Pedro Sánchez has not missed the opportunity to return some of the attacks that the Madrid president Isabel Díaz Ayuso has launched at him during this summer and has found in the controversy over the luxury penthouse of the president of the Community of Madrid the most favorable flank to return to political combat. The difficulties of the regional Government to close a controversy that continues to accumulate questions have allowed him to go on the counterattack, accusing Ayuso of having wanted to buy a “big penthouse with the money of the Madrilenians” and that “she has been caught”.
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In an interview on Cadena SER, Sánchez has thus focused not only on the Madrid president but also on the leader of the PP. Alberto Núñez Feijóo assured a couple of weeks ago that the Community of Madrid informed him in April that it was looking for a new headquarters due to the planned works in Puerta del Sol. A statement that the president of the Government has contrasted with Ayuso’s version, who has assured that she knew nothing about the operation.
“What did she know in April?” Sánchez snapped. “Feijóo cannot say he knew about the penthouse since April and this lady say she knew nothing; I mean, he knew and she didn’t, come on,” he ironized.
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The controversy has allowed the president to turn a controversy initially confined to the management of the Community of Madrid into a problem for the national leadership of the PP. Sánchez has maintained that the popular party has a “serious problem” with transparency and accountability because they apply a “funnel law.” “Very wide for others and very narrow for oneself.”
In his opinion, the PP must now face the same demands for explanations and responsibilities that the opposition demands from the Government for the corruption cases that have affected the PSOE. “First, transparency and, second, accountability,” he defended, before also demanding a “demand for responsibilities.”
Sánchez has also taken advantage of the characteristics of the property to reinforce his criticism of Ayuso and link the operation with housing, one of the main areas of confrontation between the central Government and the Community of Madrid.
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The president has ironized about the size of the apartment, which he placed at about 400 square meters with a 200-meter terrace. “This is what it looks like: the big penthouse with the money of the Madrilenians and without applying the housing law because she, of course, needs a big apartment of 400 meters, 200 of terrace,” he pointed out.
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The reference has allowed him to connect the real estate controversy with the housing policy of the Community of Madrid. Sánchez has reproached Ayuso that her Government does not apply the housing law while, according to his account, the president has participated in an operation to acquire a property of those characteristics. But the argument he wanted to project beyond the specific case was that of the “feeling of impunity” with which, in his opinion, some right-wing leaders act.
The president has extended that accusation to the functioning of justice. Sánchez has maintained that there are reasons for some right-wing leaders to have that feeling of impunity and has questioned the “speed” with which certain judicial cases have developed, in a veiled reference to procedures affecting the left.
“It is quite evident. This is not an opinion, this is a fact,” he stated after questioning whether judicial times are the same in all cases.
Sánchez then returned to the penthouse case to illustrate, in his opinion, that feeling of impunity. He pointed out that Ayuso has been able to put her home up for sale on Idealista while, simultaneously, a company has acquired another property for her. “Not just anyone,” he specified, linking the operation to her status as president of the Community of Madrid.
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