The Community of Madrid threatens to take the Government’s energy saving measures to the Constitutional Court

The energy saving plan announced this Monday by the Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, includes limiting heating and cooling temperatures, having automatic closures on access doors in premises to prevent them from being left open and turning off the lighting in shop windows and buildings public at 10 p.m., among others. This measure is the one that has ignited the Madrid president the most: “This generates insecurity and scares away tourism and consumption,” she said.

“We are going to seriously analyze the Royal Decree and if it is not constitutional, we will appeal it to the Constitutional Court”, threatened his ‘number two’, Enrique Ossorio, on Tuesday. “Anything that seems negative to us for the people of Madrid and also, of course, for the Spanish, the Community of Madrid, within its sphere of competence, that is not basic regulations, is obviously not going to apply it.” The first vice-president of the Government, Nadia Calviño, has assured in an interview in the Being Chain that the rule is mandatory.

“It is a royal decree-law that must be complied with, but come on, we are already used to this type of response from Mrs. Díaz Ayuso, who always shows selfishness and lack of solidarity. That does not reflect the spirit of this great community that is Madrid, of which I am very proud”, insisted the Vice President of Economic Affairs.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has spoken along the same lines. “The law in Spain is complied with”, he said during his appearance after the office with King Felipe VI at the Palau de l’Almudaina, in Palma, in which he avoided mentioning Isabel Díaz Ayuso but has claimed to flee “from any selfish behavior”.

Although Ayuso assured that “the measure of turning off shop windows and public buildings will not be applied”, Ossorio has clarified that Madrid is not “like other communities that are well known and that the Government consents to their non-compliance.” “We don’t like anything about that example and, therefore, we comply with the laws.” “Now, in what we are competent, for example in matters of Commerce, we will have to analyze the Royal Decree Law and to the extent that the Community may be competent, we would not apply it”, he lowered.

“It seems to me a really colossal interference that the Government of Spain starts to say what the temperature should be in a commercial place, in a restaurant, in a cinema, because the merchant and the businessman already know what the temperature is. that it must put to save energy on the one hand, but not to sink the business”, Ossorio has said.

The regional vice president has stated that his government is “fully” in solidarity with the decisions of the European Union, which has called for energy saving measures after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has put the continent’s supply in check. “What worries us is a government that does not take problems seriously, but rather adopts measures that ultimately do not achieve the desired objectives, which is something we have been used to for many years,” he said.

Among the proposals that Ossorio has raised, he has mentioned that Pedro Sánchez renounce the Super Puma and the Falcon. “Today he is in Mallorca, if he is ashamed, I think he should go back on a regular basis, as we all do, demanding this sacrifice from the Spanish”, he said. Or that he dismiss “six or seven of those 23” ministers.

Ayuso, who announced in April a 10% cut in metro lines due to the rise in the price of electricity, now refuses to abide by a measure that involves turning off shop windows at 10 p.m. and stopping lighting public buildings for 13 months or control the temperatures of commercial premises and work centers. Some measures that, however, have even been proposed by the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who 10 days ago called for turning off public buildings and lowering the air conditioning.

Calviño herself had pointed out this morning that “the interesting thing is what Mr. Feijóo is going to do.” “Just yesterday, the president of the European Commission, who is from the European PP, tells us that we have to prepare for the worst and that Spain is a benchmark, but the next day Díaz Ayuso says no. Mr. Feijóo, on this occasion, will not be able to put himself in profile”, affirmed the vice president.

The ‘number three’ of the PP, Elías Bendodo, has justified Ayuso. “We understand the desperation and reaction of any regional and local leader in the face of the Government’s lurching,” he said, regretting that there were first recommendations and, later, a royal decree, and he insisted on the same idea that “the Government presses the citizens’ belt, but not yours.”