The opposition as a whole demands the urgent appearance of Lafuente for the "scandals" of Costes

PalmaThe opposition as a whole has filed a request in Parliament for an urgent appearance by the Minister of the Sea and Water Cycle, Juan Manuel Lafuente, due to the "successive scandals" affecting his department. The PSIB, MÉS per Mallorca, Més per Menorca, and Unides Podem are demanding explanations especially following the dismissal of the Director General of Costs, María Joaquina Ferrer, and from the subsequent revelations of the former official about the alleged "political interference" by the minister in the reports and files of the General Directorate.

The four opposition groups have requested that the permanent deputation be convened to call this session. In addition, they highlight the letter published by 21 officials from the Ministry in defense of Ferrer and the technical and legal criteria applied during his time at the head of the Directorate General. "It evidences a very worrying situation that requires immediate explanations from the highest political leader of the Ministry," Més per Menorca points out in a statement. The left considers it particularly serious that a director general was dismissed after disagreeing with the minister on how to resolve certain files and that, subsequently, "such a large group of officials considers it necessary to publicly defend their actions".

For this reason, the opposition wants the minister to clarify in parliament whether political pressures or instructions have been given to officials in his department and whether they may have influenced files or administrative decisions that, according to the four groups, should respond exclusively to technical and legal criteria. The parties consider that, given the seriousness of the facts, the start of the next ordinary session should not be awaited for Lafuente to appear.

"If a few days ago we received the news that the Director General of Coasts had been dismissed because she did not want to yield to the minister's political indications and wanted the technical and legal criteria of the Ministry's staff to prevail, this situation would already justify an appearance in itself," said the deputy of Mes per Menorca, Josep Castells. He considers that the case generates "very serious doubts" about the functioning of the department and about how files are processed. According to the spokesperson, the situation would indicate that in the Ministry "criteria are applied in accordance with particular interests" and that the files would not be being resolved according to technical and legal criteria. The spokesperson for Més per Menorca also described as "unusual" that 21 officials have made public a letter to defend the dismissed Director General and to question the explanations given about her departure. "The fact that 21 officials are speaking out to defend a dismissed person and to denounce that the reasons made public for the dismissal are highly credible," he assured. For all these reasons, all the groups as a whole consider it "essential" to activate parliamentary control mechanisms and demand that Lafuente's appearance be made urgently, ideally in the first plenary session of the new ordinary period, scheduled for September 8.