Controversy erupted during Feijóo's appearance regarding the DANA storm: "Do you have any information to clarify the ETA murders?"

MadridWith a sour and belligerent tone and going on the offensive, Alberto Núñez Feijóo appeared before the Congressional committee on the woman from the Valencian Country to explain the information he had on the day of the tragedy. For three and a half hours, he used ETA's letter and avoided clarifying why the PP keeps Carlos Mazón as Member of Parliament in the Valencian Parliament —which allows him to retain his parliamentary immunity—, he blamed the Spanish government's partners for endorsing the Moncloa Palace's handling of the situation, took refuge behind the railway chaos, and resorted to an expression he repeated three times: "So brave with a resigned president and so cowardly with a sitting president."

The PP leader justified Mazón's year-long resignation by saying that "someone had to stay in charge" and rectify the Spanish government's "absence" and "lack of competence" during the reconstruction: "Given the farce, a resignation could even be detrimental." Before entering the chamber, Feijóo outlined his strategy: "I have a feeling this will be my first question time session; it's good to practice." And finally, he criticized the PSOE's electoral opportunism for having summoned him the week of the Aragon elections: "It's contemptuous to use the victims of the DANA storm." Using the same letter, the PP has summoned Paco Salazar to the Senate on Thursday.

Carlos Mazón resigned Days after victims of the DANA storm confronted him at the state funeral, Feijóo argued, "He realizes that one can think whatever one wants, but when people don't agree with you, the most honest thing to do is leave." Mazón resigned after acknowledging the "social tension" and seeing that the "feeling on the street" was that he should take responsibility. However, being the only one to do so "reconciles him with the facts."

The PP leader reiterated, as he said months ago, that "none of the public administrations performed at the required level," each with its own "degree of responsibility," although when asked about Mazón's actions on the day of the tragedy, he avoided making a blanket condemnation. "The only ones who have taken responsibility are from the Valencian Generalitat." "Is the problem that this gentleman should be there [at CECOPI] at eight or seven? Is that the problem? Really?" he asked in his closing statement. "Mr. Mazón's decisions are made in accordance with his powers; it's obvious that I have no authority, neither I nor anyone else," he had previously argued. And in response to questions from PSOE deputy Marta Trenzano, he maintained that Mazón "was much more concerned" than the members of the Spanish government.

What did Feijóo do on the night of October 29, 2024? He contacted Mazón via WhatsApp to inquire about the situation, although he didn't know that the former Valencian president was at El Ventorro with Maribel Vilaplana. Regarding whether he was informed in "real time" on the day of the tragedy, he insisted that he didn't lie, but rather got the date wrong, and boasted that he had handed over to the judge the messages he exchanged with Mazón that day. "I haven't deleted a single one," he bragged. However, José Manuel Cuenca, Mazón's chief of staff, did format his mobile phone because it didn't retain any trace of the communications.

ETA's wild card

The tensest moment of the hearing came during the questioning of Oskar Matute, a Bildu deputy, when Alberto Núñez Feijóo repeatedly resorted to the ETA issue, much to the frustration of the committee chair, the Socialist Carmen Martínez, who had to admonish him on more than one occasion. "Do you have any information to clarify the ETA murders?" the PP leader asked Matute right at the start. He then proceeded to respond to every question Matute posed that referred to the terrorist group. "Do you think you'll censor me the way you censored my colleagues? Are you asking me about dead bodies?" he asked later. Seeing the boycott Feijóo was attempting, the committee chair reproached him for constantly using "issues that have nothing to do with the DANA storm." "I would ask you to answer the questions you are being asked. If you don't want to answer, that's your right," she added. And her reaction has drawn praise from Feijóo: "It's a shame she's not presiding over Congress so that the president and his government can answer our questions." "If you make me the focus of this session, I'll be grateful, but I don't want to be," she replied. During the exchange of barbs, a PSOE deputy criticized her answers and evasiveness from the chamber: "A little respect for the dead," he shouted, to the indignation of the PP leader's team. "Superb," ​​he retorted.

The letter from Cercanías and Adamuz

On more than one occasion, Feijóo alluded to the Adamuz tragedy and the commuter rail accident in Gelida to discredit the Spanish government's role, attempting to draw a comparison between a "weather event without any immediate cause" and "continued railway negligence." "Here, after the AVE and commuter rail accidents, they continue to support the Minister of Transport," he added. He also addressed the pro-independence members of parliament. "If the President of the Generalitat had been in charge, would the commuter rail accident have happened or not?" he asked Josep Maria Cervera, a member of parliament for Junts, ironically. "If I had any responsibility [in the Adamuz accident], he would have called me a 'murderer' and brought a piece of rail," he snapped at Gabriel Rufián. And the ERC leader in Congress reproached him for the support he gave to Mazón: "You covered up for a year a murderer and a psychopath."