The Andalusian opposition as a whole tries to corner Moreno for the first time with “alleged corruption”

For the first time in his five and a half years of placid government in Andalusia, Juan Manuel Moreno has had to respond en bloc to questions from the opposition about “alleged corruption”, as he himself described it, that occurred during his mandate. The spokespersons for the different groups have been taking turns in the control session in the tribune of the autonomous Parliament to launch harsh criticisms of the president of the Board. “Either put an end to this dynamic or the farmhouse is going to smell worse,” warned José Ignacio García (Adelante Andalucía), recalling what the PP reproached the former socialist rulers during its many years of opposition.

The “alleged corruption” revolves around emergency contracts in health matters to stop long and crazy waiting lists; the agreements of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports with companies in which senior officials who previously worked in the companies benefiting from the subsidies have participated; the agreement with the Royal Spanish Football Federation to recover the La Cartuja stadium investigated by the Civil Guard; or the incompatibility of the former Deputy Minister of Health, who gave 44 million in concerts to the private insurer Asisa and for which he signed once he was dismissed, a signing that the Board authorizes to be signed starting in August. “They may seem like ugly things, but they are not illegal,” sources from the Andalusian Government assured EL PAÍS.

This Thursday was the first time that Moreno, who was not comfortable, has had to defend himself against a string of criticisms heard one after another. The leftist José Ignacio García began about the extensions of Asisa hospital contracts, to which the Andalusian Government derived 43.7 million euros when the management of the SAS and then the Vice-Ministry of Health was occupied by Miguel Ángel Guzmán. He left the position last December and three months later he was hired as medical director by the private insurer. “What would you say if you were in the opposition? Asisa has bought a politician from his Government, using revolving doors, which is a form of corruption. The farmhouse begins to smell not bad, but fatal. End this dynamic or you will end up like your predecessor,” said the Adelante spokesperson.

Moments later, it was Inma Nieto, spokesperson for Por Andalucía (Sumar's regional brand), who put him in front of the mirror, reading phrases from Moreno when he was leader of the opposition about the situation of private healthcare that the groups repeat today. leftist. Nieto also had his

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in relation to the agreements signed by the Board with the RFEF chaired by Luis Rubiales, investigated for corruption, to commission the La Cartuja stadium in Seville. Nieto has accused him of provoking a “placebo debate” around the controversy generated by the Board over the occupation of seats in the recent Copa del Rey final. “They have kept us entangled so that no one would think how money from the Andalusian Government, which was to fix a stadium, had ended up paying for mojitos in Punta Cana to Rubiales,” she said.

Next, it was the Vox spokesperson, Manuel Gavira, who referred to the hiring of the former deputy minister by the private insurer as “an example of the circular economy.” He has reproached Moreno that “no matter how much propaganda he puts in, he will not be able to erase the inefficiency in management.”

The last turn of the opposition groups has been that of the socialist Juan Espadas. The socialists have been raising their tone for more than two weeks and increasing their complaints about alleged incompatibilities of senior members of the Board before the Andalusian Anti-Fraud Office. But Espadas, who spends half a week in Madrid as spokesperson for the PSOE in the Senate, has been the one who has used the softest tone and has limited himself to making a compilation of what his spokesperson said in previous days. He has complained about the Moreno Government's lack of transparency and response to requests for information about emergency health contracts. Espadas' lax intervention has drawn the attention of other groups. “I'm sorry to say it, but the opposition to Moreno should be led by Espadas, if he continues like this he will be in the opposition for another four years,” a parliamentary spokesperson complained.

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The socialists have also defended the creation of a commission of inquiry into emergency hiring, which has not gone ahead due to the rejection of the absolute majority of the PP. The PSOE says that it is going to present a complaint, which it has entrusted to a criminal law office in Seville, about alleged "irregularities." This party assures that the cases they are airing, none in court, are “the tip of the iceberg” of a “

modus operandi

” of the Moreno Government.

The electoral impact of the opposition's complaints remains to be seen. Surveys by the Center for Andalusian Studies, a body that depends on the Ministry of the Presidency, say that Moreno is not suffering any wear and tear. In the next few days a new barometer will be released and we will see if the magic mirror confirms that it is still the most beautiful in the kingdom. In the Andalusian Government they believe that the strategy of attrition of the PSOE is an “extension” of what happens in Congress and the Senate, but without any judicial path, although the socialists assure that they will call the Lower House commission to testify. to members of the Board. “There is no open process nor is there any expectation that there will be one,” sources from the Andalusian Executive assure. However, Moreno has tasked the advisor to the Presidency, Antonio Sanz, to “be very attentive” to whether “someone violates the established norms.”

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