The controversy has been unleashed by two posts on social networks in which the Bijoya jewelry store in Pamplona showed how the mayoress of the city, Cristina Ibarrola, wore jewelry from her establishment during the Sanfermines. The jewelry store asked the mayor for permission to publish two posts and, from there, the debate has been unleashed: Is it lawful for the mayor’s image to promote a business? Should she have avoided those images? Is she supporting local businesses or is she a grievance for the rest of the establishments?
The controversy has reached municipal political life, and the first opposition group, EH Bildu, has asked Ibarrola to show the invoices for the two sets of earrings and a necklace that the first mayor wore in the San Fermín procession, in an official appearance in the Town Hall and in Pobre de Mí.
“It is very serious to allow someone to profit from the image of the institution of the Pamplona Mayor’s Office, but it would be more serious if, in exchange, there had been compensation. It is not about accusing anyone, it is about making it clear to the public that Ibarrola did not know that her image as mayor was being used and that, if she did, she did not get anything in exchange for that”, they have pointed out from the Abertzale coalition in a press release.
Ibarrola has limited himself to answering the following: “They are my jewels and I have nothing more to say.”
