The Government was very hopeful of settling or appeasing somewhat this multiple political crisis of the pegasus case after the appearances before Congress this week of the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, and the director of the CNI, Paz Esteban, but neither of them has convinced or reassured their partners in the Executive and in Parliament this Thursday. United We Can, ERC, EH Bildu and the PNV, which usually support government projects, reaffirmed after the session of the official secrets commission that mutual trust is still broken and they once again demanded more information and clarifications, in a commission of investigation and with the declassification of the documents provided. Vice President Yolanda Díaz was more cautious about demanding political responsibilities at the highest level: “In a democracy, we first know the facts, we study them in depth, and then we take action.”
The exhibition and the documents and resolutions provided to the commission by the director of the CNI officially conformed the PSOE and the three right-wing parties, PP, Vox and Ciudadanos, as happened the day before with the explanations of Minister Robles. The PSOE spokesman, Héctor Gómez, defended Paz Esteban’s “clarifying” intervention in accordance with the law and advanced that his party rules out having now entered a political “cessation phase”, despite the fact that several ministers from the socialist sector avoided these days to confirm the continuity in her position of the head of the CNI, who did have the support of the Minister of Defense.
In defense of the director of the CNI, the spokespersons of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, left the official secrets session; from Vox, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros; and from Cs, Edmundo Bal, with almost the same words and praise. They praised his level, his preparation, his 40 years in the center (“the house”) and stated that he developed a series of “very calm” and “very professional” clarifications in the room.
The general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, highlighted two messages. In the first, he reiterated his support “without any doubt” for the actions of the CNI, confirmed that they “have always been carried out in accordance with current legislation and with the appropriate judicial authorizations” and validated that Esteban’s explanations they had seemed “sufficient” and “fulfilled” their expectations. In the second message, the political warning came to the president: “Sánchez cannot hide behind the CNI, he must appear in Congress to give explanations and defend the institutions of the State.”
Edmundo Bal, from Cs, subscribed to many of these ideas and took the opportunity to attack the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, for allowing members of ERC and Bildu to enter the secret commission, whom he targeted for the data leak of the session that in theory was secret. Complaint to which the Vox spokesman, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, joined, who greatly emphasized his “trust” and “tranquility” at the level of the director of the CNI and that he has never “acted on his own and yes within the gear of the State and with the knowledge of the president and the minister”.
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“We don’t have high hopes pinned on a secret commission. Its virtuality and utility remains to be seen. There are a lot of things that need to be cleared up.”
🎙 Declarations of @MertxeAizpurua at the entrance of the Official Secrets Commission where the director of the CNI appears today. pic.twitter.com/DIsSagbJOd
— EH Bildu Congress – Senate (@EHBilduCongreso) May 5, 2022
The completely opposite view is the one offered after the meeting by the allies of the Executive, who insisted on demanding an investigation commission of the case in Parliament (which PSOE, PP, Vox and Cs have already rejected) and they advanced that they are now going to ask the Government for more appearances and that it declassify the documents that the person in charge of the CNI showed them in the room.
Echenique, of United We Can, added: “We left the commission more concerned than how we entered it and what has been said there reinforces the need to purge political responsibilities.” He did not mention Robles, but everything was understood. The Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, this Thursday at the April Fair in Seville, was more measured: “As we democrats do, once we know the facts, then we have to assess what is happening and take the measures that be precise, and if it is necessary to purge responsibilities, of course purge them”.
📺 @miriamnoguerasm a @plantabaixatv3: “We are not satisfied with this Commission of Official Secrets. We are convinced that there is an Investigation Commission. This is for a mass espionage of independence. They need to be explained, and all citizens know.” pic.twitter.com/tHEOZehE3d
— Together for Catalonia Congress and Senat (@JuntsxCatMadrid) May 5, 2022
Rufián, from ERC, Míriam Nogueras, from Junts, Alberto Brotán, from the CUP and Mertxe Aizpurua, from EH Bildu, also left the room more concerned about how they entered, and that the Republican spokesman had already warned days before that the pegasus case it could “kill the legislature and democracy”. This Thursday he reaffirmed “as a democrat” in that thesis, given the seriousness of espionage: “It has been justified that independentistas were spied on because they tried to implement their ideas by breaking the constitutional or legal framework.” Nogueras felt “scammed” after listening to Paz Esteban and Botrán insisted that with this type of action what is allowed is “spying on members of the independence movement practically without limits and without guarantees” and “persecuting people for their ideas. , not his actions.”
Bildu’s representative on the commission, Mertxe Aizpurua, elaborated on her perception that there are many “unknowns” and “things to be clarified” in this scandal. And the PNV spokesman, Aitor Esteban, the only one who neither offered a press conference nor stopped to comment on the matter with the journalists, finished with one of his forceful sentences: “I will only say that there is still cloth to be cut.”
About the Official Secrets Commission:
1) There are no secrets. neither official nor unofficial
2) Nothing has been said that the CNI has not already leaked
3) There are only 2 ways. Either it has been another country or it has been another state body
And 3 is an interpretation. I repeat, an INTERPRETATION.
– Gabriel Rufián (@gabrielrufian) May 5, 2022
While the meeting was being held, which lasted almost four hours, the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, showed his “support and solidarity” with the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, the day after the clash between their respective ministries to see who is the person responsible for the security hole that has led to the cell phone of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, suffering an intrusion and practically all the information it contained could be extracted from it. “Minister Robles and I work together, last night I called her to convey all my support and solidarity, because we are working to clarify the facts and to take measures so that this does not happen again,” he said.
Asked who is responsible for the security breach in Pedro Sánchez’s mobile, he replied that the entire Executive works so that this cannot be repeated: “The Government as a whole works every day to clarify the facts of which we had knowledge during the weekend (…) the responsibility lies with the Government as a whole so that the democratic institutions function with all the guarantees and so that the Spaniards are clear that the right to privacy and that the secrecy of communications are guaranteed.”
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