The PP extends its offensive on the Salazar case after the PSOE refused to bring it before the prosecution

Salazar, a man who enjoyed the confidence of the President of the Government, was called to face new tasks within the Organizational Secretariat of the PSOE until July, just before the Federal Committee which was going to restructure the socialist leadership after the entry into prison of Santos Cerdán, former number three of the party, ‘elDiario.es’ echoed the complaints that Ferraz had ignored until then.

The disgraced man previously held the functions of secretary general of institutional coordination of the executive presidency, a position from which he allegedly sexually harassed several subordinates, and secretary of electoral action and training analysis. After weeks of political exile, income with a consulting firm, Servicios e Ideas, Social and Electoral Strategies, SLwith which he intended to reintroduce his tentacles into the general administration of the State.

In the Lower House, the Popular Parliamentary Group considers the explanations received on this point and the measures taken by the Executive and the PSOE in this regard as totally insufficient. It is for this reason that after several initiatives concerning what is called the Salazar case, returned to the fray in December. The Popular Party, first of all, registered the request for the appearance of the General Secretary of the Presidency of the Government, Judit González, to the Congressional Equality Commission. Its objective is to detail application of the action protocol against sexual harassment in the General Administration of the State and in its public agencies or, in other words, knowing first-hand if the Sánchez Cabinet did what it had to after learning of the complaints against Salazar.

The spokesperson for the Popular Parliamentary Group in the Senate, Alicia García, has already announced her intention to summon Salazar himself to appear before the commission of inquiry into the Koldo affair, but, in this case, it will first be necessary to determine whether the lawyers give him the green light or see no link between the scandals that hit the former high official of Moncloa and the episodes of corruption that are being elucidated in the Upper House. Regardless, both the attitude of former minister José Luis Ábalos and his former advisor Koldo García – in temporary prison for conspiracy over Covid-19 pandemic masks – and that of Salazar represent a setback for the feminist discourse of the PSOE. The first two, for consumption of prostitution – a practice that the socialists want to eradicate – and the third, for harassment of their party colleagues.

In addition to the request for appearance, to which ABC had access, this newspaper also has evidence of a new set of questions recorded by the most popular on this topic. The deputies Pedro Muñoz Abrines, Jaime de Olano, Álvaro Pérez López and Macarena Montesinos point out in their writings that Salazar was “a person very close to Pedro Sánchez” and that his dismissal only took place when the accusations of sexual harassment emerged in the media. Then, the conservatives point out, “his apparent separation from the party” took place, but later, they add, “through a consultancy firm which he owned, he advised the president of the government and was able to be hired by the government of the Generalitat of Catalonia, chaired by Salvador Illa”.

The consultant

Although this is not the first time that the PP has asked questions on this subject in the Council of Ministers, because as ABC published in November, it was already interested in the dinner between Salazar and the government spokesperson at the time, Pilar Alegría, months after the dismissal of the former high official of Moncloa, the popular ones do not give up their efforts. They ask the Executive when President Sánchez learned of the accusations against his collaborator; who else knew about it in the presidency of the government? why, despite the seriousness of the events reported, the hiring of the consulting firm Servicios e Ideas, Economías Sociales y Electorales, SL was favored; whether it was suggested or recommended that Illa pay for the services of Salazar’s company; whether this was recommended to foreign embassies and, if so, who gave the order to do so.

The PP also asks the president if he considers it compatible with the integrity of women and the fight against sexual harassment to hire Salazar’s consultant; What does Sánchez have to “hide or fear” to a “purely cosmetic stop” from your advisor; and why the government does not report what happened to the public prosecutor’s office, even if the reported events allegedly occurred at the Moncloa Palace. “Is the President of the Government aware that taking responsibility ‘in the first person’, so that it is not just an empty statement, requires his resignation?”, conclude the popular ones, alluding to the words of the head of executive during an informal conversation with journalists, on Constitution Day in Congress, in which he tried to address the internal criticism of inaction against Salazar.

So far, in the government’s parliamentary responses on this issue, Moncloa has limited itself to saying that it became aware of the complaints “through the media” and not before, and to recalling the various existing laws and protocols against sexual harassment. Regarding the dinner between Alegría and Salazar in a central restaurant in Madrid, the Executive responded to the PP: “The Government does not carry out evaluations on activities outside its sphere of competence and, therefore, on any activity in the private sphere of any of its members.”