José Luis Ábalos does not deliver his deputy record. The former ‘number three’ of the PSOE disregards the resolution of his own party and refuses to leave Congress after the outbreak of a corruption scandal in the Ministry of Transport while he was at the head of that department.
“I have decided to listen to those who love me and ask me to continue defending my reputation to the last consequences,” he said in an appearance in the Congress of Deputies in which he regretted not having had the support of the PSOE.
“I have decided to defend my personal honor and my reputation as a deputy to the last consequences. I would like to be doing it supported by the leadership of my party, I would have liked to have the benefit of camaraderie, but that has not been the case,” he lamented.
After his announcement, Ábalos himself has addressed the Congress Registry to complete his departure from the Socialist Parliamentary Group and join the Mixed Group, increasingly larger after the breakup of Podemos and Sumar.
His determination to continue as a deputy comes after the PSOE leadership decided to demand that its former secretary of organization deliver the deputy’s certificate within a maximum period of 24 hours, which expired at noon this Tuesday. A position that the former minister has attacked.
“I think that after having contributed to the formation of a Government, after having served our country as a minister and after having collaborated in the socialist primaries of 2017, I would have liked to have the benefit of camaraderie and to have shared a reflection along the path of quiet. It has not been possible,” he complained.
“I have decided to listen to those who still love me,” he continued. “It is these people who have conveyed to me the request that I continue in the fight to defend my honorability. “I am not accused of anything nor am I part of the ongoing investigation nor do I have any illicit enrichment,” he defended himself.
Ábalos, who has described as “disappointing and reprehensible” the illicit enrichment being investigated in the so-called ‘Koldo case’ due to the alleged involvement of his advisor and trusted man, Koldo García, has tried to limit this “problem” to a specific event. from which he has separated himself and about which, in any case, he has asked that “Justice be the one to resolve.”
“Those who demand my expulsion appeal to an ethical question. But what would the phase be like after my public sacrifice? “Who would remember to repair that?” He asked himself before stating: “If I resign it would be interpreted as a sign of guilt that I do not assume.” It would only lead to my stigmatization. “I know what a plague is,” she said.
The former organizational secretary of the PSOE announced during his appearance without questions that he himself would be the one to complete the process to join the Mixed Group without waiting for his party’s expulsion for disobeying the resolution of the Socialist Executive that this Monday demanded his handover. of the record.
“I can assure you that it is a very hard decision, very difficult personally. But I cannot end my political career as if I were corrupt. Defending my honor from the Mixed Group will allow me to continue defending my ideas and attend the end of this game, forcing those who now want to throw me out to have to look me in the face,” he proclaimed.
At the end of his appearance, José Luis Ábalos’s voice broke as he thanked his fellow deputies for their shared trajectory, as well as the militants who, as he said, have shown him their affection for so many years. “I never imagined myself outside of these acronyms to which I have given my life since I was young,” he said on the verge of tears.
After concluding his speech, Ábalos left the Congress press room in the direction of the Chamber Registry, where he proceeded to fill out the paperwork for his integration into the Mixed Group. Then, with the plenary session already begun, he decided not to go to his new seat in the chamber to leave the Carrera de San Jerónimo, this time, in tears.
Shortly after that appearance ended, the PSOE announced the opening of a disciplinary file against Ábalos for refusing to hand over his deputy certificate, and provisionally suspended him from militancy. As stated in the PSOE resolution, the file could lead to the expulsion of Ábalos from the party.
Source: www.eldiario.es
