The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, appears this Thursday before the Plenary Session of the Assembly to detail the reshuffling of her Executive after the departure of the former councillor for the Environment, Agriculture and Interior, Carlos Novillo, who is listed as “number 7” on the PP’s candidacy for Congress for Madrid, led by the party’s president, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
Ayuso’s appearance, requested by herself, takes place with this Wednesday’s general strike as the immediate context for the plenary session, after the harsh criticisms that the regional leader has directed in recent days at trade union organizations.
Novillo’s exit from the regional Government was made known on October 26, and along with him, the deputy minister for the Presidency and Local Administration, José Antonio Sánchez “(19),” also left the regional Executive.
These changes placed, until then, the housing, transport and infrastructure councillor, Jorge Rodrigo, in charge of the responsibilities that Novillo was managing. The department that he left vacant passed into the hands of the person who had been his deputy councillor, José María García. José Antonio Sánchez’s position has been filled by the former director general of Citizen Care and Transparency, Ángel San Gregorio.
Ayuso has already attended the Plenary Session earlier this year to provide explanations about the previous Government crisis of the legislature, when she dismissed Emilio Viciana as councillor for Education, Science and Universities and appointed Mercedes Zarzalejo in his place.
The general strike, the focus of political debate
The Plenary Session is held one day after the general strike for housing and wages, which in the region left pickets, cutoffs on several roads, and lower economic activity, although public services worked normally.
The unions that called the strike argue that the stoppage had “broad support with figures close to a record” and described it as a “success,” with “very positive” data in both the night shift and the morning shift. They placed participation between 65% and 80%, percentages rejected by the Confederación Empresarial de Madrid-CEOE (CEIM), which reduced the follow-up in the private sector to less than 10% and described this “political call” as a “serious mistake”.
The controversy over the strike is expected to break into the session of questions to the Madrid president, which will have a marked economic focus. Vox will center its question on the economic situation of families; the PSOE, on the mechanisms for controlling public spending; and Más Madrid, on measures to preserve purchasing power.
For its part, the PP will direct its questions to the educational strikes that affect the region, from that of early childhood education—which already adds up to more than six months—up to that of the rest of the pre-university stages, which began about a month ago.
In questions to the rest of the regional councillors, matters such as the vote by mail in the November state elections, the minimum services set by the 11N, the impact of the central Government’s education policies on Madrid universities, the operation of Summa 112, or freedom of artistic creation in cultural productions financed with regional government funds will be addressed.
Intervention by Ana Dávila and debate on PNL
After Ayuso’s appearance, it will be the turn of the councillor for Family, Youth and Social Affairs, Ana Dávila, who will report on the consequences of the “underfunding” of Social Services in the Community of Madrid, at the request of the PSOE deputy Silvia Monterrubio.
The debate on Non-Law Propositions (PNL) will begin with an initiative by Vox related to the Urda accident in Toledo, where 69 people died after an Ave collided with an Iryo last October.
The proposal calls for the regional Government to censure the then Transport minister—who has already resigned—Óscar Puente, in addition to implementing cumulative alerts on the rail network, carrying out a comprehensive audit of it, and promoting a national plan for investments in rail infrastructure. After Puente’s resignation, Vox filed an amendment to its own text to replace the censure of the former minister with that of the head of Government, Pedro Sánchez.
Más Madrid will bring two PNLs. The first proposes the creation of a Madrilenian Building Fund (FEM) as a tool to finance the construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation of social and affordable housing in the region. The second urges maintaining the “firm institutional commitment” to the defense, viability, and strengthening of the public pensions system and rejecting any initiative that aims to privatize it, in whole or in part.
Also, the PSOE will focus its PNL on pensions, by calling for the defense of the public system, its pay-as-you-go model, "solidarity between generations and the unity of the Social Security cashbox," as well as rejecting its total or partial replacement by a mandatory private capitalization system.