The Vox deputy in the General Board of the Principality of Asturias, Javier Jové, has denounced, following the meeting of the Spokespersons’ Board, the absence of any reaction from both the president of the Principality, Adrián Barbón, and the president of the General Board, Juan Cofiño, after the minister Ovidio Zapico announced that he will not respond again to initiatives of parliamentary control.
Jové has described Zapico’s position as “a flagrant attack on the democratic functioning and on representative democracy” and has warned of the seriousness of a member of the Government attempting to evade the control exercised by the opposition.
As he indicated, this situation is called into question in light of the report issued by the Chamber’s legal services. The parliamentarian has expressed his displeasure because this Thursday’s Spokespersons’ Board concluded without an agreement to demand responsibilities from the minister and without specifying how the Executive will act when the opposition registers new questions or interpellations related to Zapico’s competencies.
“Zapico has a lot of power, he runs the show, and he’s the one who has the pants in this Government,” Jové said, who has accused Barbón of not having “the ability or the nerve to put his rebellious partner in his place.”
The deputy pointed out that it still remains unknown whether Zapico will backtrack or whether other members of the Government will answer in Parliament the questions about housing, consumption, youth, or LGTBI policies—areas that depend on the ministry headed by Ovidio Zapico. “All of this is extremely serious,” he stressed.
Jové also launched an attack against the president of the General Board, Juan Cofiño, for not addressing Barbón in a formal manner to demand explanations. He recalled that Vox already called into question Cofiño’s neutrality due to his behavior in the last Plenary Session and reiterated that his continued tenure in the position “makes no sense” since “today he is discrediting the institution itself.”
“The fact that today, once again, he has decided not to require Barbón to provide explanations regarding what his minister has announced already fills not the glass, but the jug. This is unbearable,” Jové lamented.