The industry and tourism commission of Congress had to be suspended yesterday after the Vox deputy, José María Figaredo, “boycotted” it and subsequently refused to leave the room when he had been expelled by the presidency for his complaints about the use of co-official languages.
The fight occurred during the debate of a PP initiative on support for the electro-intensive industry. When it was his turn to speak, the BNG deputy, Néstor Rego, began his speech in Galician without, for the session, the simultaneous translation service having been requested. At that time Figaredo repeatedly interrupted the parliament of the representative of the Galician Nationalist Bloc, alleging that he had no way of attending to the intervention. And despite being challenged by the mistake he was making, he refused to abide by the basic rules. First insisting on his complaints. And then refusing to leave the room despite having been reprimanded up to three times and, consequently, being expelled from it by the president of the commission, Inés Granollers (ERC): “He is not here to demand,” Granollers reminded him .
The Congress Board established a protocol last January so that the use of simultaneous translation could be requested days in advance. If it is not requested, or when the system is not available as it is available for a maximum of three committees at a time, the rule dictates that deputies who use the co-official languages ??must “self-translate” into Spanish or “deliver their intervention translated with “sufficient notice” so that the other deputies know it.
In yesterday’s case, the deputies did not receive Rego’s text translated and Figaredo did not take long to protest. But his excessive impetus made him interrupt the BNG representative’s speech in the first stages of it. That is, without waiting for him to divide his time to initially speak in Galician and, later, self-translate into Spanish. “He was in time to do it,” Rego insisted from his seat, remembering the Congress regulations that Figaredo did not want to abide by.
Without the ultra group deputy leaving the room, the turn to speak was given to Sumar deputy Esther Gil, who is a member of the Congressional Board. But she alleged that the session could not continue as if nothing had happened given the disobedience of the Vox representative. “We cannot continue in these circumstances, otherwise this will be dismantled,” she concluded in reference to respect for State institutions.
Thus, the session stopped again for a few minutes so that the spokespersons could agree on the course of the commission. But there was no way and the president announced the end of the session, blaming Vox for “lack of respect” for the Board and the Presidency of the commission. “Forgive the inconvenience and thank your colleagues for respecting the Board and the institutions,” she added.
