Friday, March 29

The commission of investigation on the alleged espionage to Ayuso begins with the opposition in conflict

The investigation commission on the alleged espionage carried out by the Madrid City Council on the president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has started this Monday to walk in Cibeles between a crossroads of reproaches from the municipal groups on account of the first decision: the name of the person who will preside over it. In the end, and despite the fact that Más Madrid and the PSOE initially rejected this possibility, it will be Santiago Saura, from Ciudadanos, who will direct the work over the next two months – extendable for another month –, which is the time has already stipulated for its development.

The vice-presidency will be occupied by the councilor of Más Madrid, Cuca Sánchez Álvarez, and the second vice-presidency will be the socialist Ramón Silva. The agreement came before the meeting of all the spokespersons began this morning with the president of the Plenary, Borja Fanjul, and after Rita Maestre’s group decided to withdraw its own candidacy for this position “for the sake of consensus”. Neither Vox nor the Mixed Group – which also chose to chair it – have supported the proposal that has finally gone ahead.

The constitution of this non-permanent body of the City Council has been brief and has been left with the following distribution: More Madrid, as the majority group of the opposition, will have 4 members; the PP another 4; Citizens, 3; the PSOE, 2; and Vox and the Mixed Group will have one each. The vote will be weighted.

This unexpected agreement between the main opposition group, the Socialists and the partners of the Almeida Government, has caused great anger in the Mixed Group of Recupera Madrid -the split-offs of Más Madrid-. Marta Higueras, the spokeswoman for the only three mayors that this group has left after the resignation of Felipe Llamas, who had also run for that position, has accused the three parties of having closed that deal “under the table”, ” handing over the presidency to Ciudadanos in exchange for two vice-presidencies and leaving the Mixed Group out, precisely the promoter of the Commission and the only one to request a motion of censure”.

The truth is that in the statements after the Board of Spokespersons last Thursday, none of the groups openly supported the idea that Ciudadanos would lead the commission, and all saw it as more reasonable that it be an opposition group that would chair it, as is usually the case. occur with these types of organs.

In fact, Higueras has recalled this despite the efforts of the deputy mayor, Begoña Villacís, who opted from the beginning to occupy the presidency of this body because, in her opinion, it is about investigating a case related to the PP, and not with the coalition government. After that meeting, both Más Madrid and the PSOE opposed it for what she believes they were doing “a paripé” then.

However, the two groups on the left have now assumed that it was better to give in to Ciudadanos than to engage in discussions, fights and blockades. Rita Maestre, spokesperson for the main opposition party, said so at the exit of the meeting on Monday, justifying her resignation to opt for the position. “I think we have done an exercise, almost all of us in this room today, so that the commission can move forward.” “That it goes ahead certainly has nothing to do with a fight of names, of parties, but that the commission serves to clarify what has happened in the Madrid City Council. That is why this firm commitment so that the commission works, in which we are all going to have to commit ourselves and it will be very clear who is on the side of transparency and the search for the truth”, she added.

For its part, the PSOE has warned that Ciudadanos “will now have to show if it is on the side of truth or whitewashing Almeida.” The spokeswoman for this group, Mar Espinar, pointed out that she hopes that in this way “a format will be achieved that allows us to see if Ciudadanos forgives that the PP is doing everything possible so that the truth is not known.” According to the socialist mayor, “the PP is not making things easy” when organizing the functioning of the Commission, so they challenge their partners to control that they do not veto those appearing.

Citizens have not been slow to show their satisfaction with this agreement. “Everything has fallen under its own weight” and “common sense has prevailed”, said the Urban Development delegate and vice-president of the EMVS, Mariano Fuentes. Shortly after, in an act that took place practically at the same time as the constitutive session of the commission, the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has argued that his group has supported Ciudadanos because the opposition has not put ” agree” to present a “consensus” candidate, while acknowledging that it is not easy for him to face this commission, although he does so with the “tranquility” of having told “the truth” from the first moment.

Vox, as it has been doing until now, has not wanted to get too involved and has abstained from appointing these positions. However, his spokesman in these works, Pedro Fernández, has reiterated that they believe that “an integral part of the government team should be invalidated to be judge and party.” The mayor of the extreme right has announced that he will participate in the work but under the principle of “the defense of the presumption of innocence” and that this forum does not become a “witch hunt”. After charging against the “progressive consensus” that “returns a cordon sanitaire to Vox”, Fernández stressed to the press that in their formation they continue to be “coherent” because they have always maintained that this commission “It should be dedicated to investigating whether there have been public funds that have been improperly used for issues unrelated to municipal activity.”

From this moment the groups will focus on closing the schedule of appearances. The list of names is already on the table of the commission and will be made official shortly. Despite the opposition of the PP, as the meetings go by, appearances may be added or removed, depending on what is found out. The format will be a question-answer to those appearing, as was the BiciMAD investigation commission.



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