Sánchez sets the course toward a state pact on climate change

Far from giving up on his efforts, despite the disdain with which the People's Party (PP) has greeted his initiative, the Prime Minister announced yesterday that the new political year, which begins next week with the first Council of Ministers meeting, will serve to set the course toward the state pact against the climate emergency he promised after the wave of fires that ravaged the western Iberian Peninsula this August.

Undeterred, Pedro Sánchez once again addressed the criticism he has received from the opposition yesterday in Asturias, which accuses him of being "late, bad, and dragging his feet" in his response to the fires that have overwhelmed the resources of the regional governments of Galicia, Castilla y León, and Extremadura, all of which are controlled by the People's Party (PP). He reiterated his willingness to resolve the challenge that climate change poses for the future of Spain through an agreement among all political forces.

This is the "path" the Socialist leader spoke of in a statement to the media without questions, after visiting the Degaña forward command post with the Third Vice President and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen; the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska; the President of Asturias, Adrián Barbón; and the Government Delegate in the Principality, Adriana Lastra.

To this end, before his first Cabinet meeting on Tuesday the 26th at the Moncloa Palace, the Prime Minister will order the creation of an inter-ministerial committee on climate change, which will be chaired by Aagesen herself and attended by the Minister of the Interior, as head of Civil Protection, who will also attend. Furthermore, Sánchez heeded Barbón's request to dedicate the next conference of prime ministers, to be held in Asturias before the end of the year, to laying the foundations for collaboration between the regional and central governments so that the lack of coordination seen during the current crisis does not recur.

In his statement, the Prime Minister asserted that this multilateral body, which last met in Barcelona last June amid a phenomenal controversy sparked by Madrid's president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and ended with no visible results, will be an "important element" of the State pact he yearns for and will serve to "define all the policies related to prevention, response, and subsequent reconstruction."

That said, Sánchez did not ignore the controversy sparked the day before by Popular Party leader Elías Bendodo, who called the Director General of Civil Protection, Virginia Barcones, "just another arsonist" and congratulated her for her performance during "these long, long hours and days and long, long nights during which she has been at the forefront" of the fire.

The conference of presidents of Asturias will address coordination between administrations.

But while Sánchez, who reiterated that the government has made "all the state resources" available to the autonomous communities and listed the human and material resources sent, appeared restrained, the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations, Félix Bolaños, unleashed his usual causticity.

When questioned by journalists in a rather formal appearance, Bolaños referred to Bendodo's words with a certain nonchalance – "there are debates that don't even need to be held," he said – but immediately got down to business and fired a bullet when he denounced that a Popular Party leader "without government responsibilities" appeared "perfectly tanned and rested" to criticize the management of an organization like Civil Protection, which is headed by a person, he argued, who "has gone almost eleven days without sleeping."

The Kings will visit the areas devastated by fire

The King and Queen, who visited the affected areas just days after the floods that devastated several towns in Valencia and Albacete on October 29, will travel in the coming days to some of the towns and landscapes destroyed by the fires, which are still raging in several provinces. The Zarzuela Palace confirmed this Friday that next week, the King, accompanied by the Queen, will travel to the main areas affected by the forest fires to "see firsthand the damage suffered and the needs of the affected residents," as well as "show their gratitude to all the teams that have contributed to fighting the fire and protecting the population." Meanwhile, in their capacity as honorary presidents of the Hesperia Foundation, the King and Queen have activated the mechanism to contribute financially to the reconstruction and recovery projects that the autonomous communities will launch in the territories devastated by the flames. The Hesperia Foundation was established with the funds left by the Menorcan businessman Juan Ignacio Balada, who died in 2009, to the then Prince and Princess of Asturias, as well as to the eight grandchildren of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia. / Mariángel Alcázar

In response to Bolaños's broadside, who, somewhat hyperbolically, suggested that the Andalusian MP had spoken from "a fair," when in fact Bendodo's statements were made outside the PP headquarters on Génova Street in Madrid and during a regular meeting, MEP and EPP Secretary General Dolors Montserrat also didn't mince her words.

"If it bothers you so much, where was the PSOE when they called the president of the Salamanca Provincial Council a pyromaniac?" the Catalan politician exclaimed, alluding to the fact that Socialist MP David Serrada had also used the term, just a couple of days earlier, to attack the Popular Party member Javier Iglesias.

For Montserrat, the person responsible for this controversy is the head of Civil Protection herself, whom she accused of not acting like a specialist, but rather of seeking political confrontation with her statements to divert attention from the "incompetence" of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). In this regard, she cited as an example the actions of the European Union, which, instead of highlighting the "sectarianism" of the Spanish government, has quietly offered aid to combat the fires on the Iberian Peninsula.

For yet another day, the political confrontation between the People's Party (PP) and the Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) over the actions of the central and regional governments in fighting the fires continued. While Bolaños pointed out that the regional governments are the "competent" in this matter and that the Moncloa (Ministry of Justice) sent all available resources "from the very beginning" to the affected areas, Montserrat insisted that Sánchez must explain his "inaction" and portrayed a Prime Minister who "hid for seven days in the Mareta cave before emerging."

Bolaños criticizes a "tanned and rested" Bendodo for calling the head of Civil Protection an "arsonist."

But it wasn't just the Spanish government that was the target of the PP's invectives. Montserrat took advantage of her position as a member of the European Parliament to attack European Commissioner Teresa Ribera, criticizing her for having "disappeared" during the critical days and then "congratulating herself" with a recent article in the press.