Every hour that passes, the PP’s verbal escalation against the Government over the mask purchase scandal increases one tone. One day Elías Bendodo takes charge — “Sánchez is the head of the criminal organization” —; another, Borja Sémper – “let Ábalos pull the blanket” – and all, Miguel Tellado. The latter, a popular parliamentary spokesperson, stated this Tuesday: “This is not the Koldo caseis not the Ábalos case, is he Sánchez case”. And he grouped the three socialists into what he called the “Peugeot gang.”
Tellado arrived at Congress this Tuesday with sharp weapons. The meeting of the Board of Spokespersons had not yet begun and he was already sending messages to the press to announce that he would demand explanations from the president of the Chamber, the socialist Francina Armengol, for the purchase of masks from the company investigated when he led the Government from the Balearic Islands. Armengol, according to parliamentary sources, settled the matter by arguing that this closed-door meeting, in which the House’s calendar of activities is examined each week, was not the place for such debates.
Tellado later retaliated in the press room. The popular spokesperson even devised a new application for an adjective as overused as “historic.” And so he began his appearance: “We are facing a historic corruption scandal.” Then he undertook an exhaustive attack lasting a quarter of an hour, of which no socialist puppet was left with a head. He recalled that Koldo García, who was an advisor to former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos and alleged commission agent of the plot, had worked for Pedro Sánchez’s candidacy in the primaries that returned him to the leadership of the PSOE in 2018. From that fact, he developed a sketch verbal titled “the Peugeot gang”, which he illustrated with the following image: “Koldo at the wheel, Sánchez as co-driver and Ábalos and Cerdán behind [Santos, secretario de organización socialista]the Peugeot gang that toured Spain to take power in the PSOE.”
Tellado’s intensity did not subside at any time: the socialists “have profited from death and illness”, “Sánchez has governed during these years surrounded by the worst corruption”, “this Government is the enemy of decency and honesty.” ”… The list of those involved that the PP has drawn up is also lengthy: in addition to those already mentioned, the current Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente; those of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres; the one who was from Health and now leader of the PSC, Salvador Illa…
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Tellado, despite everything, did not manage to surpass the bar that Vox spokesperson Pepa Millán had previously set, when it was not yet known whether Ábalos would resign. “The one that has to resign is the PSOE en bloc,” proclaimed Millán. Without providing any more evidence than her own deductions, the Vox spokesperson, like the PP spokesperson later, took it for granted that it is the entire socialist organization – “the same PSOE of cocaine and brothels” – that is involved: “While they left “People died alone, while health workers used garbage bags due to lack of material, the PSOE profited.”
Also before Ábalos spoke out, government partners asked for his resignation. Sumar’s spokesman, Íñigo Errejón, regretted that the former minister is starring in a “spectacle that makes citizens distance themselves from politics” and lacked greater “speed” from the socialists to confront a “very serious” case. For the same group, Àgueda Micó, from Compromís, alluded to Ábalos’ status as a deputy for Valencia to demand that he “not cling” to the seat. “And especially with the backpack that we Valencians carry with corruption cases,” she emphasized.
Ábalos will meet in the Mixed Group with Néstor Rego, from the BNG, who also demanded that he assume “his political responsibility.” “In the Mixed we are already full,” he ironically said. Rego also attacked the PP for its “absolutely demagogic” stance. Javier Sánchez Serna, from Podemos, even without downplaying the seriousness of the case, avoided asking for the resignation of Ábalos, whom he considered a “scapegoat.” In any case, he was in favor of investigating both this case and the one carried out, also with the sale of masks, by the brother of the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
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