The commission of investigation into the hiring of the Xunta will hold its last meeting this Friday, in which the PP will approve an opinion, prepared without agreement with the BNG or the PSdeG, which maintains that there was “not a single blemish of legality” not even in the minor and emergency contracting undertaken by the Xunta in a pandemic, nor in the concession model used for the Álvaro Cunqueiro Hospital in Vigo.
In this session, the self-amendment announced last weekend by the Popular Group will be voted on, which delves into the same argumentation of the draft presented to the opposition; and that of the PSdeG, which will foreseeably be knocked down. Meanwhile, the BNG confirmed this Thursday that it would not register any amendment because the document presented by the PP is “a pamphlet,” it said.
However, the nationalists will issue a private vote that will be debated in the plenary session of the Chamberalong with the commission’s own opinion, once the new session starts in January. This Friday’s call puts an end to the work of this body for almost two months, which was marked by successive controversies.
The commission created it the BNG under article 52 of the Chamber’s Regulations, which allows a third of the deputies – 25, which is exactly what the Bloc has – to promote an investigation commission once per legislature. Although it was an initiative of the nationalists, from the beginning the PP was able to control the deadlines by having an absolute majority, something that was reproduced in the Committee’s own table, chaired by the popular Elena Candia.
This was the reason for a good part of the confrontations with the opposition, to the point that the Constitutional Court will have to rule on an appeal for protection presented by the BNG for alleged “infringement” of the rights of its deputies.
In the first session of the commission, the PP managed to carry out the rules of operation alone despite the proposals of socialists and nationalists so that the work plan – which includes the list of those appearing and the documentation to be required – had to be approved by qualified majority.
Appearing
The popular parties also used their majority to carry out their work plan despite the ‘in extremis’ meetings held between the groups. Thus, the list of appearing It did include the current president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, but not his predecessor, Núñez Feijóo.nor to people around them, as the opposition claimed, for the awards received by companies in which they work.
The summons of the current president of the Catalan Generalitat, Salvador Illafor having been the Minister of Health during the covid pandemic. However, he informed the president of Parliament, Miguel Santalices, in writing that he would not attend because it is a “repeated opinion” of the Council of State that the autonomous chambers “do not have the power to require the appearance” of state authorities.
In just over a month, a total of 38 appearing, including Rueda, former councilors with the PP (since 2009) and of the bipartite (between 2005 and 2009), as well as other current and former senior officials of the Xunta, private consulting firms and the Consello de Contas.
The main conclusion reached by the Popular Group in its opinion is that “there is not a single blemish of legality” in the matters investigated by this parliamentary body, nor in the contracts with companies such as Eulen and Universal Supportwhose managers are people from around Feijóo.
Alvaro Cunqueiro
In fact, in its draft, the PP contrasts it – in a veiled reference to the ‘Koldo case’ – with central government contractingwhere “it is the Prosecutor’s Office, the National Court and the Supreme Court that detect signs of money laundering, bribery, criminal organization and influence peddling.”
Regarding the Álvaro Cunqueiro Hospital in Vigo, the main conclusion of the Popular Group is that its construction through a public works concession “there was no extra cost” of 470 million eurosas the opposition maintains based on a report from the Consello de Contas.
The PP opinion proposal also emphasizes that, as a result of lthe financial crisis of 2008the “only viable alternative” to build the hospital was public-private collaboration because the public model that the bipartite sought, through the Sociedade Pública de Investimentos, “would require the administration to renounce the execution of current expenditure or other investments”.
Recommendations
In the recommendations section, the opinion does warn the Xunta – in line with the reproaches made by Contas – that it should avoid substituting the complete feasibility study with the economic-financial feasibility study in actions similar to the construction of the Vigo hospital.
Likewise, it endorses the suggestions already made by Contas in the pandemic contracting inspection report, which is why it calls for designing “contingency plans” and “a strategic stock” to avoid lack of health productsas well as continuing with centralized purchasing and electronic contracting.
Finally, the opinion recommends continue using minor contracting because “it is not an exceptional procedure but an ordinary one”, under the conditions established by law.
In this sense, the PP suggests moving forward with “improvement measures” in minor contracting processes, in the “democratic impulse program” and in making contractual information available. through the Transparency Portal.
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