Pablo R. Roces Madrid
Madrid
Updated Thursday, February 29, 2024-00:08
Politics Ayuso is left without his economic and political gurus: Lasquetty leaves politics and Ossorio will be president of the Assembly
At what point is the investigation into Rocío Monasterio for the 'fake' vote? I submitted a letter to the Assembly table describing what happened in the vote on February 1 because there was a video recording showing Mrs. Monasterio, presumably, pressing the button for the empty seat next to her, and it was decided to open a disciplinary file.
In addition, the lawyers of the Chamber have established a procedure that guarantees their rights, an instructor has been appointed who is a PP deputy accepted by the other groups except Vox and a lawyer from the Chamber will advise her.
Now the deputy will give her explanations, the instructor will investigate and the Board will impose a sanction or not. Are you in favor of the suspension? As a member of the Board who is going to make the final decision, the less you say about this matter is preferable.
I should not have a position on it because I am part of the body that is going to vote on that decision. You were one of the first to respond to the Vox spokesperson when she alluded to technical problems. If I considered that there was absolutely nothing, I would not have proposed to the Table that a sanctioning procedure be opened.
We even delayed submitting the document for a week because once you open it you have to be very convinced.
I saw signs that something could happen and I answered that the seat was activated that day because we always wait until the last moment in case the Central Electoral Board sends the credentials of the new deputy.
If it arrived the previous afternoon or that same morning, the substitute could have participated. You experienced that relationship with Vox, as well as the Government.
Why has it eroded to the current situation in which it is broken? When I was in the Government, there was the problem of the Budgets and the president already said that each of us for our part.
But I also have to speak well of Vox, because in 2019 and 2021 they supported Ayuso being president even though there were problems.
That does not mean that the opinions of its parliamentarians are not taken into account, that would be idiotic. But the escalation of tension is evident in every parliamentary intersection. It is logical that the tone is now higher than before, which is not much higher compared to with other questions, because there is no dependence of either of them on the other. Continuing with that off-color, you always attributed it to the presence of Podemos.
Now they are not in the Chamber and the tension does not subside.
I have always attributed it to the arrival of Podemos because there was a jump in insults and interruptions to the deputies.
It is true that this climate has unfortunately continued and I am the most opposed to it because in this way we politicians delegitimize ourselves with the citizens.
We do not give a good image and I am going to make a call for calm and that there be no insults or so many interruptions. From the left they accuse him of being quite partial in favor of the PP.
My vision is not that and it has cost me an immense effort to change my speeches because I was vice president of the Government and Minister of Education, something that the president of Congress has not done, for example.
Here I have always been in an institutional position, and I would like Armengol to have been in his speeches.
I try to be fair, I agree with those who have been insulted, but if the left bench interrupts more, then I necessarily have to ask them to be quieter.
ANGEL NAVARRETE
Is the president of Congress not fair in her opinion? I am a deputy of the PP, my ideas and my convictions are clear, but here I apply the regulations.
I am not the president of Congress, which with so many incidents has unfortunately contaminated such an important institution in Spain.
In what way do you think the institutions are being degraded? As president of the Assembly I have to be more cautious, but I see a situation in Spain that worries me.
I have been in public service for 41 years and I have never seen these insults to the judiciary, appointing a senior lawyer of Congress to an undersecretary of a ministry... I am very concerned about the situation of the institutions and I want us politicians to defend the value of democracy.
Does having the European Union as a mediator to renew the CGPJ frame it as degrading the institutions? This issue is very complicated, but it must be resolved and it seemed good to me when the mediation of the Commissioner of Justice was resorted to.
There is a party, which is the PSOE, that wants to colonize the institutions by placing like-minded people who vote in favor of their interests in the Council of State or in the Constitutional Court instead of having prestigious jurists.
That is why we had to go to the European Commission, until two years ago I would never have thought that I wish the European Union would come to help us but now I ask that you please do so.
Does modifying the Telemadrid Council, the Court of Accounts or the Transparency Council so that the Government has more control degrade the institutions? In Telemadrid what is done is return to the system that existed since 1983, where the members of the Council of Administration were elected by the Assembly and the director proposed by the Government, which is the maximum shareholder.
These are the rules established by the PSOE.
The Transparency Council is exactly the model that the State has and the Chamber of Accounts is the usual model. If the Government decides the director of Telemadrid, is it not a way to control the organization? It is the Assembly and return to the model of the PSOE in 1983. The Assembly with an absolute majority of the Popular Party. I insist that it is the one that established the PSOE.
Last week we saw the Parliament approve a new law to initiate a unilateral declaration of independence in Catalonia, bypassing the criteria of the lawyers. The president of a Parliament and the members of the Board have to comply with the regulations that defend the rights of minorities.
Here in Madrid, the PP has an absolute majority, but the regulations take care of the times of others, their initiatives, and must be applied regardless of ideology.
I would like that to be done in the Congress of Deputies;
in the Senate, which is done, and in the Parliament of Catalonia.
It is tremendous that the Board votes against the lawyers' report, nothing has ever been proven here that does not have a favorable report.
Let's see what the Prosecutor's Office and Mr. Sánchez do now with such a story, they will not do anything.
Should the Prosecutor's Office or the Government intervene in that Chamber? Whoever is appropriate must intervene.
If an illegal Government proposal were approved here, the Minister Spokesperson and the Council of Ministers would be blaspheming in Aramaic.
ANGEL NAVARRETE
Are you in favor of reducing the number of deputies in the Assembly to which your party has opened up? I sincerely believe that the work could not be carried out with half of the deputies.
It would have to be a slightly lower figure at most because, for example, Vox has 10 deputies to cover 19 commissions, with five it would be impossible for it to carry out its political work.
It cannot be as substantial a reduction as is being proposed. Well, Vox is the one who asks for it the most. Well, it surprises me because they have real problems being able to attend all the committees.
Another issue that is being seen is giving a salary to former presidents.
When I was spokesperson it was very advanced, but in the end there was no consensus.
It is important to dignify politicians so that they become better and better because there are many brilliant people in Spain who now do not want to be.
They are not going to give up their positions to be discredited, so anything that leads to dignifying this job seems fine to me.
By dignifying, does it mean raising salaries and applying these new ones? In other communities, former presidents have certain prerogatives once their term ends and Madrid should recognize that work because a president has an extraordinary dedication that marks his life. Did you understand his departure? of the Government after the elections? The truth is that yes, the four years that I had in the Government were very hard with the pandemic, with Ciudadanos, with Vox, with the Celaá Law, with two elections... I would have gone wherever I would have The president said and I am delighted here. And the complete renewal of the councilors that was carried out? There is an element, when the Government is renewed it is not known who is going to govern and it is thought that the PP will do so.
And then there is the president's permanent concern to do more and more things, for which she wanted to rejuvenate the Government and propose new ideas.
It is something very legitimate because part of her success is due to that ambition that she has.
In addition, there were councilors who asked to leave for personal reasons and others because they were counted on in a possible government of Spain or in the national PP. If they had thought about a new Sánchez Government, would the renewal not have been so profound? I don't know , it is only a hypothesis, but it is very possible. Would you have been willing to continue in the Government? I would have been willing to whatever Isabel Díaz Ayuso would have decided, count on me for whatever you want. For weeks in this Assembly we have seen several debates about the Gaza War, what position does the PP have in this case?
That of recognizing the Palestinian State as established in your program?
Or support Israel?
I believe that the position has not changed, those murders of October 7 hurt us all a lot and so do the deaths in the civil conflict.
What happens is that the left continually puts it in plenary sessions. What is the position?
Because you allude to Israel but Feijóo, after raising it, the Government and the King changed his position to recognize the Palestinian State. What I understand, without being an expert, is that this Palestinian State must be combined with the security of Israel and that they do not happen again. events like those of October 7.
What needs to be done is to remove shrapnel from this issue, reach a reasonable solution that does not undermine Israel's security.