ABC Editorial: Brussels, before Valencia

Although it may not seem like it, in Spain there is a Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. According to its basic organic structure, defined by Royal Decree 503/2024, of May 21, this ministry is responsible for “the direct management of the public hydraulic domain of intercommunity basins,” and it has a Secretary of State for the Environment to which which is responsible for “the definition, proposal and execution of the Ministry’s policies on water and management of the public hydraulic domain.” Within this State Secretariat there is a General Directorate of Water, with jurisdiction, among other matters, in the “conducting, supervision and control of studies and projects and hydraulic infrastructures under the responsibility of the General Directorate, as well as their exploitation.” In addition, this ministry has the State Meteorological Agency attached to it, whose various powers are summarized in the responsibility for weather and climate forecasting and collaboration with public administrations through the provision of reliable information.

Although it may not seem like it, that ministry has a head, Teresa Ribera, which has barely been heard from since DANA unleashed the tragedy on Valencia and that this Sunday, however, he joined the pose of the crisis committee to monitor the effects of DANA organized by Moncloa. His absence and his silence do not compensate for the urgency that pursues the Valencian Generalitat to give convincing explanations about the management of this natural disaster, explanations due in the first place by the Valencian president, Carlos Mazón, who is not in a position to leave shadows of gloom. about his performance on DANA’s fateful Tuesday. If something favors a politician, it is knowing how to anticipate events, take control of messages and not be surprised by hidden truths.

In parallel, the central government is committed to ensuring with multimillion-dollar aid – and very justified – its management of DANA, which at first oscillated between clumsiness and bad faith, trusting that it would be Mazón’s political last straw. The residents of Paiporta ruined this short-term tactic. In the failure of La Moncloa’s management, the figure of Teresa Ribera appears, a minister in a vacant seat whose main concern is the examination she will undergo tomorrow in Brussels as a precondition for being named executive vice president of Ursula von der Leyen, with powers in matter of ‘green’ policies. The competent minister of Aemet and hydrographic basins has no excuse not to appear publicly and give explanations about the functioning of her department. Brussels can wait, even more so when others, like the Kings, have shown their faces, never better said, in the face of enraged and desperate neighbors. It is notorious that for Sánchez it is a priority that Ribera be endorsed as European vice president, but her absence in the public management of the tragedy does not help that objective. Rather, it harms him, because as long as Ribera is part of the Government, His political priority is Spain, not Brussels. If Sánchez cared so much about Ribera’s European position, she should have resigned from her position as minister so that she could dedicate herself, like a diligent student, to preparing for her exam. By wanting to protect her so much, Sánchez has weakened the managerial image of his candidate, and it is certain that in her appearance tomorrow she will be asked how she can guarantee that she will be more effective as vice president for the Europeans when she has not shown her face as a minister of some Spaniards devastated by floods.