Shortly after the plenary session of the Valencian Parliament to inaugurate Juan Francisco Pérez Jurca as the new President of the Assembly, the Generalitat portal published that his predecessor, Carlos Mazzone, also from the People’s Party, will have a support office in Alicante, as stipulated in the Valencian Law for Former Presidents. Mazzone has already activated it and, therefore, will be able to have two positions with advisory positions and one driver position, which will be appointed at the suggestion of the interested party and will be at its disposal and will depend organically on the Presidency of the State.
Employees holding these positions will be considered temporary employees, and if those elected are employees in the service of the general government, they will remain in the legally appropriate administrative status. It will also be provided with a “suitable office installation site” with the budget contribution for its normal operation and a vehicle from the general government fleet. Moreover, the Council, through the competent department, “will take the necessary measures to maintain the personal security of former presidents, and to provide them with security services deemed necessary.” Mazón’s support office is located on Ingeniero Lafarga Street in the capital, Alicante, according to the website of the Valencian government itself.
Other presidents such as Francisco Campes, Alberto Fabra (both from the People’s Party) or Chimo Puig (from the PSPV-PSOE) also used these privileges. The status of former presidents was agreed upon by the parliamentary groups of the PP and PSOE-PSOE in 2002, days before Eduardo Zablana left the General Presidency to be appointed Minister of Labor by the government of José María Aznar.
Mazzone retained his status as a regional deputy and holds a seat in the back row of the popular bench, as Francisco Camps did in 2011 after his resignation. The office of his former boss was inaugurated one day after the Parliamentary Group of the People’s Party decided to appoint him as its spokesman in the Les Courts Regulations Committee, which has not met since 2020. For this reason, he will receive an additional 624 euros per month as an attaché.
Although practically all of the ninety-nine representatives who make up the Council receive attachments and bonuses to occupy various positions in the plenary session or in one of the twenty-two committees (12 legislative, seven non-legislative, one legislative and two non-permanent), the news of Mazzone’s appointment caused alarm. Not only among Aldana’s victims, who also ask him to leave his deputy and go testify before the judge investigating Aldana’s criminal case, but also among the new president. In the last case, at the chosen moment, above all.
Perez Yurca apologized to the relatives of the victims at his inauguration ceremony last Thursday and this Tuesday, in addition to his influence on opening a new phase of “dialogue” and “reconciliation.” The news of the bounty awarded to Mazon makes this rapprochement goal difficult.
The Socialist spokesman of Les Cortes, José Muñoz, who announced on Monday the approval of the popular group registered in Les Cortes, once again expressed his disapproval this Tuesday: “It is an insult. The People’s Party and Pérez Jurca must demand that Mazón give up the seat and all the privileges because he was an unworthy president.”