The Koldo Case was debated today in the European Parliament in Strasbourg amid a mix of accusations from the European People’s Party and the Socialist Party, shortly after it also occurred in the Congress of Deputies. A discussion that has been held at the request of the Spanish delegation of the European People’s Party, on the corruption case that affects Koldo García, the former advisor to the former Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos, accused of leading a corrupt purchase and sale of masks at the hardest time of the Covid-19 pandemic.
One of the harshest in her criticism was the president of the Spanish delegation, the former Minister of Health, Dolors Montserrat, who has charged not only against the corrupt plot, but also against the Amnesty law, and the alleged link that it could have. also with the Delcy Case, which affects the Venezuelan vice president. “In Spain, Sánchez amnesty for terrorism, corruption, and a blow to democracy, this is your triple gift to the fugitive from justice who keeps him in power (…) This is a national and European shame,” Montserrat rejected. “The PSOE arrived at the Moncloa with its saddlebags full of exemplarity, but will soon leave it with its suitcases full of lies,” she added.
In his response, the socialist MEP, Nicolás González Casares, followed the same line as the President of the Government Pedro Sánchez today in Congress, who has demanded the resignation of the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, due to the alleged corrupt plot that affects his sentimental couple “The pandemic was terrible, thousands of people died, we feel disgust and repudiate those who took advantage of the pain,” he added. “Everyone around her [of Ayuso] was fueled by the pandemic. “I don’t know if she likes fruit, but she likes pasta a lot,” he said. A speech that has received severe discomfort among the benches of the Vox and Popular MEPs, with shouts and after which the vice president of the European Chamber, Dimitrios Papadimoulis, has had to ask for order and respect.
Other deputies regretted the alleged use of European funds in the corrupt plot, as indicated by the investigations and the involvement of the European Prosecutor’s Office, which last week opened a formal investigation into the contracts signed by the Canarian Health Service and that of the islands. Balearic Islands for the supply of masks with the company Soluciones de Gestión, epicenter of the Koldo plot.
“We debate because the European Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into the purchase of masks in poor condition, with contracts paid for by European funds (…) and that the entire European Union is being questioned,” denounced the leader of Ciudadanos, Adrián Vázquez. “Let whoever has to fall fall,” he assured.
For her part, the MEP for Unidas Podemos, María Eugenia Rodríguez-Palop, recalled other names of corruption cases that have affected the European People’s Party in the past. “The pandemic was a disaster for everyone and a loot for a few (…) Corrupt outsiders, no seats to protect themselves, no pardons for cronies. We need mechanisms that monitor the use of European funds and get rid of their gulfs, chorizos and their looters,” she reproached the popular benches.
Although the majority of MEPs who spoke were Spanish, other members have also criticized the debate, such as the German Niklas Nienass, from the Greens. “It shocks me that a Spanish campaign is being carried out, it unnerves me that we take an hour for a specific Spanish case,” he criticized.
In the debate, which was attended by the Budget Commissioner, Johannes Hahn, he explained that the European Commission will be “very rigorous in this regard” if it is confirmed that European funds were used in the corrupt plot. “At this time the Spanish authorities and the European prosecutor’s office are investigating. There is good cooperation between the institutions, it is in the interests of all European taxpayers that everything is investigated.”
Along the same lines, the Belgian Foreign Minister, Hadja Lahlib, considered the debate “essential” and the need to “protect European investments and fight against all types of corruption, at a legal level and also for the development of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.” “We owe it to our fellow citizens.”
