If anything has been made very clear about it, it is that competition in the era of the Generalitat Valenciana. This is stipulated in the law, as long as the national emergency is not declared, and this has been unequivocally stated by the Catarroja court, which is investigating the criminal case for the death of 230 people in the province of Valencia and the injuries of many others, to the Valencia Court. However, the Generalitat is barely expressly mentioned in just over three paragraphs in the 12 pages of conclusions of the proposed opinion of the Les Cortes Valencianes commission agreed between the PP and Vox.
The proposal of the two parliamentary partners, who have a majority in the commission, tiptoes over the regional management that has led to the only two investigated at the moment being the Minister of the Interior, Salomé Pradas, and the regional Secretary of Emergencies, Emilio Argüeso, who held their positions during the fateful October 29, 2024. Not a direct allusion in the conclusions to the role played by the then president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, of the PP, who was locked in a restaurant booth during the four most tragic hours of the disaster, nor to the “late and erroneous content” sending of Es-Alert, according to the investigating judge, Nuria Ruiz Tobarra.
On the contrary, the accusations against the Government extend throughout the conclusions that repeat the story of the Generalitat, now chaired by Juanfran after the resignation of Mazón: the Government is the main responsible because it did not declare the national emergency (nor did the Consell ask for it, which did not declare the catastrophic emergency either), because it did not carry out the previously planned hydraulic works and because there was an information blackout of its state agencies (Aemet and the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation), denied by the court and the Court in various orders.
The PP and Voz have registered this Monday in the Valencian parliament the proposed 125-page opinion that they have described as “serious and rigorous”, while the opposition has considered it “an ignominy” and has compared it to that of the 2006 metro accident.
The parliamentary groups recorded their written conclusions last Friday and this Monday the commission’s presentation met to prepare a joint proposal, which the PP and Vox, which have the majority, have finally agreed upon, and to which amendments can now be presented to be debated together with the opinion on May 27.
The opinion concludes that the magnitude of the tragedy responds to “the cumulative concurrence of failures, deficiencies and deficits maintained for decades at different levels of public action”, such as works planned but not executed, “shortcomings” in the information and warning systems, or “coordination deficiencies”, and calls for a comprehensive prevention strategy. As far as the Generalitat is concerned, only the phrases from Vox have been included that speak of “a lack of direction when it comes to constantly demanding, contrasting and claiming updated information on the hydrological evolution of the ravines and flows that were in the possession of the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation.” “There are doubts about the sufficiency of certain decisions taken during the most critical phases of the emergency and about efficiencies in institutional monitoring and coordination,” it is also added.
He trustee (spokesperson) of the PP, Fernando Pastor, has indicated that they have tried to do a job “as serious and rigorous as possible”, taking into account that the Government of Spain “has shown its fright” and has not appeared in this body, which in his opinion is “a mockery” for the commission, for the relatives of the victims and for “the Valencian people”.
Opposition reactions
He trustee of Vox, José María Llanos, has explained that the opinion they have approved is that of his party “with some documentary expansion”, and has defended “the rigor, respect for the victims and the in-depth analysis” that Vox has carried out. Faced with this, Llanos has criticized “the tantrum of the left”, with a PSPV that has presented 24 pages “with insults” and Compromís “one and a half pages”, and has accused them of “laughing at the Valencian people”.
For his part, the trustee socialist, José Muñoz, has described as “delirious” a ruling with which the PP and Vox “try to support a story of events that has already been denied by the Provincial Court of Valencia, which has already made it clear that there was no information blackout” and that emulates that of the Valencia metro accident in 2006. “It is the ultimate ignominy,” stated Muñoz, for whom the most “unacceptable” thing is that this ruling is “against the memory of the victims” and has accused Vox of “deplorably colluding” with a commission that “has only thrown dirt on the truth,” which is that the tragedy was due “to the inaction and ineptitude” of the PP Consell.
For Compromís deputy spokesperson Isaura Navarro, the ruling “offends” all Valencian citizens, with “its lies” and by trying to “evade the political responsibilities” that the Generalitat had, in addition to the fact that “it says nothing” about where the then president, Carlos Mazón, was or the delay in sending the Es-Alert to the population. “It is to be thrown in the trash: it is an ignominy, a shame and a list of lies,” said Navarro, who considered that it is “completely absurd” and “an absolute fantasy”, which is going to be approved because the PP and Vox have the majority in the commission, “but what they are not right.”
