The spokesperson for the Popular Party in the Andalusian Parliament, Toni Martín, has criticized the First Vice President, Minister of Finance and leader of the Andalusian Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), María Jesús Montero, during her time as Minister of Finance "put in a drawer" irregularities related to non-compliance with salary limits for executives at the Progress and Health Foundation that occurred when she was Health Minister and, therefore, President of the Board of Trustees of said foundation, according to revealed this Wednesday the newspaper ABC.
These irregularities, about which the General Intervention of the Board alerted, had a similar origin to those that have led to prison sentences for former Cetursa executives during the socialist era., the spokesperson stressed, considering that this issue, in addition to constituting a “major scandal,” is “disturbing.”
Martín recalled that in 2012, the authorities had to make very important decisions in response to the crisis, and one of these in Andalusia was to limit and reduce the salaries of senior officials and managers of the Andalusian Regional Government and its affiliated entities. "Well, what we learned today is that there is a foundation, whose board of trustees was chaired by Ms. Montero as Minister of Health, where there were executives who did not implement these reductions and continued to receive salaries above the legal limits that had been established," he explained.
"Despite the fact that there was a report from the general auditor that required an investigation into the matter, which took place and was carried out by a civil servant, in the end (in 2016) it ended up on the desk and in the office of the then Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, who dismissed the investigation by closing it with a couple of paragraphs in which she stated that there was no need to investigate.”. Therefore, according to Martín, “as Minister of Finance, she exonerated herself from her decisions as Minister of Health,” something she described as “a major scandal.”
Likewise, "it is disturbing that less than a week ago we learned that the top executive of Cetursa, who was also a councilor of the Andalusian Regional Government, has been sentenced to prison for something very similar to what is being published today, because in Cetursa, Ms. (María José) López has been sentenced to two years in prison for acting and maneuvering precisely to exceed those salary limits that the Andalusian Regional Government had agreed to and that were not respected in Cetursa."
For the popular spokesperson, “both issues are very similar” and he considered that “It will be necessary to investigate and it will be necessary to know if, due to issues that in Cetursa have led to its former managers ending up in prison, in this foundation whose board of trustees was chaired by Mrs. Montero, it turns out that there have been no consequences, because Mrs. Montero herself signed a document to put in a drawer any possible investigation that could have major consequences.”, he argued.
3.600 billion euros less in 2025 due to the absence of the General State Budget
On the other hand, Toni Martín has announced that the Popular Party will bring to next week's Plenary Session a non-legislative proposal (PNL) with which it intends to "that there be a detailed analysis and a clear position by the groups on the consequences for Andalusia of the non-approval of the General State BudgetAmong the points of this initiative, he highlighted the rejection of the effect that the lack of a state-level budget has on the treasury, for example, of the Andalusian Regional Government, which loses €300 million per month due to the non-updating of advance payments, which would mean €3.600 billion less for Andalusia throughout 2025.
The demand for Andalusia to have a new system of regional financing that does not make it lose 1.500 billion euros each year, as well as a transitional fund until the reform of that system is undertaken are other points of this PNL, in which the parliamentary spokesperson of the PP has focused especially on another point regarding the "new blow" that, in his point of view Montero is giving local corporations a hard time by informing them that they will not be able to allocate their surplus to investments, but only to paying off debt..
She recalled that during her time as Minister of Finance in the Andalusian Parliament, Montero defended initiatives with which the Socialist Group specifically asked that town councils not be prohibited from using their surplus to fund investments and considered that "It is surprising that Mrs. Montero now brings this communication that she has sent to the city councils, obliging them to use the surplus in their budgets only to pay off debt.".
"All of this makes us think that behind this decision by Ms. Montero there is nothing other than a vendetta for the fact that her budgets have not been approved," said Martín, who emphasized that the vice president "In some way, she wants to punish and blackmail the different political forces, which have mayors and govern in town halls, so that, by putting pressure on the town halls, she forces the political forces to support her budgets, which is obviously not going to happen, because the Popular Party does not give in to blackmail, neither from this lady nor from anyone else.".
“Montero’s Week of Nonsense”
On the other hand, he said that “This week is the week of Montero's nonsense."And he alluded to her questioning of private universities: "How many ministers in your own government have degrees from private universities? Not to mention the master's degree of your boss, Pedro Sánchez," he quipped, while adding that the PSOE-A leader's statements on this matter "border on the ridiculous."
Martín has asked himself, "what more private thing do we have to question" and if "everything private must be eliminated" and has pointed out that the vice president's "It is a speech that is no longer heard even in Cuba and with which Mrs. Montero makes her letter of introduction here as a candidate in Andalusia.".
Behind these kinds of statements, in his opinion, is the fact that "she knows that the Andalusians, who are in the moderate camp, who are the vast majority and who today support Juanma Moreno, will under no circumstances support her as a candidate," so "I sense that she is looking for the only electoral ground where she believes she has a chance, and that is the Andalusians who are entrenched in the most absolute radicalism and who today vote for far-left parties."
For the popular spokesman, Montero “He has thrown in the towel with respect to the rest of the Andalusians who give their confidence to the Government of Juanma Moreno and, according to all sociological studies, support his policies and feel well represented by Juanma Moreno and the Government of the Junta de Andalucía, although there are things that need to be improved.", has added.
She also alluded to Montero's statements regarding Dani Alves's sentence, for which the minister apologized, saying ironically: "We don't know if she was apologizing or reaffirming what she said. But that's her own business."
On the other hand, Martín assessed the March unemployment figures released this Wednesday and highlighted that "we are talking about 47 consecutive months of year-on-year unemployment decline in Andalusia, that of the total number of unemployed that has fallen in Spain this year, 40% are Andalusians, and that such a low unemployment figure has not been seen in our region since 2008, no less."
"It is clear that we must continue working, but it is also clear that unemployment in Andalusia is falling at a much faster rate than in Spain, and this is a clear indication that the employment, economic, and fiscal policies of Juanma Moreno's government are yielding better results than the economic, fiscal, and labor policies of Pedro Sánchez's government in Spain."So we will continue along this Andalusian path, which is undoubtedly reflected in the figures," he asserted.
Finally, the spokesperson for the People's Party (PP) addressed the tariffs announced by President Donald Trump and acknowledged the concern in Andalusia, as it is the region with the second largest export volume to the United States. He called on the central government to implement "high-level diplomacy" and to distance itself from "demagogic rhetoric."
