The PSOE spokesperson, Juan Lobato, at a press conference on January 17 after his meeting with the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.Kiko Huesca (EFE)
The application of the transparency law, which requires the publication on a specific portal of regional government contracts, now serves as an excuse for the PP of Isabel Díaz Ayuso to limit and try to reformulate the powers of the parliamentary commission for oversight of contracting. .
After reforming the Chamber of Accounts and the Transparency Council so that they report directly to the Executive, this strategy has provoked the unanimous protest of the opposition, which denounces what, in their opinion, represents an attempt to curtail their right to audit in Parliament regional policies of the conservative Executive.
More Madrid, PSOE and Vox are now trying to coordinate to define the powers of the commission, according to documents that EL PAÍS has accessed, and thus submit to the Assembly's leadership a work proposal that haggles over the PP's intention to reformulate the body with the excuse that it has become outdated as much of the information is already published on the transparency portal.
The conservatives, in any case, will have the last word, since they have enjoyed an absolute majority in the Chamber since the May 2023 elections.
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“How is the Government controlled in Madrid?” PSOE spokesperson Juan Lobato asked this Monday.
“Well, with the Accounts Chamber, which has just been loaded by making the president, who Ayuso appoints, be able to suppress and veto any investigation;
with the Transparency Council, which has just been charged as an independent body to do so depends on the Presidency advisor, who appoints Ayuso;
and with the contracting commission, which is de facto taking over by not allowing any or almost any initiative to go forward,” he answered himself.
“What do we have then as an element of oversight of Ayuso in Madrid?
Parliamentary roller”, he lamented.
The denunciation of this application of the absolute majority by the PP has not been exclusive to the PSOE.
On the contrary.
The spokespersons' press conference this Monday has been a string of complaints in this regard that has united all opposition groups, from Vox to Más Madrid.
Because the contracting oversight commission, which was a distinctive element of the Assembly when it began, is fundamental to the work of the opposition.
There you should be able to know the details of all the expenses of the regional Executive.
And in politics, as in investigations, the most interesting thing is following the money trail.
“This commission is very important to control the government and avoid corruption,” recalled Rocío Monasterio, Vox spokesperson, thus invoking without mentioning the ghosts of the
Gürtel cases,
Púnica
or
Lezo
.
“They do not answer us about what the powers are, and the president of the Assembly, Mr. [Enrique] Ossorio, what he has done is ask the Government, which is the controlled one, in writing about what he wants the powers to be so that he can control,” he added about a letter whose existence has not been confirmed by the cabinet of the former vice president of Ayuso at the time of publication of this article.
“This is a bit surreal,” stressed the spokesperson for the far-right party.
And she recalled: “It is in line with what we have seen in December of the government's intervention in fundamental bodies that are dedicated precisely to oversight.”
A line of argument similar to that of Manuela Bergerot, the spokesperson for Más Madrid: “We presented an appeal to the Constitutional Court three years ago precisely because the Assembly does not allow oversight, which is undemocratic.
"It is constant how the control capacity of groups and citizens is cut."
In contrast, Carlos Díaz-Pache, the PP spokesperson, has been left alone in defense of the reformulation of the organization's powers, the need for which he has linked to the application of the transparency law.
“It is a commission that over time has become a little outdated,” said Díaz-Pache, who was deputy councilor of the previous Ayuso government.
“With the proliferation of transparency portals, where everything is posted and available, it does not seem to make much sense that a commission has to request information that is openly available to everyone,” he added.
“Many times opposition deputies propose erroneous, out-of-place initiatives, directed at the wrong commission, or that ask for information that is already available (...)”, he continued, to finish: “So that this commission is useful, it is necessary to define which issues should be debated and monitored (...) What has been asked of the president of the commission by the president of the Assembly is to make a proposal that comes from the commission on the powers that they would see as reasonable for the commission.”
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