Orihuela Costa: December 2013

Gaspar Zarrías

The Secretary of Cities and Municipal Policy for the national socialist PSOE group, Gaspar Zarrías, has demanded a response from the president of the government, Mariano Rajoy, as to whether or not he, as the president and leader of the national PP group, supports the censure motion which has been presented in Orihuela.

The question has been put to Rajoy based on his promise of a transparent and clean political party, and given that a number of the PP politicians in Orihuela are facing criminal charges, the approval by the party leader would contradict his national policy.

Zarrías said that “with four people charged and two defectors”, it seems inconsistent with Rajoy´s “fight against corruption and in favour of transparency and democratic regeneration of the PP”.

Zarrías continued to accuse the Orihuela PP of not acting “for the general interest of the citizens of Orihuela, but for the particular interest of some people”, and it is possible that the motion goes against the current government, formed by the PSOE and Los Verdes, with a group formed of “defendants and defectors, immoral and not without hidden agendas”.

The senior socialist believes that Rajoy should explain and say why the PP has not publicly disapproved the move and what measures are to be taken, both at an organic and institutional level, against those who have participated in it, including the Secretary-General himself of the Valencia regional PP, Serafín Castellano, who was a “key player” in the staging and signing of the agreement, whilst mentoring the “accused councillors of his party”.

Zarrías insists that Rajoy disallows this motion, “which in any case cannot continue”, on the grounds that it has been signed by “two non-affiliated members and defectors, Pedro Mancebo Juan Ignacio López Bas, who were recently expelled from CLR-CLARO coalition”, and subsequently would “lack votes”.

Meanwhile, in Orihuela, the city clerk, Virgilio Estremera, has asked Bob Houliston to provide the documentary evidence relating to the expulsion, which he requires before 9am on Thursday, when a decision as to the legality of the motion should be announced shortly after, prior to the planned formal presentation at noon on Friday.