Spanish floods disaster spurs heavy lobbying against Commissioner candidate Ribera

Spain’s ecology minister Teresa Ribera is to undergo her hearing for European Commissioner facing a wave of criticism due to her handling of the devastating October flooding that left more than 200 dead in the Valencia region.

Her candidacy hearing — she is due to take on the key “Just Transition”  role — faces multiple obstacles.

Sources at the European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament have confirmed that non-Spanish MEPs will ask the most uncomfortable questions, pointing out that Ribera has spent most of the time since the catastrophe in Brussels promoting her candidacy.

The European People’s Party (EPP) has delayed its approval until Ribera appears before Spain’s Congress of Deputies to explain her management of the Valencia flooding crisis.

Spanish Partido Popular leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said he would vote against Ribera because of her “lamentable” performance regarding the disaster.

According to sources in the group, Feijóo spoke to EPP president Manfred Weber on November 11 and then to the European Parliament’s Socialists. The Socialists reportedly replied they would hold up all key hearings until Ribera’s future is resolved.

For its part, the EP’s Patriots for Europe group, to which Spanish party Vox belongs, has taken a clear position against Ribera. They consider her management during the Valencia disaster “shows that the extreme climate agenda of the EU elites has consequences”.

They referred to the Nature Restoration Act, which obliges European Union member states to “remove obstacles for rivers” and which, they said, had contributed to this tragedy. The Patriots said “it is a law that should be repealed immediately”.

Jorge Buxadé, head of the Vox delegation in the European Parliament, said “Ribera has not appeared since the October tragedy because the government has concealed it so as not to harm her candidacy”.

Saying ‘no’ to Ribera “is to say ‘yes’ to environmental care, to progress and to the competitiveness of our companies,” he added.

The Supreme Court in Spain was reportedly assessing whether to admit three lawsuits against Ribera filed by the Vox, Iustitia Europa parties along with the Manos Limpias employees’ association.

Luis María Pardo, president of Iustitia Europa, said he believed that “the mismanagement of the disaster invalidates Ribera’s candidacy” and that “a person responsible for a tragedy with more than 200 deaths cannot be allowed to be a commissioner”.

Civil organisation HazteOír.org has launched a signature campaign addressed to Manfred Weber, president of the EPP, asking the group to vote against Ribera.

Pablo González, head of the campaign, claimed that “with her flight to Europe, Ribera is trying to evade questions about her management”.

In Brussels it is considered “unusual” for a serving minister to try for a commissioner post without first resigning.

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— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 6, 2024