Congress provisionally suspends Vito Quiles and prepares his expulsion

MadridAfter years of complaints from both parliamentary journalists and deputies, Congress has decided to ban Vito Quiles. The progressive majority of the lower house's Board has agreed to provisionally suspend the press accreditation of the ultra-activist, linked to Javier Negre's EDA TV platform, due to the accumulation of complaints about his behavior, which contravenes the rules required of media workers. Congress has initiated the procedure to resolve nine complaints against him which, according to parliamentary sources, will likely lead to his definitive expulsion with the application of the sanctioning regime of the new parliamentary regulations. While these cases are not resolved and given the increase in tension in recent weeks, the Board has opted, in a meeting this Wednesday, to withdraw his accreditation immediately.

Furthermore, it has also decided to apply the same provisional suspension to far-right activist Bertrand Ndongo, accredited as a reporter for Periodista Digital, although in his case he does not have as many complaints as Quiles. The interruptions by both of them at press conferences, as well as intimidation of colleagues and politicians from left-wing parties have become commonplace, but the most advanced case is for the unauthorized recording of images of former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The events took place in December of last year when Quiles recorded the former socialist leader in a restricted area. Congress workers warned him that it was prohibited and that, therefore, he could not publish them. However, Quiles posted them on social media.

This double contempt constitutes two serious infractions, according to the lower house's new regulation, reformed a few months ago to be able to act precisely against Quiles and other far-right agitators. In a report, Congress's legal advisors have concluded that it is an episode deserving of an expulsion ranging from eleven days to three months. Quiles still has ten days to make allegations. Congress's decision contrasts with the treatment Quiles receives in the Senate, which has an absolute PP majority and where there is permissiveness. The ultra agitator, who even participated in a popular electoral event in Aragon, will be able to continue accredited as a journalist in the upper house even if he cannot attend Congress for a while. In the Senate, he staged another episode, which even went to court although it has finally been shelved, against analyst Sarah Santaolalla, whom he pursued upon leaving an event amidst shoves and shouts.

Precedent in Parliament

In Catalonia, accreditations have also been temporarily withdrawn from journalists. The Generalitat withdrew it in 2021 from Xavier Rius, director of E-Notícies, for "continued disrespect to the institution" and for "belittling the figure of the spokesperson" and "denigrating women in general". The last straw was a question to former government spokesperson Patrícia Plaja about a tasteless joke that two TV3 comedians had made mixing Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor and oral sex, and which the channel decided not to broadcast, but which was leaked. "Can you imagine me saying now that what I would like is for you to lick it to me?", Rius blurted out.

Only two months later, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia accepted the interim measure requested by Rius, so that, while the proceedings were being processed, the withdrawal of the accreditation was suspended because it considered that the resolution adopted by the then Secretary of Communication, Oriol Duran, exceeded his powers. In 2022, the court dismissed the Government's appeal and ratified in a final judgment that the Generalitat had violated "the fundamental right to receive truthful information" and ordered the institution to pay 2,000 euros in costs.

For its part, the Parliament did decide not to renew Rius's parliamentary accreditation in 2024, when he left the directorship of E-Notícies and was already working as a freelancer through his YouTube channel, arguing that accreditations should be linked to a formally accredited media outlet and that it was not enough to present oneself as a "youtuber" or independent creator.