The spokesperson for the Socialist Parliamentary Group in the Assembly of Extremadura, Isabel Gil Rosiña, has defined as a "scandal" the decision of the president of the Junta, María Guardiola, to request that the Debate on the State of the Region not be convened this year, considering that it means evading a key political control meeting.
In the same vein, Gil Rosiña has maintained that this initiative violates the law and "democratic normality" in Extremadura, recalling that Guardiola "cannot escape parliamentary control." "It is tantamount to gagging Parliament and, therefore, democracy," she stated.
Given this situation, the socialist spokesperson has demanded to know the position of the president of the Assembly, Manuel Naharro, on the request of the head of the Extremaduran Executive and has announced that, "out of respect for this parliament," she will formally ask him to publicly clarify this matter.
Gil Rosiña has stressed that "the chamber's rules are law, they are not a book given to deputies when we take office" and has described this attempt to "escape parliamentary control" as "very serious." At this point, she recalled that former president Guillermo Fernández Vara faced the debate in the midst of the pandemic year because it was a "statutory obligation."
SHE SAYS GUARDIOLA "CAN RECTIFY"
In her opinion, the president of the Junta "can rectify" and explained that the PSOE understands that, while the General Budgets of Extremadura (PGEx) are being processed, "there is no room for a Debate on the State of the Region." However, she has wondered "what are the reasons why it is not held in September, when the new session begins."
Therefore, she has called on Guardiola for a "rectification" and has also requested the intervention of the president of the Assembly, to whom she attributes the responsibility of guaranteeing the "normal functioning" of the legislative power in the autonomous community.
Gil Rosiña has indicated that her group will address Naharro in writing and has expressed confidence that "between now and Monday this can be resolved and President Guardiola will apologize and ask for a rectification." At the same time, she has censured that, at the time of her press conference, the formal request not to hold the Debate on the State of the Region "is not yet in the chamber's registry."
Consequently, she has denounced that the parliamentary groups cannot even consult the Executive's arguments for rejecting the debate. "The political groups cannot read it because they have decided to send it to a newspaper instead of to the Parliament's registry. It is a lack of seriousness that we have never experienced this atmosphere of such bad politics in Extremadura," she remarked.
The socialist spokesperson added that Guardiola "is becoming more radical every day" and lamented the "extremism" that, in her opinion, she is assuming "as a permanent political stance of the Junta de Extremadura." She reiterated that "only through the Chamber's registry does the Assembly have knowledge of a government request."
"It's as if Guardiola wants to call her Parliament's president every day by phone. Perfect. But this doesn't work like the yard of my house. This is Parliament. And the relationships between the government and Parliament have channels set by the Assembly's regulations, which is the Parliament's law. So, if there is no registry at this hour, it doesn't exist," she insisted.
Gil Rosiña stressed that this "is not the first slap that Guardiola" has given the Assembly of Extremadura and assured that "there is no trace of the moderate Guardiola." As an example, she mentioned the elimination of prior appearances of individuals proposed as high-ranking officials and the reduction in the number of parliamentarians in committees.
Finally, when questioned by journalists, she recalled that the regional elections in Extremadura were in 2025 and that it is currently 2026. "If Mrs. Guardiola wanted to have the region paralyzed and held hostage for six months, because she was not capable of negotiating a government in due time and she didn't care, we are not the ones responsible," she emphasized, referring to a Debate on the State of the Region whose celebration is "perfectly, very clearly" included in the norm.
"Both the Assembly's regulations establish how the Debate on the State of the Region must be conducted, and the Statute of Autonomy mandates the Parliament and the Junta to submit to the Parliament's annual evaluation. A president who does not submit to the Parliament's evaluation and the scrutiny of political forces is something else," she concluded.