Vox retains Puig's senior officials in Emergencies due to the risk of fires
The Valencian government led by Carlos Mazón together with Vox continues to complete its organizational chart, not without some controversies and difficulties. Although the PP has accelerated the replacement of senior positions in the first echelons of its ministries, Santiago Abascal's formation is having a hard time finding the profiles it considers appropriate. His is the control of the areas of Agriculture, Culture and Justice and the Interior, a department on which the Valencian Agency for Security and Emergency Response depends, at whose head the two officials appointed by Ximo Puig are still being held.
The regional secretary for Emergencies and the general director of the Interior, José María Ángel and Salvador Almenar, have requested in writing in the last week that Minister Elisa Núñez sign their dismissals and designate those who will hold their posts in the new government. «After more than 15 days since he took office, I believe that there has been enough time to have been able to make an orderly transfer, in the same way that I consider that another person should occupy my position to be able to execute the policies that the new Consell deems appropriate, “Almenar says in his letter.
However, the handover is not scheduled to take place in the last plenary session in August, which is held today. “For this minister, for this Consell, the most important thing is to prioritize the general interest, the safety of citizens, above any political divergence,” he reiterated.
This implies that both must continue directing one of the especially sensitive areas in the summer season because it controls everything from fire prevention and extinction to supervising compliance with safety regulations in the traditional bous al carrer bullfighting festivities and even in music festivals. like the recent Arenal Sound or the Medusa Festival, which started yesterday in Cullera and which was suspended last year due to the death of a 22-year-old when the stage was blown up by a thermal blowout.
historical socialist
Although in the organization chart of the Consell de Mazón, positions appointed by the Botànic will continue, such as the general director of Information Technologies (ICT), the general director of the Valencian Tax Agency, or the regional Secretary of Financing, a key piece in the landing from the Volkswagen gigafactory in Sagunto, in the case of José María Ángel it is not a high-ranking position with a technical profile but rather a historical socialist.
He was mayor for 18 years of the municipality of L'Eliana and territorial senator at the proposal of the PSPV from 2011 to 2015. He also has a close personal relationship with Ximo Puig and the former councilor Gabriela Bravo. His desire is to return to his position as an official of the Valencia Provincial Council and leave to direct one of the most sensitive areas but whose protocols, especially in the case of fires, have been clear for months. In fact, Ángel himself was appointed on July 7, 2015 and made his debut in the position with the Montán forest fire, in which the protocol designed by the previous popular administration was applied.. Sources close to Emergencies recall that the fires “are already all year round, as we saw in Asturias at Christmas or in April in Villanueva de Viver.”
President Carlos Mazón thanked the regional secretary for the “show of responsibility” by waiting for his dismissal due to the importance that “the people who have prepared this summer campaign can help transit”. From the PSPV, the reading is that Vox does not find candidates. “They don't have people to carry out their responsibilities,” the government delegate, Pilar Bernabé, attacked yesterday.
This controversy comes at extreme risk. The Generalitat has declared Pre-emergency level 3 until Tuesday, August 15 due to dry storms and record temperatures and has prohibited activities in areas close to natural parks. It is in this context in which the senior officials await their dismissal, supervising preventive flights and protocols with the memory of the questioning to which their work was submitted by the two parties that are now in the Consell just a year ago due to the Bejís fire. and the incident with the train that headed for the fire. His wish is not to have to direct the design, which should begin shortly, of the campaign to prevent floods and damage.