Marisa Cruz Madrid

Madrid

Updated Tuesday, February 27, 2024-20:30

  • 'Koldo Case' Ábalos stands before Sánchez, does not renounce the record and goes to the Mixed Group: "I am completely alone but I will defend my honor"

  • Politics The PP baptizes the case as "the Peugeot gang" and places Koldo, Ábalos, Cerdán and Sánchez as ringleaders

For almost a week, José Luis Ábalos had been ruminating on all the details, reactions and pronouncements in relation to the scandal over the charging of commissions on mask contracts in the worst of the pandemic, which has as its front-row protagonist the person who was his advisor and man. for everything in the Ministry of Transportation, Koldo García.

And, a long weekend to weigh the support that his party, the PSOE and, above all, the President of the Government were willing to give him to survive the storm due to political responsibilities.

This Tuesday, the politician who was a key support for Pedro Sánchez to regain power in the Socialist Party and, later, enter La Moncloa, understood that he had run out of allies, that he was alone, and made the decision to resist and not give up. , even when signs surround him and suspicions harass him.

Ábalos has chosen to stand up to Sánchez, challenging his authority, the PSOE and also the opposition, which has undoubtedly found in the

Koldo case

an open wound in which to dig deep and make a dent.

The Valencian politician has opted for defiance and revenge, largely presenting himself as the victim of a socialist leader who turns his back on those who helped him, painting a Sánchez who is ungrateful, selfish and alien to the militancy and the bases.

Ábalos, turning a deaf ear to the ultimatum that the PSOE Executive issued to him on Monday for him to resign from his seat, announced that he will retain his deputy status by moving to the

Mixed Group

from where, he stated, he is willing to defend himself using the privileged platform offered by the Congress of Deputies.

"Safeguard the image of the party"

As soon as it explained its decision, the PSOE made public a resolution that was clearly prepared in advance, announcing the precautionary suspension of Ábalos' militancy as an affiliate of the socialist group of Valencia, the largest after the Andalusian one and the same one as seven years ago. surrendered at the feet of Pedro Sánchez.

The argument that Ferraz provided: "Safeguard the image of the party" and its "public positions."

José Luis Ábalos denies that his bid to keep the seat is the result of his economic circumstances.

He assures that the reason that led him to make this decision is to defend his "personal honor and as a deputy to the last consequences" and anticipates that in the face of the many questions that his person and his management now raise, he has "many answers." that will be shelled, as appropriate.

"I will begin," he assured, "the defense of my honorability before public opinion and before the militancy of the PSOE, the party in which I have been a member all my life and from which I have always received affection and support."

Ábalos, as he himself emphasized, would have liked to carry out this defense with the "backing" of the PSOE and the "benefit of camaraderie", sharing "a reflection along the path of calm and moderation."

But it won't be like that.

And given the abandonment to which he feels subjected, he has chosen to listen to those who "appreciate" him and have encouraged him to "continue in the fight, not to give up" and to defend his honor.

The deputy of the Mixed Group emphasizes that he is not accused of anything, that he is not being investigated and that he has not had any illicit enrichment.

"My management," he explained, referring to the pandemic, "was limited to obtaining protective equipment as quickly as possible, reducing costs and commissions at a time when we were experiencing an atmosphere of sadness, helplessness and anxiety and we only wanted to protect people." .

"Political plague"

Consequently, he refuses to "invoke the principle of presumption of innocence" and rebels against the allusion to "ethics" that the PSOE leadership raised when demanding that he leave his seat, arguing that, in return, they did not offer him any explanation about How would his “civil cancellation and political sacrifice” be repaired if it were proven that he had nothing to do with the corruption of his friend and advisor.

“If I were to renounce [the record],” he said, “it would be understood that I have some responsibility.

And I don't assume it.

"I know very well what a political stinker is."

In his appearance before the media, Ábalos let out all the bitterness accumulated in these days and that he now directs mainly towards Pedro Sánchez, whom he did not mention by name even once, and towards the leadership of the PSOE.

"Why does misery always have to accompany us?" he asked himself.

"My party pays a political tribute to the right," he added, presenting himself as the scapegoat offered by the socialists in exchange for barely maintaining the discourse of cleanliness with which Sánchez likes to adorn himself.

"I cannot," Ábalos added in his lament, "end my career and my political career as a corrupt person (...) Being demanding in the face of corruption is not acting out of spasms at the dictates of your political adversaries, but rather being implacable in the face of that are corrupted.

I know I have to defend myself at all levels;

I feel like I'm facing everything, I have no one behind me or at my side.

"I face all the political power of one party and the other."

Since this Tuesday, Ábalos has been part of the Mixed Group and does not respond to the discipline of the Socialist Group, which with his departure takes away one seat.

The deputy who was a key supporter of the President of the Government is determined to fight.

Sánchez says that he will be "relentless" with corruption "no matter who falls."

Ábalos replies that he will defend himself against everything and everyone without caring who falls.