Proa Comunicación organised last Tuesday, 13 November, the informative breakfast Vanity Fair with Begoña VillacísCiudadanos spokesperson in the Madrid City Council. The event, which took place at the Hotel Santo Mauro in Madrid, brought together numerous media and guests from different social and economic spheres of the city. Villacís analysed the current political situation in response to questions from the magazine's director, Alberto Moreno, during a relaxed and friendly conversation, which later gave way to a round of questions from the journalists attending the meeting.
Among the issues addressed by the councillor, she highlighted the current political situation in the Madrid City Council, the government of Pedro Sánchez and next year's election campaign. "We have been able to afford three years of populism, but we can't afford even one more", she stated in relation to the Podemos crisis in Madrid City Council.
The Ciudadanos spokeswoman was very critical of the management of the Madrid City Council, blaming the mayor, Manuela Carmena, directly for the situation. "In my previous life, when one of my lawyers put his foot in his mouth, the 'brown' was eaten by me, who was his boss. That is not happening in the city council. Manuela Carmena is not taking responsibility for what is happening.. His government is like that part of the Joaquín Reyes sketch in which he is painting lines". He also blamed the problems on the disputes between the councillors of Ahora Madrid, claiming that "it has been a disembarkation in the City Council with six extreme and totally different political groups".
In relation to Madrid's debt and its management, he pointed out that "three years ago Ahora Madrid said 'we are not going to lower the debt because it is illegitimate'. Now they do not boast about anything else. And there is a reason for this: we have never had such an incompetent administration". Villacís pointed directly to tax collection as being responsible for this reduction in debt, "how does the Madrid city council justify raising taxes on citizens when they have money coming out of their ears. The Madrid city council's summary is to widen the pavements. When you can't convince people with your management, you buy votes.
Mobility and housing in Madrid, topics for debate
Asked about the key issues for the next government in Madrid, Villacís pointed directly to housing, "in these three years the housing stock has been reduced by 40% because Ahora Madrid has blocked it in a capricious way". She added that the price of housing will go down if new housing is built, "limiting construction is not the solution".
He also expressed his opinion on the current debate in Madrid: mobility. "We want to reduce traffic, but we want the whole caseload to be covered. Proof that there are traffic jams is that buses are much slower and that is why they have lost users". This casuistry also includes electric scooters, about which he says that "you could see me on a scooter, yes. And on a bike. I'm quite multimodal".
Pedro Sánchez's government
In reference to the government of Pedro Sánchez, Villacís wanted to highlight the debate that exists between people of the same ideology, "friends of mine with deep socialist ideas do not accept what the new government is doing. The image of Pablo Iglesias sitting in prison with Oriol Junqueras negotiating my country's budget seems terrible to me".
"The PSOE doesn't care who its partners are: it's just power for power's sake. I have told this to my team: The day I don't care about the hows when it comes to getting power, I'm out of politics, he stressed. Bildu's entry into the institutions seems outrageous to "someone like me, from Irene Villa's generation".
He also considered the hypothetical entry of Vox into parliaments and town councils to be improbable, "it is a party whose programme we don't even know yet. Even so, and as far as I'm concerned, it is a party whose programme we don't even know yet: I do not agree with parties, I agree on policies, and Ciudadanos does not renounce its own. Whoever wants to negotiate with us, knows that comes first," he said.
Distrust of justice
Villacís wanted to express her distrust in justice: "The credibility of the Supreme Court, with everything that is happening in Catalonia, is vital. And they have dynamited it. The current government has led us to a more politicised justice system than ever before.The EU's political parties are showing serious irresponsibility towards the public".
He also detailed Ciudadanos' position on the election of judges: "Honestly, why do we politicians have to define who the judges are and how they judge? We propose something as revolutionary as judges electing judges. What is not acceptable is that the chairs in the CGPJ are shared out. It doesn't seem sensible to me that the political parties should choose the judges who are going to judge them".