Alberto Núñez Feijóo has used his appearance before the congressional dana investigation commission to muddy parliamentary investigations to define political responsibilities for the floods that killed 230 people in October 2024 in the Valencian Community. The leader of the PP has taken out the “ETA wild card”, has accused the Government of not having declared a state of emergency and has taken refuge behind the victims of the recent train accident in Adamuz.
Feijóo is being questioned this Monday by the deputies about his role on the day of the dana and in the subsequent days, the exchange of messages with the former president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, or the political management within the Valencian PP.
The opposition leader has tried to get rid of all political responsibility and has emphasized that the management depended on Mazón, and not on him as the national political head of the former president. “I should demand responsibilities from another politician, not from me, since I don’t have them,” he blurted out in the first stages of the interrogation.
Feijóo has reiterated that he was informed “in real time” on the day of the dana, despite the fact that the first message with Mazón was sent by him himself and around eight in the afternoon. Until then, he has acknowledged that he received information “through the media, television and radio,” but not through the authorities of the autonomous community or his own party.
The leader of the PP did not want to reveal when he found out that Mazón had spent “the entire afternoon” of the dana at the ‘El Ventorro’ restaurant. “I didn’t talk about where I was,” he said. “I have said and I reiterate that no administration has been up to the task” of the tragedy, he said, to move on to the attack: “I am very surprised that those responsible for the Hydrographic Confederation, which is the most responsible, were not in the Cecopi or gave information,” he stated.
This statement by Feijóo is false. It is not the only blatant lie expressed by the PP leader. Feijóo has also assured that he himself was “the first politician” to contact Mazón. The truth is that the third vice president of the Government, Teresa Ribera, did it before.
However, Feijóo has also said he is unaware that a Cecopi existed in the Valencian Community or what functions it has. Feijóo was president of the Xunta de Galicia for 16 years, where there is also a coordination center modeled on Valencian. He himself chaired meetings of that organization.
PNV deputy Idoia Sagastizabal has reproached him for “having been regional president” and “it seems surprising that he does not observe the statutes of autonomy and the laws.”
“Lead communication”
Feijóo has also explained what he meant when he told Mazón that he should “lead the communication”, practically the only political indication he shared with the Valencian president. “I ask you to lead as you did in the fire” of a city building a few months earlier. “Give information, keep citizens informed,” he maintained.
The leader of the PP revealed at that time that “he was at a dinner with a minister.” And he stated: “They should ask if he contacted the authorities.”
“Feijóo had dinner on Dana Day with several members of the Government. One of them, Óscar López. It was at the Teatro Real, in an event organized by ’20 Minutos’,” the PP later explained. “The presence of Pedro Sánchez’s former Chief of Staff at that event is a very graphic example of how worried the Government was on the night of October 29, 2024,” the party points out. In October 2024, López was already Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Service.
“Which other members of the Government were at that event? The current minister spokesperson, Elma Saiz,” the message continues, in reference to the head of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.
Parapetado en ETA y Adamuz
But it was the intervention of EH Bildu deputy Oskar Matute that ended up muddying the first part of Feijóo’s appearance. “Do you have information to clarify any of the ETA murders?” he asked when asked about the PP leader’s alleged “lies” when saying that he was informed.
“Listening to him talk about lies and truths after the 800 deaths that you have in a terrorist organization,” he said later in order not to respond to Matute. “Take out the wild card of ETA,” the EH Bildu deputy reproached him: “I have no criminal record, something that is not so easy in your party.”
The president interrupted at that moment to ask them to get to the issue, although Feijóo has continued along that line, with comments such as that if he reaches the Government “he will not whitewash Bildu” or he has reproached listening to Matute “talk about lies and truths after the 800 deaths” of ETA.
The president of the commission has tried to redirect the confrontation and has had to call Feijóo to order, who has ironically commented on his role: “It is a shame that you do not exercise the presidency of Congress.”
Feijóo has also sought to take cover behind the recent victims of the Adamuz and Rodalies railway accidents. “The dismissal of the Ministry of Transport is not requested [Óscar Puente]. “They should have resigned a long time ago,” he said.
The leader of the PP has assured that “he would do it again”, in reference to his role on the day of the dana and after. “If you tell me if the same person who protects Mr. Otegi supports the president of an autonomous community, my hair will break out,” he added.
Defense of Mazon
Feijóo has also defended the actions of Mazón and the Valencian Generalitat. The leader of the PP has highlighted the resignations of the Minister of Emergencies, Salomé Pradas, and that of Industry, Nuria Montes, who “resigned after a few weeks.”
“Here, after the AVE and Rodalies accident, they continue to support the Minister of Transport,” he said. “That he comes to ask for the resignation of those who have resigned and not of those who are still in office is a bit surprising,” he noted.
Before the questions from Junts deputy Josep María Cervera, Feijóo assured that “Mazón did what he had to do.” After a year or so, the feeling on the street is that he had to assume his responsibility. “In the Government, no one has assumed them,” he pointed out. “I have given more explanations of the dana than any senior official in the Government of Spain,” he added.
Feijóo has maintained that the 2024 dana was a “meteorological event without a present” and blames the Government for the tragedy, which he has assured was “continued railway negligence.”
The leader of the PP has said that there were “20 warnings from the train drivers that irregularities were occurring at that point.” His words came in response to the ERC spokesperson, Gabriel Rufián, whom he accused of having asked for the resignation of Minister Óscar Puente because of the chaos in Rodalies and not because of the accident in Adamuz. “He tore his clothes with a victim in Catalonia, me too, but he said that those 45 from Andalusia…”.
Rufián has accused Feijóo of “flagrant” lying. The ERC deputy has reported five falsehoods. “The first, that the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation did not notify. They did so at 11:20 on the same day, five hours before Cecopi. The second lie is to assure that they would love to know about the messages between Mazón and Pedro Sánchez. Those hours it was impossible to speak with Mazón because he was busy, so the communication was with his chief of staff, Mr. Cuenca, who has formatted his phone.”
Rufián has also criticized his criticism of the fact that members of the central government did not participate in the Cecopi on the day of the dana and that he assured that it is the Valencian Generalitat that has taken charge of the compensation to the victims. “That’s lying.” What he has paid are material expenses, he has not paid a penny for the victims of the dana because he does not even recognize them as victims. The government of the Generalitat has not yet made a decree recognizing them as victims,” said the ERC spokesperson.
Vox, to the rescue of Feijóo
“You are not wrong”
The Vox deputy Ignacio Gil Lázaro has used his turn in the commission to attack the Government of Pedro Sánchez and has not asked a single question to the person summoned by the commission. “Today Vox is not wrong,” Feijóo conceded, concluding: “It has used its time to describe realities and the political context, not to criticize the PP. That Vox does not criticize the PP is progress.”
Feijóo has used the 3 minutes that Vox has given him to reiterate his argument. “I have not been able to be more respectful to this commission. I have to express my opinion, otherwise why have they brought me here? It would be different if the PP governed,” he assured, to reiterate that he “would never” have come from Cecopi without declaring a national emergency or paying for Internet advertising for a demonstration.” “If we do not denounce double standards and lies, the truth defeats,” he said, to settle: “I have not dedicated 30 years to this for the lie to defeat the truth. The Government was against the Generalitat Valenciana from the first moment.”
Feijóo promises “not to use an accident to destroy the opponent”
Feijóo has closed his appearance before the Danaa investigation commission in Congress with an argument in defense of Carlos Mazón and against the Government of Pedro Sánchez. Feijóo has maintained that the 230 deaths from the Dana are victims of “a natural phenomenon”, and has compared it to the Adamuz accident. “They defend a Government besieged by cases of corruption, they defend the Ministry of Transport, where there is a criminal organization, according to the judges,” he said to the groups, whom he accused of “supporting the Government that fails to protect citizens.”
Feijóo has said that he will “always” remember “the victims” because he has “seen many.” The leader of the PP has cited the 80 deaths in the Angrois accident, in Santiago, in 2013, which he has referred to as “the corpses of the AVE”, assuming for the first time that it was a Spanish high-speed accident.
The leader of the PP has assured that he “would have taken the lead” if he had been at the head of the Executive. “The Government is here to wear down. For better and for worse,” he said. Immediately afterwards, he despised the fact that the presence of the then president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, during the afternoon of the dana had been of no use. “Tell the victims that the Government did it well and that the only person responsible is a man. The problem is that this man should be there at eight or seven? Is that the problem? Really?”
Feijóo concluded: “I am going to dedicate the remaining political time to respecting the victims and not using an accident to destroy the opponent if they do not have direct and sole responsibility.”
Source: www.eldiario.es
