Margarita Robles is in the spotlight. ERC directly requests her resignation for “justifying” the surveillance of the independence movement in 2017 and 2019. And United We Can, confronted almost from the start of the coalition with her, points to her. But Pedro Sánchez does not consider his dismissal. In the environment of the president they defend that there is no reason to sacrifice it, to cede that masterpiece to the Republicans in order to calm their restlessness and rebuild the relationship with the Government. Robles, therefore, will continue to lead the Ministry of Defense, which he has been leading since June 2018.
There is no debate right now about his continuity in the Executive. “But why is he going to leave the government? Has he done something wrong, something irregular?” Sources very close to Sánchez ask themselves. In Moncloa, as they assure in the circle closest to the chief executive, there is nothing in sight that suggests a replacement, in the option of that he can stop it due to the pressure of the independence movement. will not remove it by too much “anxiety” that the Government and ERC move and no matter how much they ask for his head, they warn. Nor is the departure of the director of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) on the table, Peace Stephen. Spanish intelligence depends organically on Defense.
In the leadership of the PSOE they also respond in the same way to the question of whether Robles could fall: “Do not“At least for now there are no doubts, although Sánchez has always jealously guarded his movements within the Government, and in fact surprised last July when he dismissed three first swords from his hard core: his first vice president, Carmen Calvo, and above all his Cabinet director, Iván Redondo, and the head of Transport and number three of the PSOE, José Luis Ábalos. yes, a ministerial remodeling was expected, which finally happened. Now that buzz, directly, does not exist.
Robles, not a militant of the PSOE and of proven loyalty to the leader, has stood out for not biting his tongue, for being the whip of Podemos and sovereignty
However, Oaks (Leon, 1956), a woman of character and at the service of the State, as she likes to say, has always wanted to mark her own style, which does not always coincide with the words of Sánchez or those of her closest ministers. She is not affiliated with the PSOE and although his loyalty to the president is proven and maintains direct dialogue with him, he has stood out in these years for not biting his tongue on many occasions. For being the whip of United We Can – epic and repeated are the crosses of reproaches of him with the minister Ione Belarra and also with the former vice president Pablo Iglesias – or of the independence movement. But precisely for this reason it allowed the president and the party cover another part of the electoratemore moderate, while keeping the Armies appeased, in whose defense the minister has worked all this time.
“What’s a state to do?”
For ERC and for the purples, Robles sought to blow up the investiture block with his words this Wednesday in the control session in Congress. “What does a State, a Government, have to do when someone violates the Constitution, declares independencecut off public roads, carry out public disorders, have relations with political leaders of a country that is invading Ukraine?”, the minister asked in plenary. When the secrets commission is constituted, she warned, “everything will come out”, documentation will be seen, “and perhaps many of those who now teach they will have to shut up when they see the performances they’ve had.
“I see Marga well and strong. It was not her intention to twitch. She kept to the important thing, that everything was done in accordance with the law,” explains a colleague from the Cabinet
The head of Defense, according to what Republicans and Purples read, was “justifying” the espionage of the independence leaders and activists. But both she and Sánchez pointed out that the monitoring on two key dates, 2017 —in the autumn of the ‘procés’, with the PP in Moncloa— and 2019 —with Sánchez already in the power, and with the streets of Catalonia set on fire by the Supreme Court ruling—were logical and reasonable, but at all times they were in accordance with the law. That is, they were done with judicial approval. This Thursday, ‘El Confidencial’ published that the Government authorized the CNI to spy with the Israeli Pegasus program on 18 leaders of Tsunami Democràtic. Among those watched was Elies Campo Cid, the engineer who has led the investigation into the ‘Catalangate’. He was a key player for his role in designing the technological structure of the movement, as the newspaper reports. At all times, the CNI acted with the mandatory and prior authorization of the Supreme Court.
“I see her well and strong. It wasn’t Marga’s intention to twitch, really not. What happens is that the fourth question about the same [la ministra respondió ayer a Junts, Ciudadanos, PNV y CUP], one out of modesty uses other expressions, and what it was not was interpreted. She kept to the important thing, that everything was done according to the law“, justifies a colleague from the Cabinet who was a direct witness to the sequence in the control session this Wednesday and who considers that in no case is Sánchez considering his departure. Of course, he agrees that in a situation of maximum tension with CKD, there is that “have very careful with every word that is said.
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In Moncloa they point out that the official discursive line is the one set by the president and the one that has also been verbalized these days by the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, a man of his utmost confidence. Both when he traveled to Barcelona, last Sunday, and in the plenary session of Congress yesterday, Wednesday and today. It was the way of saying that Robles has his own style and that it does not always match the prudence of Sánchez’s hard core. But in the governments there must be all kinds of profiles“, adds a minister. That is to say, it is also convenient for the socialist leader to have her by his side.
.@mjmonteroc defends the “impeccable” work of Robles https://t.co/4Lsyt70HsF pic.twitter.com/rJNgCU1n2S
– Europe Press TV (@europapress_tv) April 28, 2022
In any case, the Government is confident that next week, when the official secrets committee meets, the tension with the Government will relax. Because there it will be told what happened, how, when and to whom, and that they always acted “according to the lawBut it remains to be seen whether these explanations satisfy the independence movement.