Spain’s under-fire ecological transition minister, a candidate for a top European Commission post, said Wednesday that questioning the role of state agencies during the country’s devastating floods was “dangerous”.The state weather and environment services have faced intense scrutiny over their response to the October 29 disaster that killed 227 people and wreaked widespread destruction.The European Parliament had blocked Teresa Ribera’s appointment to an influential commission role encompassing the environment and competition, with opponents accusing her of neglecting her duties during the floods.But feuding political groups reached a deal to back the bloc’s new executive on Wednesday, clearing the way for Ribera’s confirmation next week.Regions are in charge of disaster management in Spain’s decentralised political system, but the hardest-hit Valencia region’s leader Carlos Mazon has said he received “insufficient, inaccurate and late” information.Doubting state agencies was “deeply unfair and deeply dangerous”, Ribera told parliament in a veiled retort to the conservative opposition.”I would like to thank the work and dedication of the public servants who issued the information as was their duty,” she added.Mazon defended his handling of the catastrophe last week, citing an “information blackout” and criticising a government agency responsible for monitoring river levels.Ribera said “there was never an information blackout” and enumerated a lengthy list of warnings issued by public bodies to the regional authorities.Although the national weather agency issued the highest red alert in the morning of October 29, Valencia residents in many cases received telephone warnings only when water was already gushing through towns.The socialist-led central government has said the conservative Mazon bore responsibility for the late issuing of the emergency alert.”Having all the necessary information is of little use if the one who must respond does not know how,” Ribera said.- Political polarisation -The right-wing opposition Popular Party (PP) has accused the government of abandoning the Valencia region for political gain.The polarisation spilt over at EU level after the conservative EPP parliamentary group to which the PP belongs refused to approve Spain’s commission nominee until she reported to the Spanish parliament.”The European Commission does not deserve to come into existence with a candidate under suspicion,” PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo wrote on X.But officials from the EPP, Socialists and Democrats and centrist Renew groups said they had clinched an agreement on Wednesday to renew Ursula von der Leyen’s 27-member commission, in a snub to the PP.Ribera and her fellow candidates are due to have a parliament confirmation next week before starting the job in December.”We have to be cautious, and until things are announced officially we have to wait calmly,” Ribera told journalists before an evening appearance in the Senate.
Wed, 20 Nov 2024 19:38:15 GMT
