He RTVE Board of Directors has resumed its session this Wednesday, March 27 after suspending that of Tuesday the 26th after dismissing the director of General Contents, Jose Pablo Lopezand shortly after dismissing its interim president, Elena Sanchezas we have explained developing the intrastory.
From the moment of the resignation of the interim president, the councilors saw that it was not going to be possible to reach an agreement to decide the new presidency of the corporation, so around five in the afternoon they adjourned the session and agreed to meet again the next day. next, this Wednesday, from 9:30 in the morning. As we already mentioned, they thus gave time for Tuesday afternoon and evening to be hours to talk and reach agreements.
Conversations and dealings not only with the councilors, but above all with the political parties that appointed them. The PSOE mobilized to try to get its counselor Cascajosa Conception be the new interim president. The party has three councilors but they have lost Elena Sánchez (the other two councilors voted yes to her dismissal) and Ramón Colom, due to different circumstances, including that during Tornero’s stage he aligned himself with the PP, he is not a candidate feasible. So they actually had the option of Conchi Cascajosa left.
As you have known verTelefinally Concepción Cascajosa has been named the new interim president of RTVE, replacing Elena Sánchez. To do this, they have had to give in to the demand of José Manuel Martín Medem, the councilor proposed in 2021 by the defunct Unidas Podemos coalition, and which Elena Sánchez also wanted: that Alfonso Morales stop being the general secretary of RTVE, since as we have been able to anticipate, Morales has resigned.
RTVE has already officially confirmed the appointment of Cascajosa as interim president, although in their statement they explain that it will be “over a period of six months”. In that period of time it will be possible to test whether the presidency and the Council of RTVE enjoy stability, or whether it is necessary to review the appointment.
The positions with which the Council has been reached
As you have known verTele, the resumption of the Council this Wednesday has come with several councilors putting their cards on the table and raising their demands to lend their support to one or the other. And the great protagonist has once again been José Manuel Martín Medem.
Let us remember that Medem is a director at the proposal of United We Can, and was appointed from the PCE, a party now integrated -through IU- in Sumar. The general secretary of the PCE, Enrique Santiago, is a substitute spokesperson in Sumar’s parliamentary group and a person trusted by the second vice president. In 2021, the Unidas Podemos electoral coalition managed to appoint two councilors: Roberto Lakidain (who is still attached to Podemos), and Medem himself (who, due to origin and current structure, would join Sumar).
In summer They assure that they have not mediated to influence Medem’s votes, and remember that he was elected by Unidas Podemos during the Pablo Iglesias era. But just as the electoral coalition has ended with a rift between Podemos and Sumar, Lakidain and Medem have shown that they do not go hand in hand: We can voted “no” to the dismissal of José Pablo López and proposed the dismissal of Elena Sánchez by voting “yes”, while Medem did it the other way around, being the only councilor who maintained his unwavering support for the already former interim president.
To support the appointment of Conchi Cascajosa, Medem demanded the head of Alfonso Morales, general secretary of RTVE. Something that a priori was almost impossible because, as has been known verTele and without it having been revealed until now, this Tuesday Morales made his position available to the Council after the dismissal of José Pablo López and before the dismissal of Elena Sánchez. And the Council voted: 7 ratified him (two PSOE, three PP, one PNV and Lakidain) and only Medem voted in favor of his dismissal, with the abstention of the still interim president. That is to say, the general secretary had the majority support of the Council, including the PP, and in theory it was not feasible that one day after being unanimously ratified, the only councilor who voted against him would achieve his dismissal. But that’s how it has been.
The movements in the Council have meant that, to access the presidency, Conchi Cascajosa needed Medem’s vote. From the outset, he would only have his own support, that of Juan José Baños (PNV) and that of Roberto Lakidain (Vamos). After her dismissal this Tuesday, Elena Sánchez no longer aligns herself with the PSOE, so she would not vote in favor of it although she could abstain, with the doubt being open along with Medem. The demand of the former interim president seems to be dismiss more members of Senior Management that they planted it, like with José Pablo López. And it was certain that the three PP councilors would vote against.
In this context, The PP seemed to continue orienting its strategy to “divide and conquer”. In the Council on Tuesday they voted “yes” to the two dismissals, both that of José Pablo López and that of Elena Sánchez (after privately assuring that they would not dismiss the interim president). And between the end of Tuesday and the beginning of Wednesday, already knowing that none of them would achieve the necessary support to preside over the corporation, which would also generate a movement from the Government; they would have proposed to give their support to Ramon Colom. Colom is a veteran councilor proposed by the PSOE who during Tornero’s time already voted alongside the PP, until the former president resigned and re-aligned himself with the other two PSOE councillors.
This is how Wednesday’s Council developed
The Council has resumed 9:30 in the morningnormally, and with those approaches that logically have not been presented directly, but rather had been worked on during the hours between the suspension of the session and its resumption.
Around the 11:10 amthe councilors had already voted and agreed that the presidency is not rotating. It was the deal that the PSOE and PP councilors had urgently reached this Tuesday to dismiss Elena Sánchez, but they have remade strategies. That vote was decided by the votes against of two from the PSOE (Cascajosa and Sánchez), the two from UP and the one from the PNV; while the three PP and Ramón Colom voted in favor. Which showed that, indeed, there had once again been a rapprochement between the PSOE advisor and those of the PP.
With the possibility of a rotating presidency closed, the Council has focused on appointing a new interim president. In this case, interim president. The name of Concepción Cascajosa has become the protagonist, but Medem has cast himself in his demand to dismiss the general secretary, against the wish of Sumar who does want to vote for Cascajosa, but as both he and Elena Sánchez want. Around the 12:25 p.m. there has been a first vote to appoint Conchi Cascajosa as interim president who has not gone ahead.
Cascajosa has had four votes in favor: that of herself, that of her partner proposed by the PSOE Ramón Colom, that of Roberto Lakidain for Podemos, and that of Juan José Baños for the PNV. There have been four others against: the three councilors proposed by the PP have remained, in addition to Medem, who conditions his vote on the dismissal of Alfonso Morales. And Elena Sánchez has abstained. Four in favor, four against, and one abstention.
After that first vote, requested and produced a recess, in which surely the advisors and the political parties that have proposed them have recalibrated the situation. The block in favor was clear, with Cascajosa, Colom, Lakidain and Baños. In the bloc against, the three from the PP are firm, while Medem, in order to unblock the situation, demands the dismissal of the general secretary, something that all the other councilors rejected a day before. AND Elena Sánchez, who would decide the vote, abstains so as not to vote with the PP and also maintains the blockade despite the fact that he also wanted to dismiss Alfonso Morales, considering him the most responsible along with José Pablo López for the rebellion against his presidency.
Morales has had to resign to unblock the appointment
Therefore, The situation was summarized in: o Alfonso Morales stopped being the general secretary of RTVEas Medem demanded and Elena Sánchez also wanted, or there was a blockage and a new president could not be appointed. This, despite the fact that a day before it had been ratified by seven of the nine councillors.
But around 1:40 p.m.as has been known verTelethe situation has been unblocked because Alfonso Morales has resigned. A decision practically forced by circumstances, by which the tandem formed by Medem and Elena Sánchez has managed, after José Pablo López resigned, to also claim the hitherto general secretary as a victim. The two names that the former interim president considered most responsible for the rebellion of the Senior Management against her management.
Cascajosa, named interim president with five votes in favor
After the forced resignation of Alfonso Morales, the appointment has been unblocked. Around the 2:00 p.m. there has been a second vote, in which Concepción Cascajosa has achieved the five minimum supports necessary for the majority: hers and Colom’s for the PSOE, the two from Unidas Podemos (Lakidain and Medem) and Baños’s for the PNV. The three PP councilors have remained against, and Elena Sánchez, who was not going to support any of those who voted for her dismissal, has abstained. Five in favor, three against, and one abstention.
With this decision, Concepción Cascajosa has taken over from Elena Sánchez, becoming new interim president of RTVE, although as the corporation has officially announced it will be “for a period of six months.” The functioning of the presidency and the Council in that half-year will be what decides if it is feasible and enjoys stability, or the appointment must be reviewed.
Source: www.eldiario.es
