The third vice-president and minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, appears at the headquarters of the European Parliament where she has taken the exam to be appointed vice-president of the new European Commission. “We need to have a greater capacity for climate observation. We have to work on climate objectives together,” said the minister during her speech in Brussels. In this sense, the European People’s Party has blocked the appointment of the minister as future commissioner. until she speaks about the DANA catastrophe, which has already left 222 dead in Comunidad Valenciana, Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia.
In the last few days, the PP has insisted on Ribera’s appearance in court.who it accuses of inaction in the management of DANA and of being more focused on preparing for the exam in Brussels than on the activity of her Ministry, although she defends that she was aware at all times and even that she tried to contact, without success, the president of the Valencian Community, Carlos Mazón.
Vice-president Ribera assured last Friday that she managed to speak to Mazón after calling him four times on Tuesday 29thonce he perceived the “concern” in the CECOPI due to the “difficulty” in making decisions and the “seriousness of the situation” of the DANA, which officially leaves 222 confirmed fatalities, 214 in the province of Valencia.
Likewise, since the Ministry for Ecological Transition emphasized that the minister was “working and reachable” telematically. from Brussels on Tuesday 29th and, a day later, she returned to Madrid to physically join the crisis committees for the DANA that Moncloa promoted after the tragedy.
In this context, the Valencian president reproached the vice-president for not taking an interest in the situation” of the DANA. that has affected several towns in the province of Valencia “until 20.00 hours” last Tuesday, October 29. “I would ask the minister: Did the flood warning have to come? Did the alert have to come?” he questioned.
The minister has opted during these two weeks for a low profile, something that has been widely criticized, since she has been without appearing at the national level and has only offered an interview on the radio. Thus, the popular reproach Ribera that “has not deigned to set foot in Valencia”, although neither her ministry nor she herself are part of the five groups of immediate response requested by the president Valencian.