new point to be included on the agenda in which they requested a vote on the dismissal of González due to his “bad practice” in that case. The initiative did not prosper due to the vote against PP Vox and also Ciudadanos, which instead had supported the opinion of the investigation commission of the alleged espionage.

Más Madrid, PSOE and the Mixed Group argued that González should be removed from his position, since in that opinion, approved by a majority in the Cibeles Plenary, he was pointed out, together with the Environment and Mobility delegate, Borja Carabante, for exceeding his duties when conducting internal investigations into the alleged espionage of Ayuso. During that debate, Rita Maestre and Mar Espinar considered that both public officials of the PP should assume political responsibilities. In the end, that text with the conclusions went ahead thanks to the support of Ciudadanos, who joined the two groups on the left, much to the annoyance of Mayor José Luis Martínez Ameida. The Mixed Group abstained, while the PP and Vox voted against.

Specifically, in that opinion, the person in charge of the EMVS and Councilor for Housing was recriminated for having opened an internal investigation on his own in order to seek evidence of this alleged espionage of the regional president without having the power to do so, failing to comply the Code of Ethics, and also hiding it from the directors of the public company.

Although the deliberations of this body are secret, sources from Más Madrid later criticized “the incoherence of Ciudadanos, whose two councilors have voted against the dismissal of the president of the EMVS, Álvaro González, despite having supported the opinion of the commission of investigation of the case of espionage, which pointed out serious responsibilities of the president of the EMVS”. “Ciudadanos has supported its continuity, with which the aforementioned opinion remains a mere dead letter,” these sources now sentence.

Those who did make public statements at the exit of the meeting were the councilors of the PSOE, Pedro Barrero, and José Manuel Calvo, of the Mixed Group, who did not hesitate to charge against the Urban Development delegate, and vice president of the EMVS, Mariano Fuentes, of Citizens, for having voted, like the other council of his group, against the proposal, aligning himself with the PP and Vox.

“We have requested the purging of responsibilities in the person of Álvaro González for breaching the company’s Code of Ethics by initiating an investigation without competence for it and behind the Council’s back”. “We regret that Citizens prefer to be part of the landscape and look the other way” when “the normal thing would have been for the mayor to have dismissed him,” said the socialist councilor, Pedro Barrero.

José Manuel Calvo, spokesman for the Mixed Group, also recalled at the end of the meeting that González’s request for dismissal was due to the “strict application of what was included in the opinion of the commission in the espionage case.” Calvo, who abstained in the vote on the opinion, criticized instead that Fuentes opposes the dismissal of the president of the EMVS when Ciudadanos did support the opinion of the investigation commission. “Ciudadanos is a disappointment, it is a party that is shutting down and is not going to take any action or decision in Madrid that does not go beyond following the Almeida government. This is one more nail in the coffin of this party that in its day was sold as a regenerative element of politics and has ended up supporting the PP in cases as serious as espionage or masks, which we have experienced throughout of this course.” “The dismissal of Álvaro González was pertinent but the majority of the PP, CS and Vox have prevented it,” Calvo concluded.

From Ciudadanos they argue to this newsroom that “in those conclusions and recommendations of the opinion approved by the Cibeles Plenary, the demand for the resignation or dismissal of the President of the EMVS was not reflected, basically due to a principle of proportionality, since in his actions there was no bad faith, nor was there an illegal act in terms of possible civil or criminal demands, only an excess of zeal in his conduct to clarify the facts as soon as possible.

They also believe that the requests that these groups are now making for González to leave office only respond to “partisan interests.” “The opposition’s request, including those who abstained from the opinion, such as Recupera Madrid (Mixed Group), responds to mere partisan interests and not to improve the functioning of the EMVS, which is doing an excellent job becoming the largest promoter of Spain at the moment with the more than 4,000 homes it has under construction or with its management of aid for the rehabilitation of the Madrid building stock. For these reasons, the proposal was voted against”, they conclude.



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