Obtaining a service commission is a very common procedure in public administration that allows a public worker to change the organization in which they perform their duties. The controversy arises when there is doubt as to whether the employee has benefited from any preferential treatment to obtain it. This is the debate that has monopolized Valencian politics this week following the transfer of Vanesa Soler, the partner of the head of the Consell, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, who has moved from the Finestrat City Council to the Valencia Provincial Council. The change has allowed her to establish her residence in the city of Valencia where her sentimental partner also lives.

The president of the Valencian Generalitat, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, stated that parliamentary seats "are neither granted nor withdrawn by any politician," but rather belong to "popular sovereignty," and defended Carlos Mazón's actions, asserting that he had already "assumed his political responsibility" by resigning as head of the Consell. He made these remarks to the media on Thursday after attending a tribute in Valencia to the professor and politician Manuel Broseta, commemorating the 34th anniversary of his assassination by ETA. Llorca reiterated that with his resignation, Mazón had already "assumed his political responsibility." "He acknowledged his mistakes and assumed the full responsibility he had," he summarized when asked if the PP would take advantage of the parliamentary recess in Les Corts. The parliament will not reconvene until February 9th to formally request the resignation of its predecessor. The Valencian president reiterated that "membership in parliament is neither given nor taken away by a politician; it is granted and withdrawn by popular sovereignty, that is, by the voters when they vote," and emphasized that "the Valencian people already carried out this exercise in the last regional elections." In his statements, the head of the Valencian government avoided clarifying whether Mazón will continue as a member of parliament until the end of the legislature if he so wishes, or whether, on the contrary, the People's Party (PP) will demand his resignation, as the victims' associations of the disaster are demanding as a prerequisite for a meeting with Llorca.

Most of the New Year's Eve speeches by regional presidents have had two main common denominators: housing and financing. In the first case, they have boasted about the measures they have implemented to address the primary concern of Spaniards. And in the second, they have criticized the proposed future model of regional financing. ERC and the PSOE are finalizingOne of the most significant voices has been that of Emiliano García-Page, the baron The socialist most critical of Pedro Sánchez. He has not uttered the words financing neither CataloniaBut everything was understood when he warned that he would stand up to it: "We will fight any kind of attempt at privileges that harm us."

If Alberto Núñez Feijóo hoped that the Valencian federation would stop causing him headaches after the tumultuous replacement of Carlos Mazón, former president Francisco Camps has dashed those hopes. The former head of the Valencian government wants to lead the party again and be its electoral figurehead, and he has seen the perfect opportunity: the recent appointment of Juanfran Pérez Llorca as president of the GeneralitatHe believes the politician from Finestrat is a weak leader, lacking both the legitimacy of the ballot box and the support of the party's members. That's why he's demanding that the rank and file be given a voice at a party congress. His potential rivals—Lorca himself and the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, who are the frontrunners—remain silent and loyal to the party headquarters in Madrid. At the party headquarters on Génova Street, they're asking for time. First, they want to consolidate Llorca's leadership, then assess whether he can stop the flow of votes to Vox, and if not, promote Catalá as his replacement or evaluate whether there's a better candidate among their list of mayors. The person most afraid of Feijóo's influence is Camps. He believes his chances lie in stirring up debate and giving the grassroots a voice. He's even calling for a congress "on the American model," allowing supporters to vote, as well as members who have stopped paying their dues. He justifies this deference by saying they have been "very neglected" in recent months. He said so last week at the presentation of his campaign team, which does not include any prominent leaders. In fact, the most relevant figure is Inés Peiró, a councilwoman from the municipality of La Pobla de Vallbona. A person with no influence within the party. "Our party is now an inverted pyramid with few members and many positions," the former president complained.

Perhaps it was too optimistic to think that the new Valencian president, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, would clean house in the government responsible for the disastrous handling of the DANA storm after Carlos Mazón's resignation, as this has not been the case. Llorca was, after all, Mazón's right-hand man and his spokesperson in the Valencian Parliament. The new president is opting for continuity and keeping most of Mazón's cabinet, but he has introduced some surgical changes with a clear political agenda. In this regard, two of the ministers most directly implicated in the DANA storm's management, Vice President Susana Camarero and Education Minister José Antonio Rovira, have either lost responsibilities or been transferred to other departments. Camarero will no longer be the government spokesperson, a gesture aimed at the victims, and she will also not manage the reconstruction efforts, which will be handled by a newly created position. Camarero also loses her responsibilities in Social Services, which were in charge of alerting the elderly population and nursing homes. Let's also remember that Camarero has been the face defending Mazón every week for the past year and that she became sadly famous because on the day of the DANA storm, she went to an awards gala while l'Horta Sud was flooding and sent the following message to the number two in Emergency Services when he informed her of what was happening:Jope, if you need anything, let us know."However, she will continue as vice president and with her responsibilities for Housing.

The new president of the Valencian Generalitat, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, has shaken up the Valencian government, but has respected the foundations laid by Carlos Mazón, whose right-hand man he was in the Valencian Parliament (Les Corts) and the People's Party (PP). The result is a more profound reshuffle than it initially appears, but in which eight ministers remain and three new ones join. One of those who has kept their position is the first vice president, Susana Camarero, who gains the responsibilities for Housing and Employment, retains those for Youth and Equality, and relinquishes those for Social Services, as well as the role of spokesperson. Conversely, one of those affected by the reshuffle is Mazón's personal friend and former Minister of Education, Culture, Universities, and Employment, José Antonio Rovira, who leaves this key portfolio and will assume the Ministry of Economy, Finance, and Public Administration, previously held by the independent and former Ciudadanos leader, Ruth Merino. The new Minister of Education, Culture, and Universities will be María del Carmen Ortí Ferre. She is a career civil servant in the Generalitat's Education Inspection Corps, holds a diploma in Educational Sciences from the University of Valencia, and a degree in Psychopedagogy from the Open University of Catalonia. She currently heads the Popular University of the Valencia City Council. Previously, she served as Deputy Director General of Educational Planning and Private and Subsidized Schools and as Director of the Teacher Training Center in Torrent.

As he announced during the investiture session last Thursday, the new president of the Valencian Generalitat, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, began his term by asking for "forgiveness" from the families of the victims of the DANA storm. "Neither on the 29th nor in the days that followed did the public administrations live up to what society deserved," he acknowledged before expressing his hope that his words would foster "reconciliation" within Valencian society. Aware of the extraordinary situation still being experienced by the Valencian Community after the torrential rains, the politician from Finestrat opted for an austere inauguration. It was also non-denominational, as he chose to pledge rather than swear an oath of office. The most moving moment occurred at the beginning when a minute of silence was observed in memory of former president José Luis Olivas, who passed away last Saturday.

The People's Party (PP) does not intend to demand Carlos Mazón's resignation as Valencian president after he stepped down following the booing by victims at the state funeral due to his negligent handling of the devastating floods. Nor will he be a backbencher. The PP's spokesperson in the Valencian Parliament, Nando Pastor, has submitted a document to the parliamentary board informing them of several changes within the party group resulting from the president's departure and the appointment of Juanfran Pérez Llorca, the former spokesperson, as the new head of the Valencian Government. The most significant change is that Mazón will become a new member of the Rules Committee, as well as the PP's spokesperson on that committee. In practical terms, this will not represent a major change or a greater workload for the former president, since this committee, quite literally, hardly ever meets. In fact, in the two and a half years of the current legislature, the Rules Committee has not met even once. This committee only addresses changes to the regulations of the Valencian Parliament (Les Corts), which occur very rarely. Right now, in fact, an amendment is underway, but it has been submitted for a single reading, so it will go directly to the plenary session, without going through the committee.

Pedro Sánchez has proven to be an indefatigable politician who can handle almost anything. He has faced so many challenges throughout his political career, both within the party and in government, that it would be very risky to write him off. Now, another obstacle has been added to his list of challenges. the imprisonment of the former Minister of Transport And his former right-hand man, José Luis Ábalos, is being held in pretrial detention "due to a high risk of flight," along with his advisor at the ministry, Koldo García. The PSOE is feigning calm and recalling that a year and a half ago, when it became known the corruption accusation For receiving illegal commissions in the purchase of masks by companies linked to the ministry, Ábalos was already removed from the party and, as a deputy, he joined the mixed group as an independent. However, the symbolic image of him entering prison is a heavy blow to the credibility of the Sánchez government. In fact, although this pretrial detention doesn't add much to what has already been said and known about the case—which is quite serious, given that it all happened during the pandemic and represents a despicable exploitation of the need for masks at the time—the endemic corruption surrounding the Prime Minister's inner circle, which the political and judicial right is trying to bring down by any means possible, is a significant blow to his credibility. What saves the Socialists in this case is that, in the field of corruption, the Popular Party still has the advantage in the number of cases, and even in the involvement of high-ranking officials.

Thursday's political events were dominated by the imprisonment of Ábalos and Koldo, and the investiture of Pérez Llorca as president of the Valencian Generalitat. In other words, the focus was on the legal misadventures of two scoundrels (with Ábalos already putting on a show of turning against his own party if it might bring him some possible legal benefit) and on the placement of a figurehead at the head of the Valencian Council, following a pre-written script: continuity with the Maag era, environmental subservience, attacks against feminism, and against the Catalan language and culture. Pérez Llorca displayed the cold cynicism of promising that, if invested, he would apologize to the victims of the DANA storm. As secretary general of the Valencian PP since 2023—and, therefore, number two on the regional executive committee, second only to the outgoing president, Mazón—Pérez Llorca could have started by apologizing on the very day of the DANA storm, but he never did. Offering a belated and inadequate apology, solely to gain something, is worse than not apologizing at all: any elementary school child knows this, yet it's still asking too much of certain figures in Spanish public life. Consider, like a tempting carrot, the Adelante Plan for the reconstruction of the Valencian Community, with a budget of 29 billion euros.

Tomorrow the ARA will turn 15, and today might be a good day to explain some of that analysis. It's very simple: when you sit down first thing in the morning to analyze the news, you have to use several lenses: the microscope, to see details that might go unnoticed but are and will be fundamental; the wide-angle lens, to see everything in its entirety; and the telescope, to see further and gain perspective. And then, after everything has been recounted and debated, you have to choose and prioritize the facts. Well, today, after examining the most important news stories from every angle, I've come to the conclusion that I can only tell you that this is a stinking mess.

Complete agreement. The People's Party (PP) and Vox have invested Juanfran Pérez Llorca as president of the Valencian Generalitat in a plenary session where the conservative party adopted almost all of the far-right party's positions. The agreement was already foreshadowed in the morning when the leader of the far-right party, Santiago Abascal, indicated in a statement to the media that he liked the PP candidate's speech. "I want to read the speech carefully," he said, trying to downplay the Vox politician's involvement minutes before the party's executive committee leaked its vote in favor, emphasizing that the PP had incorporated "100%" of its demands. The new head of the Valencian government's speech began without the uncomfortable gaze of Carlos Mazón, who was only present for the vote and wished his successor "luck and success." "I come without any firm agreement with any party," Pérez Llorca asserted at the start of a session in which he delivered a speech full of concessions to Vox, as his partners have acknowledged. As expected, the Finestrat politician's speech included a reference to the families of the victims of the DANA storm: "If I am elected, my first words as president will be to apologize on behalf of the Generalitat," Pérez Llorca declared, under the watchful eyes of the association leaders in the chamber, minutes after having demonstrated outside the Valencian Parliament (Les Corts) against the investiture of the People's Party candidate.

A date has been set for the investiture session of the PP candidate, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, as president of the Valencian Generalitat. The governing board of the Valencian Parliament (Les Corts) has agreed that the session will take place on November 27 at 11:00 a.m. The announcement was made by Vox spokesperson José María Llanos, who also highlighted the "harmony" between the far-right party and the PP and their willingness to vote in favor of the candidate if the negotiations are successful, as everything indicates. "The harmony has increased because we're not going backwards and there are fewer days left," the far-right leader summarized. As usual, the Vox politician maintained his secrecy and, regarding whether a document certifying the agreement will be formalized, stated that the details of a negotiation are only revealed once it concludes. However, he did clarify that the far-right party will demand the agreement be finalized before the 27th. "If Vox supports the investiture, they will try to finalize the agreement before then. If we support the investiture, it will be because there is an agreement," he insisted. Fernando Pastor, the new PP spokesperson, was equally opaque, confirming the "positive outlook" of the talks and urging everyone "not to rush" and to proceed "step by step." "Yesterday we had a candidate, today we have a date. Step by step," he repeated. Regarding whether there would be any document outlining the agreement, he promised transparency on the day of the plenary session. "That day there will be full transparency and accountability to learn about Pérez Llorca's proposed government formula for the Valencian Community," he concluded.

The People's Party (PP) and Vox are finalizing the details to seal the agreement that should allow Juanfran Pérez Llorca to be invested as the new president of the Valencian Generalitat. This was explained to ARA by sources present at the negotiations, who detailed that both parties are working towards announcing the pact in the coming days and holding the investiture session next week. For the talks to be successful, some loose ends remain. These are the "final" approvals for many points already agreed upon. In this regard, it should be noted that, in the case of the PP, everything must be vetted by the national leadership of Alberto Núñez Feijóo. As for Vox, its executive committee is already participating directly in the negotiations through its secretary general, Ignacio Garriga, and his right-hand woman, Montserrat Lluis. According to sources from the far-right party, the "positive attitude" shown by the PP has been maintained throughout the talks, to the point that they "have accepted everything" they asked for.

Where he was between 7 p.m. – when he said goodbye to journalist Maribel Vilaplana – and 8 p.m. – when he left the Palau de la Generalitat for the Cecopio (the regional emergency response center) – whether he gave any instructions to former councilor Salomé Pradas in the various calls he had with her, and finally, with whom he exchanged messages. These are some of the main questions that the acting Valencian president, Carlos Mazón, will have the opportunity to finally clarify this Monday in his appearance before the Congress of Deputies' commission investigating the DANA (isolated high-level depression). The PP politician's testimony comes after his frustrating appearance a few days ago before the Valencian Parliament's equivalent commission, when Mazón dodged almost all the questions raised by the opposition and even read a short speech, a circumstance that led the Balearic deputy to call him a "scam." There is hope that the question-and-answer format, which the congressional committee, unlike the Valencian Parliament, does plan to use, will force the conservative leader to explain his actions. In fact, this will be the first time Mazón has faced questioning, beyond the interviews he has given to friendly media outlets.

From Carlos Mazón's right-hand man to his possible successor. The predictions have come true, and Juanfran Pérez Llorca, the number two in the Valencian PP and spokesperson in the Valencian Parliament, has been chosen by Alberto Núñez Feijóo to try to convince Vox that it's better to invest him as president than to go to the polls.

An internal power struggle has erupted within the People's Party (PP) over the selection of Carlos Mazón's successor, just hours before the acting Valencian president is due to appear before the parliamentary commission investigating the devastating floods. The conservatives' spokesperson in the Valencian Parliament, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, asserted on Monday that "no one" has proposed him for the position of head of the Valencian government and that the decision rests with the party's national leadership. These were his first public statements since the incident a week ago. Mazón will announce his resignationWith these words, the politician from Finestrat has dramatized the tension within the party. He also indicated that the ball is now in the court of the executive committee, which, at this moment, has not made any decision. "We want to set the pace," sources from the party leadership on Génova Street in Madrid told ARA, admitting that the name "has not been decided." A sign of the uncertainty within the PP is that its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, chose not to dedicate a single word to the Valencian crisis this Monday. At an event in Melilla, where he convened his leadership, he limited himself to praising the early elections in Extremadura and reiterated a litany of criticisms of the Spanish government. "There are no updates. When we know in the coming hours or days, we will announce it," sources from Génova repeated regarding the candidate Feijóo will have to choose. According to sources, Mazón's replacement will be chosen by the national leadership, "just like a candidate in any eventual regional elections." They add, however, that the selection will be made "in coordination" with the Valencian PP. "The candidate is one thing, and the negotiations are another," the same sources emphasize, while avoiding giving details of last Friday's meeting between Vox and Mazón's PP. Once the candidate is chosen, the Valencian PP will take the lead in the talks, with "oversight" from the national headquarters in Madrid, which maintains that it "will not write" the agreement. The talks to appoint the successor to the head of the Valencian government have been stalled for days due to the power struggle between the Valencian and national leadership. After the tumultuous funeral of the victims of the DANA storm and the Mazón's decision to foldThe leadership of the Valencian Popular Party (PP) promoted Juanfran Pérez Llorca as an interim replacement and the president of the Valencia Provincial Council, Vicent Mompó, for the 2027 election. This move was intended to prevent the national leadership from imposing the name of the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá. The regional PP's maneuver greatly angered the PP leadership in Madrid, which has since decided to control the entire renewal process. The fracture within the Valencian PP also explains the resistance from the national headquarters in Madrid (Génova) to calling elections, given that the election of a new leader would trigger a power struggle within the party. Former Valencian president Francisco Camps would also be a contender in this race. On Monday, in a television interview, he stated that, in his opinion, if citizens were called to the polls, the PP should first hold primary elections.