Vicente Coll Madrid
Madrid
Updated Tuesday, February 27, 2024-17:24
The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, used the newspaper library this Tuesday to criticize the challenge launched by José Luis Ábalos to the leadership of the PSOE by clinging to his seat and moving to the
Mixed Group
.
Puente praised the figure of Josep Borrell, today high representative of the
European Union
in foreign affairs, in the corruption case that affected two of his collaborators and that forced him to resign in 1999 from his candidacy for the presidency of the Government.
"He left and no one saw him as corrupt," said the minister to contrast Borrell's reaction to the
Huguet-Aguiar case
with that of Ábalos, who this Tuesday said he would remain in his seat precisely to safeguard his "honorability" and demonstrate that It has nothing to do with the investigation into a corruption plot in the process of purchasing masks that affects his former right-hand man in the ministry,
Koldo García
.
A fact that has triggered tension within the socialist community, which this Monday gave Ábalos 24 hours to hand in his record as a deputy, understanding that he must assume the "political responsibility" derived from having worked at the highest level with a person tainted by the corruption.
Given the former minister's refusal, Puente - who this Tuesday explained the details of the audit that he has ordered in his ministry to analyze the purchases of masks - raised the case of Borrell, who 25 years ago opted to resign despite having won the elections. primaries to
Joaquín Almunia
.
"Two of his collaborators committed illegal acts and Borrell felt questioned," Puente recalled to highlight, as in the case of Ábalos, that "it is evident that he did nothing," but that the decision taken by the current high European representative is due to that he "felt that the trust placed" in his assistants "had been disappointed," which deserved a forceful response.
"That is the example that a socialist should look at," considered the Minister of Transport just an hour after the tough appearance of the Valencian deputy in Congress.
"Ábalos should look at Borrell's example."