The president of Cantabria, María José Sáenz de Buruaga, has defended this Monday in the Plenary Session of the Parliament the recent reshuffle of her executive, after the departure of Isabel Urrutia and Luis Martínez Abad, who will stand in the snap general elections on November 29 on the PP lists for the Congress and the Senate, respectively.
The head of the regional government has denied that these changes are driven by a "crisis" or reproaches about management, and has described them as "mere adjustments in a government that works".
In her appearance, she has insisted that the variations are explained only by the call to the polls and by the incorporation of both ministers into the PP’s national candidacies. "If this electoral advance had not taken place, no modification would have been necessary", she emphasized.
Buruaga has asserted the presence of the two former ministers on the lists due to the desirability of contributing "Cantabrian talent" to the Cortes Generales, a decision she has framed within the current scenario of state politics.
Along these lines, she has spoken of a "moral and political duty" to put an end to the Government of Spain (PSOE-Sumar) and has warned that "another four years of Sanchism would disjoint the Cantabrian and Spanish society".
She has also defended that Cantabria needs a central executive that "meets its demands, approves budgets and does not block its projects".
"We are betting on Spain’s ability to recover the dignity of the nation, respect for the law, and the strength of our institutions", she stressed.
Continuity in the ministerial departments
With regard to the new officeholders, the president recalled that Juan Ignacio Sáez de Bereciartu will assume the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice, Security and Administrative Simplification, while Tamara González will lead Culture, Tourism and Sports.
She has highlighted that Sáez de Bereciartu was until now the general director of Justice and Victims of Terrorism and that he has "a broad track record" in the regional Administration, where he has also held other responsibilities in the field of the Service.
As for González, she pointed out that she held the General Directorate of Social Inclusion, Families and Equality and that she has experience as a city councillor, an autonomous parliament member and a senator appointed by the Parliament of Cantabria.
Buruaga has defended that these appointments guarantee "a calm and secure transition", given that they involve profiles who know the Administration, the areas they are going to manage, and the projects already underway. In addition, she thanked both for having agreed to take on these functions in the final stretch of the term.
To Sáez de Bereciartu, she has demanded that they continue moving forward toward an Administration that is "closer, more enabling and with ever less bureaucracy", strengthen security, improve the Administration of Justice, and make progress in territorial cohesion.
To González, she has asked that they consolidate the commitment to cultural tourism of "international excellence and off-seasonal [travel]" and extend its economic and social returns to the entire community.
The reshuffle is completed with the appointment of Severiano Cuesta as Director General of Justice and Victims of Terrorism and of Cristina Fernández Rabanillo as Director General of Social Inclusion, Families and Equality.
Response to the opposition's criticism
At another point in her address, Buruaga has rebuffed the criticisms regarding the changes in the Executive and has censured those who, in her view, have tried to generate "an artificial controversy" around the appointments.
She has argued that decisions of this type require "planning, reflection and responsibility", even more so in a context of an appointment with the ballot boxes, and she added that "A Council of Government is not organized; it is not improvised."
She has also rejected reproaches on the matter of equality and has stated that she will not accept "equality lessons from anyone", reminding that she is the first woman to preside over Cantabria.
She has assured that her Cabinet faces the final stretch of the legislature with "the same determination, the same commitment, and the same will to dialogue as on the first day".
"Cantabria has a project, Cantabria has clear objectives, and we continue governing", she emphasized, reiterating that the changes do not alter the political line of the Executive. "Two excellent ministers leave and two excellent ministers join", she concluded.
The president has concluded by underlining that the priority continues to be to complete the initiatives promoted at the start of the term, and she has asserted that "what is important has always been, is and will continue to be Cantabria".
The opposition questions the reshuffle
From the opposition, the regionalist Pedro Hernando has accused Buruaga of carrying out a reshuffle of the Government “forced by partisan interests” and not by the needs of the community, attributing the changes to the requirements of the PP’s candidacies for the general elections.
Hernando has criticized that the president announced the first appointments at the party’s headquarters and has denounced the “blurred line between the public and the private, between the party and the Government.”
In addition, he has argued that “the rushes” generated a problem with compliance with the legal requirement of balance between men and women in the Council of Government, which, in his view, “also forced the president to dismiss Luis Martínez Abad in order to incorporate Tamara González.”
The regionalist leader has branded the operation a “second crisis” and has said that the new councillors take up their posts “by imposition” by the national leadership of the PP and with a very limited time margin until the end of the legislature.
For his part, Mario Iglesias, the PSOE spokesperson in the Parliament of Cantabria, has cast doubt on the reshuffle, considering that it responds to Buruaga’s “improvisation and lack of coordination,” especially because of the adjustments made “to resolve the legal fit of the composition of the Executive in matters of equality.”
Iglesias has recalled that, after initially announcing Juan Sáez Bereciartu as a replacement for Isabel Urrutia, the PP had to correct course and also dismiss Luis Martínez Abad in order to incorporate Tamara González. In his view, this sequence of decisions constitutes “a curious patch thrown together in desperation and at a sprint” and shows that the Government “has run out of its plan” before exhausting the legislature.
The socialist spokesperson has criticized that the new councillors have less than seven months before the next electoral appointment to carry out their work, and has demanded that the president provide “leadership” and “responsibility.”
Iglesias has made a negative assessment of the PP’s management, which he has accused of promoting a model based “on the privatization of public services, the precarization of the public sphere, and urban and tourism speculation.”
Meanwhile, Vox’s spokesperson in the Chamber, Leticia Díaz, has dismissed the reshuffle as an “emergency patch” resulting from the departure of Urrutia and Martínez. She has reproached Buruaga for not taking the opportunity to turn the Executive around and has said that he has limited himself to internal promotions to fill the vacancies. “Today what has happened is that their starting players change in the middle of the match to sign for the Madrid league,” she said.
Díaz has accused the regional Government of suffering from a “premature exhaustion” of its project and of putting “propaganda and advertisements ahead of resolving the structural problems of Cantabria.”