1,300 kilometers from the Palau de la Generalitat and the headquarters of the Valencian PSOE is an exceptional spectator of everything that has happened in recent weeks in Spanish politics. As Chief Ambassador of the Permanent Delegation of Spain … before the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) In Paris, Ximo Puig lives a comfortable “retirement” in the French capital, but he closely follows the debate on the management of the catastrophic damage that caused the fall of Carlos Mazón and the alleged corruption that led to the entry into prison of his political rival for decades in Valencian socialism, José Luis Ábalos.
Puig was appointed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, on February 20, 2024, two months after announcing that he was leaving the leadership of the PSPV-PSOE, which passed into the hands of Minister Diana Morant, after losing the presidency of the Generalitat. To do this, he resigned from his position as senator upon nomination by the Valencian Cortes.
While waiting for the date of his brother’s trial to be set for alleged irregularities in the subsidies he received from the Generalitat, the ambassador has been seen in recent weeks at public events in Valencia and Madrid. Some sources consulted from the PSPV positively value his opinions and discretion – they place him as a kind of moral reference – at a time when the formation led by Morant has lost its main and only asset – Mazón and his food in El Ventorro – and remained speechless after the change of regional government now chaired by Juanfran Pérez Llorca.
In fact, Puig retains his function as former regional president, a prerogative conferred on him by law, with two advisors, a driver and a central headquarters in Valencia, at the expense of the coffers of the Generalitat. Its cost to the Treasury is unknown. His total salary is also not public as Spain’s representative to the OECD, since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation hides a substantial part of the emoluments ambassadors, who also benefit from many other privileges.
Residence between the Seine and the Arc de Triomphe
Following a request for information from the Government Transparency Portal, the General Directorate of Foreign Service confirmed to ABC that “the rental contract for the residence of the Permanent Representation of Spain to the OECD in Paris has been a monthly income of fifteen thousand euros“. This is an exclusive apartment on Avenue Marceau, which connects the Seine and the Arc de Triomphe. It is located seventy meters from the chancellery – the diplomatic offices – of the delegation and the Spanish embassy in France, a state-owned building. In addition, “all Spanish embassies abroad have a representation and service vehicle.”
However, although access to the gross annual salary was requested, with all complements and compensations, the response referred to the same portal to consult the remuneration of senior civil servants in all departments of the Executive. The information on the website is incomplete. The gross salary received by Puig in 2024 was around 64,000 euros, according to published data. The 1995 legislation applicable in this case indicates that to the gross annual salary, including extraordinary payments, a destination supplement must be added (16,300 for ambassadors, at level 30 of the Administration) and another specific one.
These three variables are multiplied by two modules that the Government updates each year: one for the equalization of purchasing power, to reduce price differences between France – in this case – and Spain; and another on quality of life, which is calculated “based on factors such as distance, climate, unsanitary conditions, lack of communication, situation of violence or war, insecurity of citizens and other similar factors” that can reduce it. According to the estimate made, The total figure would be around 150,000 euros per year and could even be higher. Puig’s predecessor, Manuel Escudero, received 151,660 in 2021, according to the Transparency Portal.
The law allows the government to appoint ambassadors to people who do not belong to the diplomatic career. In fact, Puig’s is not the only one. Former ministers Miquel Iceta, Hector Gómez and Isabel Celaá have also been promoted by Albares since he took the post more than four years ago. Appointments that have already taken place in previous frameworks, with that of Mariano Rajoy, who granted the same position as Puig – not without controversy – to the former Minister of Education José Ignacio Wert, who held this position between 2015 and 2018. The PSOE then classified him as a “act of nepotism”. Designations to which the Association of Spanish Diplomats has opposed for years.
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