© EFE Archive
The Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, in the gallery of Congress
The PP wants the Ministry of Consumption considering it a “useless and harmful” department which is maintained only “to satisfy the purely political and partisan aspirations of its owner”, Alberto Garzón, whom he accuses of displaying “irresponsible frivolity” and even of “copying” the former president of the USSR, the dictator Joseph Stalin .
This is the thesis defended by the PP in the non-law proposal that it has registered in Congress in order for the Chamber to ask the Government to “within a maximum period of one month” eliminate this ministry and assign the General Directorate of Consumption and the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) to the Health Department and the General Directorate of Gambling Regulation to the Treasury.
The populars’ registered this initiative before the last controversy starring Garzón after his interview with the British newspaper ‘The Guardian’ criticizing the sustainability and quality of the product of large Spanish farms. Some words that have raised a trail of criticism not only from the PP or Citizens, but also from the autonomous governments of Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha and Aragon, as well as the main agricultural associations.
The PP maintains that most of the competences in Consumer Affairs are transferred to the autonomous communities and that, therefore, Garzón’s is a ministry that lacks them, as shown by the fact that it only receives 0.014% of the total Budgets for 2022 (65.76 million).
“Consequently, it is clear that the priority that the Executive gives to consumer protection in the 2022 PGE is residual and that its objective it does not go beyond the gesture of maintaining one more ministry for strictly political reasons“, emphasizes in his initiative.
“Scandalous controversies”
But, in addition, the PP discredits Garzón’s management to which accuses of “neglect of responsibilities” in consumer protection. Specifically, he points out to him for starring in several “scandalous controversies” that, far from “contributing an iota” to consumer protection, have “damaged” the reputation of important sectors of the Spanish economy.
In his opinion, his “irresponsible frivolity” it has been evident, for example, with the campaign against sexism in toys that he launched before Christmas. According to the PP, the also leader of the United Left has tried to “involve children in a ‘symbolic toy strike’ at a very hard time for Spanish consumers” with “runaway inflation.”
According to the parliamentary group led by Cuca Gamarra, with only two years in office, Garzón already has under his belt an extensive “history of errors, gaffes and irresponsible actions. “
Sugar and meat
Thus, he mentions his “attacks on strategic Spanish tourism Stating that it is “seasonal, precarious and of low added value”, he dismisses the campaign with the slogan ‘Sugar kills’ as “mendacious” and accuses it of “betraying” the agricultural and livestock sectors and the manufacturers of oil, ham and cheese and other basic products in the Mediterranean diet with the introduction of the ‘Nutri-score’ label, and with its ‘Less meat more life’ campaign.
He also criticizes that Garzón has made a “defense of the ‘Cuban consumption model’, characterized by misery and a ration card.” “And finally,” he adds, “he has devoted his best efforts, copying Stalin, to present an unnecessary ‘cookbook’ and that it promotes imported products, when our Mediterranean cuisine is at the forefront of the world. “
Also, the PP ugly to the IU leader who uses his “minister status” to “attack” the Head of State with “total disloyalty”, skipping his promise of loyalty to the King, and that he has “insulted the State Security Forces and Bodies in an unjust and mendacious way, affirming that there may be” reactionary elements “in its midst.