A majority of 173 affirmative votes registered in the panel of the Congress of Deputies has finally certified this Thursday the disapproval of the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, for his management of the attack on the Melilla fence last June. Only 160 votes have opposed the initiative, while the remaining 15 abstentions have opted for the vote. The Popular Party bench immediately erupted in loud applause.
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has managed to arouse an unusual unanimity in the Congress of the Spanish right-wing -the Popular Party, the extreme right of Vox and Ciudadanos-, and of the Catalan independence formations -Esquerra Republicana, Junts and the CUP -, to demand their disapproval for the management of the tragedy that occurred at the Melilla fence, on June 24, 2022, in which at least 23 migrants died while trying to enter Spanish territory.
Vox and Ciudadanos as well as Esquerra, Junts and the CUP have voted in favor of the PP motion, in addition to the BNG, the PRC, Foro Asturias and the deputies expelled from UPN, Carlos García Adanero and Sergio Sayas. The PNV and EH Bildu have opted for abstention, which has tipped the balance, together with Coalición Canaria and Compromís. Against the PP initiative, only the PSOE and Unidas Podemos have voted, in addition to PDECat, Más País and Teruel Existe. The investiture block that usually supports the Government has thus been very divided.
The parliamentary initiative presented by the PP last December, after the "new evidence" published by the media and a report broadcast by the BBC that, in his opinion, "disproves" the version of events to which Marlaska clings , to try to "hide their responsibility", and confirm their "mismanagement" of "a tragedy that has no justification", has thus added a sufficient majority in the vote this Thursday in Congress.
The disapproval of the Congress to Marlaska has occurred at the time that the government coalition between the PSOE and United We Can suffer one of its worst internal clashes in this legislature on account of the reform of the law of only yes is yes. The purple formation has also issued harsh criticism of Marlaska's management in this drama on the Melilla fence, although today it has avoided delving into this coalition crisis and has joined the PSOE in rejecting the motion promoted by the PP. The formation that Alberto Núñez Feijóo now leads had already tried to fail Marlaska on a dozen occasions in this legislature. No success, until today.
Feijóo himself has defended this Thursday, once the disapproval of Marlaska in Congress was consummated, what he has considered as a "correct" initiative from his party. "I have nothing on a personal level against the Minister of the Interior, but I do against some, already unfortunately quite a few, of his actions, both at the Melilla fence and in some decisions in relation to ETA's prisoner policy," denounced the PPP leader.
People's deputy Fernando Gutiérrez justified this initiative yesterday by the "innumerable amount of lies proffered" by the Minister of the Interior to explain this tragedy. "But what can be expected from a government in which responsibilities are never assumed?" He reproached. In addition to disapproving of Marlaska, the motion of the main opposition party also called for his resignation. President Pedro Sánchez, however, is not willing to concede to the right what would be a piece of "big game" in the Government. Neither Marlaska, nor the Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, whom he defends. In the latter case, due to the controversy unleashed by his management of the reform of the Sexual Freedom law that is now beginning its parliamentary process despite the frontal opposition of Podemos and the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero.
Vox and EH Bildu also joined the PP's initiative to condemn Marlaska, with separate amendments, which also urged the dismissal of the Interior Minister. In the same sense, the deputy of Junts Pilar Calvo declared yesterday, for whom what happened in Melilla would mean "the immediate dismissal" of the head of the Interior "in a State of law". From Esquerra, María Carvalho assured in this regard that "the minister has been denied by all God." Socialist deputy David Serrada warned, on the other hand, that the PP's parliamentary initiative is only "an element of wear and tear on the Government, which has been joined by political forces that always try to give lessons in morality."
