The Popular Party closes ranks and defends the president of the Valencian Community, Carlos Mazón, after 130,000 people took to the streets yesterday in the capital of Valencia to demand his resignation over the management of DANA. “The Popular Party is with the Valencians and with their president, with President Mazón. A president who has been showing his face at all times in front of the Government of Spain, who resigned from taking charge of the biggest national emergency that has occurred in Spain,” said the Deputy Secretary of Economy, Juan Bravo, in a conference press at the party headquarters.
“Valencian society,” the popular deputy secretary has acknowledged, “is going through a very, very difficult time.” “We are aware and we accompany and share the pain. There are many Valencians who have felt alone and abandoned. Our commitment is to work, to continue working until this situation is resolved,” he insisted. This Saturday, tens of thousands of people demanded the dismissal of the president of the Generalitat Valenciana for the controversial response he gave to the floods – it took him hours to send the alarm to the mobile phones of Valencian citizens – and the lies of his Government about the catastrophe.
“In politics we have to be self-critical and tell the victims that we understand that they are disappointed with their political leaders,” Bravo said. “We are going to do our best to fix your situation.”
A few days ago it was known that the Emergency Coordination Center, dependent on the Department of Justice of the Generalitat, did not report in time on the seriousness of the situation last Tuesday the 29th, when the floods occurred due to the force of the storm. thus violating the Special Flood Risk Plan and the Emergency Law. Other measures included in said law were not implemented either.
Mazón experienced the first signs of the disaster from the Palau de la Generalitat, after three meetings unrelated to the management of the emergency – none of which were cancelled – and a meal in a restaurant where, he assures, “there was no coverage.” Reconstructing the president’s steps is of vital importance to know what was wrong in emergency response and protection protocols against floods, which have left more than 200 dead.
The national PP has assured that it is with the Valencian people and that it understands the discomfort of the people who live in the affected towns. He has reiterated the party’s “maximum respect” for “the expressions of pain” of Valencians. However, he has also condemned some of the “violent” attitudes that occurred in Saturday’s massive protest: “Confrontation and vandalism will never, ever be the solution. The solution is to work together, all hand in hand,” he said.
Bravo has thanked the work of the thousands of volunteers – whom he has referred to several times as “mud angels” – who have traveled to Paiporta, Catarroja, Massanassa and the rest of the municipalities affected by the storm to help their reconstruction.
Meanwhile, the popular ones seek responsibility for the tragedy in the central government. Asked about the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, Bravo responded: “We would have to ask ourselves where she was. I think we all know it. In the most complicated moments he was touring Paris, Brussels, worrying about his own things instead of worrying about everyone’s affairs.”
There have been several PP officials who have targeted the Minister of Ecological Transition and accused her of “disappearing” during the tragedy. Mazón himself spread an SMS to try to embarrass Ribera and convey the idea that the Government had not offered its help, despite the fact that the capture of the messages suggests just the opposite.
“All Spaniards know exactly where some were and where others were,” stated the deputy secretary of the national PP.
Proposals for the central Executive
Bravo has also announced a series of proposals that he will deliver to the Government of Pedro Sánchez so that they can be included in the package of measures that the Council of Ministers plans to approve tomorrow to alleviate the effects of DANA. The popular battery of measures are divided into the following points:
- Increase the list of affected municipalities
- Create a single portal for the management of DANA aid through a single window, which could be the Tax Agency
- Establish a vehicle renewal and recovery line
- Design a new housing plan
- Creation of an education fund called ‘we educate’ destined exclusively for the education of the thousands of children who have been affected
- Establish a mental health plan
- Recover mobility in the area
- A financing and co-financing fund between the autonomous communities
- The recovery of the affected channels and ravines
- Address infrastructure to guarantee adaptation to flood risk
The proposals to the Government are completed by some tax measures, such as the improvement of the extraordinary temporary disability benefit. “The Government left out the IBI exemption for the year 2025. I think we all share that it seems logical to extend it in both the IBI and the IAE, and also extend the IBI exemption not only to those who have been totally or partially rehoused but also to those who prove that their homes have suffered significant damage,” said Bravo.
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