MADRID (AFP) – Spain’s under-fire ecological transition minister, a candidate for a top European Commission post, said that questioning the role of state agencies during the country’s devastating floods was “dangerous”.
The state weather and environment services have faced intense scrutiny over their response to the October 29 disaster that killed 227 people and wreaked widespread destruction.
The European Parliament had blocked Teresa Ribera’s appointment to an influential commission role encompassing the environment and competition, with opponents accusing her of neglecting her duties during the floods.
But feuding political groups reached a deal to back the bloc’s new executive, clearing the way for Ribera’s confirmation next week.
Regions are in charge of disaster management in Spain’s decentralised political system, but the hardest-hit Valencia region’s leader Carlos Mazon has said he received “insufficient, inaccurate and late” information. Doubting state agencies was “deeply unfair and deeply dangerous”, Ribera told Parliament in a veiled retort to the conservative opposition.
“I would like to thank the work and dedication of the public servants who issued the information as was their duty,” she added.
Mazon defended his handling of the catastrophe last week, citing an “information blackout” and criticising a government agency responsible for monitoring river levels.
