August 1. Eleven pm. The president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, takes her mobile while she enjoys her vacation and posts a tweet: “On the part of the Community of Madrid, it will not be applied. Madrid does not turn off. It is her response to the royal decree law on energy saving approved by the coalition government to comply with the requirements for reducing gas consumption agreed by the European Union. Two days later, the regional Executive no longer speaks of non-compliance, but of studying the text and deciding whether to appeal to the Constitutional Court the parties that may invade its powers. From the national leadership of the PP they balance not to disavow one of their assets or their own leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who claimed a similar plan 10 days ago.
Feijóo defends saving on air conditioning after Gamarra described it as “shame”
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“We understand the position of the president of Madrid”, said both Tuesday and Wednesday the general coordinator of the PP, Elías Bendodo. But “understanding” is not support. In fact, the PP criticizes more that the coalition government has not previously agreed on the measures with the different administrations that must apply them than the fact that the Council of Ministers has given the green light to the royal decree law.
By the Community of Madrid will not apply. Madrid does not go out.
This generates insecurity and scares away tourism and consumption.
It causes darkness, poverty, sadness, while the Government covers up the question: what savings are you going to apply to yourself? https://t.co/3nDyfnwsxb
— Isabel Diaz Ayuso (@IdiazAyuso) August 1, 2022
The contradictions within the PP in this matter are not new. In the debate on the state of the nation, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, already raised the need to raise the degrees in air conditioning devices to save energy. “Doesn’t it make you look ashamed to ask the Spaniards to save on air conditioning in the middle of the hot hour while you don’t reduce your spending?” number two of Feijoo, Cuca Gamarra.
Then, as now, an indirect rectification came from the leadership of the party. It was Feijóo himself on July 21: “I think the energy saving plans that set limits for activating air conditioning and heating in winter seem good. We must lower energy consumption.”
The former head of Bendodo in the Junta de Andalucía, Juan Manuel Moreno, has assured that the region is going to comply with the law. “The norm is the norm”, they have pointed out from Andalusia, while they have recalled that “a resource does not exempt” from compliance. From Murcia, where the PP also governs, they have opted directly for the thesis of “analyzing” the content of the decree. That’s when they decide what to do. The Galician Government has lamented the ways in which the law has been approved, although they have shown no signs of opposing its implementation, while Castilla y León has opted for silence.
Thus, Ayuso has been left alone within the PP in her initial commitment to breaking the law. Not even the City Council of the capital has followed the theses of the leader party region. Sources from the Government of José Luis Martínez Almeida assure that they will first analyze the content, although the deputy mayor, Begoña Villacís, did initially suggest that the city would not turn off the lighting of the monuments due to their tourist interest. But the royal decree law establishes that only buildings must turn off their lights when there is no longer anyone working inside.
The president of Madrid has put aside legal refusal, but that has not stopped her tweeting against the norm and against the Government, wielding for them alleged data of “useless expenses” of the ministries without indicating where she gets them from or to what refers to that rating.
Sánchez says: Spain is turning off until my electoral campaign begins to show solidarity “with the EU”.
The answer is NO: reduce 20,000 million of useless expenses of its 22 ministries.
— Isabel Diaz Ayuso (@IdiazAyuso) August 2, 2022
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