Former Prime Minister Felipe González has said it, loud and clear, for the first time. In his opinion, there should be general elections this year, given the weakness of the current government led by Pedro Sánchez. Although González does not base this opinion solely on the recent events surrounding his successor José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, he maintains that he cannot imagine him in the role depicted by the UDEF regarding him, at the head of a criminal organization involved in influence peddling, but he assures that the judge handling the case is being “extremely protective of rights.” He said this in the interview he gave at the forum of the Valencian Business Association, AVE, chaired by Vicente Boluda.
Read more «As we age, metabolism varies and body odor changes»
As he already stated after Zapatero was charged, González insists that he does not believe his fellow party member was capable of orchestrating the network he is accused of, nor of devising plans to create offshore companies for that purpose. The former prime minister does not see Zapatero “as having the capacity to set up a financial engineering” as suggested by the court order and police reports, nor does he believe that in his life “he has come to know what an ‘offshore’ company is.” “Well, I don’t see it,” he emphasized, although it would be another matter if “he lets himself be dragged along by Maduro or by ‘la Delcy’, who calls him ‘little prince’.”
Despite everything, he has defended Zapatero’s “presumption of innocence” and his “right to defend himself.” “The presumption of innocence for Zapatero is a right to defend and is indisputable,” he stressed, although “the judge has been extremely protective of rights” in the procedure, as shown by the fact that the former prime minister’s office was searched but not his usual residence, something “not often seen nowadays,” he argued.
The Zapatero case “has a reputational cost that affects us as a country and as a party”
He also praised the judge’s actions, saying he “is extraordinarily protective of rights” for, among other reasons, not requesting the search of the former prime minister’s personal residence. “He has been quite meticulous regarding the protective steps he has taken,” he assured.
In any case, the former prime minister declared himself “overwhelmed” by the news of Zapatero’s charge, but stated that the judicial process “has a reputational cost that affects us as a country and as a party.”
Finally, González urged Zapatero to, in the face of continuous demands for explanations, “set the timing” and “wait to see if he finds a way to defend his innocence and explain it where he has to explain it, which is before the judge.”
But for González, the Spanish legislature no longer has any more runway. In this regard, he opined that it is not the time to present a motion of no confidence, as the PP would like. At least, if he were in the PP, he would not present it. This statement served him to lament that some in his party reproach him for actually working for the PP, but “if I worked for them, they would have already won, idiots!” he commented sarcastically.
The reason for his opposition to a motion of no confidence is that “we would stop talking about this to talk about a motion of no confidence, and if they were a smart opposition, they would let this keep brewing.”
