The opposition raises the tone over the Costas case and denounces "pressures" for the sunbeds of Formentera
The PSIB sees it as “incomprehensible” that the minister does not give explanations, Apesteguia compares the case to “CSI” and Castells asks himself “what else has to happen” for him to appear
PalmaThe PP and Vox prevented this Thursday the Minister of the Sea and the Water Cycle, Juan Manuel Lafuente, from appearing extraordinarily before Parliament to provide explanations regarding the dismissal of the former Director General of Coasts and Littoral, Maria Joaquina Ferrer, and regarding the decisions subsequently adopted by the department. The Permanent Deputation rejected this Thursday the request made by the opposition, which wanted to clarify if there were pressures or political instructions on Ferrer or the officials of the Coast Department and if these affected administrative files. The PSIB, MÉS per Mallorca, Més per Menorca, and Unides Podem had already warned that the information known generated an “absolute distrust” towards the minister.
The deputy spokesperson for the PSIB, Marc Pons, considered it “incomprehensible” that Lafuente does not have to appear in light of the succession of reports that have appeared in recent weeks. The socialist resorted precisely to this information to argue that the case goes far beyond the replacement of a freely appointed position. Pons considers that Ferrer was dismissed for “not responding” to Lafuente’s orders, and links it directly to the file on sunbeds and umbrellas on the beaches of Formentera.
During the debate, Pons cited a report from Diario de Mallorca regarding the minister's interests and the pressures the former director general allegedly received. He also referred to the reports from ARA Balears about the Formentera file to highlight that there is no record of any new technical report that changed the criteria that the Coast Department had defended before Ferrer’s dismissal.
The PSIB raised the tone even further after the session and accused the PP of “hiding” the ministers to prevent them from having to give explanations about their “poor management” during the summer. In the specific case of the Coast Department, Pons stated that Ferrer had refused to sign a file that, according to the socialist, “could be grounds for prevarication.” He also listed the information that has appeared regarding alleged political interference, dismissals, the bribery attempt that Ferrer reported, and possible pressures on officials to argue that Lafuente should have appeared. These latest accusations are the position expressed by the PSIB and not a judicial conclusion.
In the same vein, the spokesperson for MÉS per Mallorca, Lluís Apesteguia, has focused on one of the episodes revealed by ARA Balears: the new director general, Joan Jaume Mulet, gave his approval in 10 minutes and 44 seconds to a legal report and a resolution proposal of about 80 pages that preceded the change in the Formentera file. Apesteguia has ironically remarked that, to be able to do so, the new head of Coasts would have to read "at the speed of three people combined".
"What else has to happen?"
Més per Menorca deputy Josep Castells has also regretted that the PP is preventing the appearance. “What else has to happen?”, he asked. Castells had already warned that the case could demonstrate that Lafuente “has no control” over his Ministry, because, as he explained, while the minister would “dictate” certain resolutions, the department would go “the other way”.
The PP, on the other hand, has reduced the entire controversy to an ordinary change within the Ministry's organizational chart. Its parliamentary spokesperson, Sebastià Sagreras, has defended that a general directorate is a position of free appointment and that Lafuente simply decided to replace Ferrer because he considered a “municipalist” profile more appropriate. Sagreras had already described the request for an appearance as “unprecedented”, with the argument that in previous legislatures there had been changes of general directors without this obliging the ministers to give extraordinary explanations to Parliament.
This Thursday, the popular member also lashed out at the socialists and questioned that, “with everything that is happening in the State”, the PSOE intends to make an autonomous minister appear for what, according to the PP, is nothing more than a simple substitution decided by the head of the Ministry.
Vox has supported the populars. Its parliamentary spokesperson, Manuela Cañadas, had already announced that she would vote against the request because she considers the case to be a “smokescreen” of the PSIB and the left to “cause confusion”.
The controversy, however, did not begin only with the dismissal. Ferrer's dismissal provoked a letter of support signed by about twenty civil servants of the department, a fact that was also part of the arguments used by the opposition to demand explanations.
