During a “quarrelsome” meeting, according to a source present at the meeting, the PP of Isabel Díaz Ayuso imposed this Monday that the D’Hont law be applied to the quotas available to each party to select those appearing in the commission. research called for clarify an alleged “favorable treatment” in the relationship with the Complutense University of Begoña Gómez, the wife of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez. In this way, if there were only four sessions, as initially planned, the PP would call seven attendees, two from Más Madrid, two from the PSOE and one from Vox. And if it were extended to six sessions, as is possible, the conservatives could call 10 attendees, four from Más Madrid, three from the PSOE and one from Vox. However, if the usual methodology is applied, each group would have six and four appearances, respectively, one per session, which has caused a block protest from the opposition, and the socialists are considering going to court, including the Constitutional Court. .
“The call for this meeting did not include specific points and, therefore, voting points,” they explain in Más Madrid, a party represented by deputy Antonio Sánchez in the commission. “Even so, the Popular Party, against the opinion of all the groups, has wanted, without there being an agenda, to vote (on the application of the D’Hont law,” they continue. “In response to the protests, they have said that The opinions had already been expressed in the press on several occasions,” they add. “Our representative has said that the normal thing is that there would be another Table with an agenda that would express what was going to be voted on so that the groups could articulate their position. “The lawyer herself has stated that it would be possible to make another call and, 24 hours later, have a table in which to vote,” they remain in the party that leads the opposition, which has shown its doubts about the legality of the procedure that has led to Appearances are decided based on the electoral results.
They have spoken along a similar line in the PSOE, knowing that the strategy in this commission of the regional leader, Juan Lobato, questioned internally, will be examined closely from the federal headquarters of Ferraz.
“Without an agenda, they have urged us to vote on the quota of appearances,” agrees Marta Bernardo, PSOE representative on the commission. “It was clear, from the very day the commission was established, that the PP and the president of the table (Susana Pérez Quislant) wanted the D’Hont law to govern the number of appearances, and it has been one more trap. of those that we are used to (the PP, which has an absolute majority) in the Assembly,” he continued. “This does not want to be normalized. Therefore, we will take the measures we deem appropriate. “This is not a commission of inquiry, but rather a commission of persecution.”
This has been contrasted by Carlos Díaz-Pache, the spokesperson for the PP in the Assembly, where the absolute majority of conservatives allows them to do and undo: “In this Assembly everything is done by proportionality, as is logical. The people of Madrid give each party a representativeness, and that representativeness is transferred to the number of seats, offices, questions… and to this commission as well.”
However, the opposition believes that this possibility contravenes the customs of the Chamber. Vox, for example, argues in a protest letter that non-permanent commissions (study or research, like this one) are made up of an equal number of deputies for each group, compared to permanent ones, which do take into account that representation is proportional to the electoral result. That, as the far-right party interprets, would trigger the legislator’s desire for investigations to be carried out on equal terms. In this way, Vox argues, the PP would try to “take advantage or political gain and annul or curtail the right to participation of the rest of the parliamentary groups” with the help of its absolute majority.
The parties have until Tuesday afternoon to register their requests to appear, which will have to pass the examination of the Parliament Board, controlled by the PP, the following Friday.
Más Madrid, for example, has already registered a dozen appearances. The system that evaluates the PP for the commission would force it to leave out six of the people it wants to call, even more if the commission sessions do not rush the month of February and are finished before the end of 2023. Thus, the Bergerot’s party wants to summon the six rectors of Madrid’s public universities, and also the Minister of Education, Emilio Viciana, the Minister of Economy, Rocío Albert, and the president of the Madrid Assembly, Enrique Ossorio, where appropriate to assess possible favorable treatment to the Fray Jiménez Cisneros Foundation. Furthermore, the party led by Manuela Bergerot I would like former PP leaders such as Pablo Casado, Esperanza Aguirre or Cristina Cifuentes to testify.
Gómez, who is expected to be called on November 13, like the rector of the Complutense, Joaquín Goyache, has until now been co-directing two master’s degrees at the Madrid educational center, an occupation for which has been summoned to testify by the justice system as being investigated for the alleged commission of the crimes of corruption in the private sector and influence peddling.
The case, therefore, is being settled right now in two scenarios: in the courts and in the Parliament of Madrid, where the PP and Vox do not rule out requesting the appearance of Sánchez, whose team considers that Gómez’s call “breaks all the bridges of political understanding.
