The Regional Assembly has started the process to provide the Region of Murcia with an ombudsman, who is also assigned powers in matters of transparency. The meeting of the open presentation for this purpose in the Commission of General and Institutional Affairs, of the European Union and Human Rights decided this Thursday to request the legal services of the Chamber for the appropriate legal reports to seek the fit of said figure in the law. of Transparency and Citizen Participation. Galicia and Castilla León are the main references for this working group since they are the only two whose ombudsmen also have powers in matters of transparency and good governance.
The parliamentary initiative is led by Vox, the main interest in recovering this figure, suppressed by the Autonomous Community in December 2012, within the framework of a process of simplification of the administrative structure, suppression of autonomous entities and bodies whose functions could be assumed by other departments of community. The last person to hold the position was José Pablo Ruiz Abellán, who had previously been an advisor in the Executive of Ramón Luis Valcárcel.
The recovery of said figure appears in the government and legislature pact reached by Vox and the PP to make Fernando López Miras president.
The greatest difficulty in this phase is to combine the powers of ombudsman and those of president of the Transparency Council, if this is possible. On the table is even the possibility of creating two different positions, since experts see a certain conflict between the functions of the defender, defender of the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens, in the event that claims are raised through judicial means in transparency issues.
Another important question that is under discussion is whether the ombudsman and president of the Transparency Council should depend organically on the Assembly or should have maximum autonomy, as occurs for example in Andalusia. What Vox spokesperson Rubén Martínez Alpañez has made clear in the presentation is that the office must have the basic administrative structure to avoid incurring unnecessary expenses. The defender would have an assigned salary.
It’s going to be long
The presentation plans to meet in two weeks, with the legal reports already on the table to resolve the doubts raised in its first meetings. But due to parliamentary times and the upcoming entry of the Regional Budget bill for 2024, everything indicates that there will not be major advances until the first weeks of 2024.
Vox aspires to propose to Parliament the name of the next regional ombudsman and carry out his appointment with the support of its partners in San Esteban. Sources from this party rule out that the former president and regional deputy Alberto Garre will run for the position.
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