The economic vice president, Nadia Calviño, broke the pact in the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) reached by PP and PSOE in 2017 and limited itself to sending the popular leader Pablo Casado, a closed list decided by the Government with its parliamentary partners.

According to PP sources close to the talks consulted by EL MUNDO, Calviño told them last Wednesday that he was going to proceed with a renewal of the CNMC leadership with experts in the field and that he expected the support of the main opposition party. The PP's response was that it is an important institution and that its renewal should not take place in full alarm.

In any case, he recalled that the PP would not accept as president Mariano Bacigalupo, current member on the proposal of the PSOE and husband of the fourth vice president, Teresa Ribera. This opposition to Bacigalupo had already been expressed by the PP's economic manager, Elvira Rodríguez, in statements last January to this newspaper.

Calviño explained that the name of Bacigalupo had been weighed and discarded and that the names that he was going to propose were "impeccable" because of his career and knowledge, according to the aforementioned sources. The qualification of the elected was, in effect, defended yesterday by the Minister Spokesperson, María Jesús Montero, after the Council of Ministers.

The weekend came and the vice president sent Casado the final list, but not to mention that the candidate for the presidency, Cani Fernández, was currently an adviser to the team of the head of the Presidential cabinet, Iván Redondo, in Moncloa, or any other of the members, Pilar Sánchez, was an adviser to Calviño herself in the Ministry. He also advanced the names of Josep María Salas without explaining that he responded to the quota of Esquerra Republicana or Carlos Aguilar, to that of Podemos.

"They presented it to us as a closed list with four names for us to accept, period, when in 2017 the Rajoy government offered two positions to the PSOE, although there were more differences in seats than now," they explain at the Genoa headquarters. In that negotiation, the then socialist economic manager, Valeriano Gómez, managed to get the PP government to accept Bacigalupo and the former Secretary of State for Telecommunications in the socialist stage, Bernardo Lorenzo.

Discovered the cake that the names provided by Calviño were not so impeccable and that they responded to pacts with Esquerra and Podemos, among other criteria, Casado transferred to Calviño that the PP should propose at least two experts in the current renovation. The vice president refused and limited herself to pointing out that she would study one, if they sent her an acceptable CV immediately , because the decision to proceed with the renovation this Tuesday was irreversible.

The PP refused to accept the ultimatum and the parliamentary spokeswoman, Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, yesterday described the government appointments as a desire to turn the CNMC into a "private farmhouse". He criticized the appointment of Fernández, because, according to Álvare de Toledo, according to Álvarez de Toledo, he does not propose to preside over the CNMC as "an independent person of recognized prestige", but instead opts for "a legal adviser from La Moncloa".

Cuni Fernández is a recognized expert in Competition Law after two decades at the Cuatrecasas law firm, which she left on leave last February to join Moncloa. Precisely the experience in a private law firm defending the interests of large companies was the argument used in 2016 by PSOE and Podemos to reject the appointment of Sebastián Albella as new president of the National Securities Market Commission. "It is a revolving door in reverse," criticized the then socialist spokesman, Pedro Saura.

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  • PP
  • PSOE
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  • Maria Jesus Montero
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  • Nadia Calviño
  • Ivan Redondo
  • Mariano Rajoy
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