2023-06-02 22:48:36
Ciudadanos takes its last steps, but its current leaders are reluctant to definitively close the party and have decided to “hibernate” until the next European elections, for which there is exactly one year to go, and not stand for the next general elections on 23 December. July in order to “rearm” for the next “electoral cycle.”
Ciudadanos decides not to appear at the general elections of 23J and certifies his death
Further
The tremendous setback that the formation suffered on 28M, which has left them out of the regional parliaments and almost all the municipalities in which they had representation, added to the decision of the national committee –cheered on by Inés Arrimadas– not to run for the general elections , has reopened the box of thunder and revived the critical sector of the party that was first led by Francisco Igea and later led by Edmundo Bal. The two have reacted angrily to the bleak scenario, demanding resignations and encouraging the launch of a new project that includes all those who now feel “orphaned” and believe that it is worth continuing to fight for a “centrist and liberal” space.
The one who has staged the most anger has been Bal. The state lawyer directly blamed the situation on Arrimadas, with whom just a few months ago he held a pulse for the remnants of the party, but lost it. Since then the relationship between the two was broken, and the atmosphere within the parliamentary group, mostly related to the deputy spokesman, ended up being unbreathable despite the efforts of the two to appear otherwise.
The former president of the party did not take long to announce that she was leaving politics. He did it this Thursday in an appearance in Congress without questions, in which, on the verge of tears, he vindicated his past and recalled the best moments he has experienced in Ciudadanos and the historic milestone he achieved in 2017 in Catalonia, when he won the autonomous elections against the nationalists although he could not govern. Her farewell did not surprise her surroundings, which she knew was only a matter of time, since among her plans was not to head the candidacy for the next generals, whenever they were. The transfer of the entire family to Jerez de la Frontera last Easter was already a clue to his plans, which he brought forward when the call for the generals was precipitated and he previously verified the debacle that the party had once again suffered, as predicted by all the surveys.
The next to say goodbye was Guillermo Díaz, the only deputy who has been faithful to Arrimadas throughout the duel with Bal. The man from Malaga and deputy spokesman for Ciudadanos left a day in between to make his announcement this Friday and not detract from his boss: “It’s good to know how to leave,” he said in an appearance from Malaga. “All cycles have their beginning and end,” she added, immediately assuring that he will continue to “defend liberal ideals.” Díaz has always said that he would never go to the PP or any other party when he left Ciudadanos. And this Friday he indirectly ratified it: “It is important to be consistent with your ideals and not sell them.” Other casualties have been added to Díaz, such as that of María Muñoz, economic manager of the parliamentary group.
Some of the candidates who attended the municipal and regional elections last Sunday are finding it difficult to digest that the formation has been left without representation in all parts except in a few town halls, after a campaign in which the main message has been that they were going to be “decisive” in many places because the space that Ciudadanos represents is “more necessary than ever.” Especially in Madrid, where not even Begoña Villacís managed to survive, which raises the question of whether she will follow in the footsteps of Arrimadas or in the end she will be carried away by the siren songs of the PP. Popular leaders have not taken long to re-invite all the positions of Citizens who wish to do so to arrive “in the common house” to unite the entire center-right vote in the PP.
When asked by this newsroom about her plans, the acting deputy mayor limited herself to answering: “I already had my farewell on Sunday.” “We have made too much of a fool,” laments the candidate of an important municipality in Madrid where they have gone from having a discreet representation to disappearing. The rout of leaders began the day after election night with the resignation of Félix Alvárez, in Cantabria.
The incendiary message of Carlos Cuadrado
The greatest anger has been channeled against the members of the permanent committee who participated in the process of the so-called re-foundation, whom some now accuse of having been “living like kings” during all these months thanks to the healthy accounts left by the previous treasurer, Carlos Cuadrado, who was fired last March, while they closed offices and fired a good number of workers after each electoral bump. The square itself as revealed this Wednesday by El País, sent a very harsh WhatsApp message to the chat of a group of Ciudadanos leaders shortly after the general secretary of Ciudadanos, Adrián Vázquez, announced at a press conference that the formation will not stand for the general elections on 23J. “Thieves, organize a congress to decide whether to dissolve the party, but don’t keep the money from this party’s savings. Livers, you are scoundrels, pay your debts ”, Cuadrado released them.
That same Wednesday, Edmundo Bal and some other party officials also criticized the new leadership for wanting to reserve money to hold out until the European campaign for their own survival. After calling “those who are leading this party” “cowards”, Bal accused them of “having decided to keep the money in the box to be able to campaign in the European elections”. The missile went directly against the current secretary general, Adrián Vázquez, who since the departure of Luis Garicano has been the head of the Citizens’ delegation in Brussels and whom many assume that within a year he will again want to head the electoral candidacy for the European Parliament . “Are you responsible for the party and do you go ahead so that in the following ones they place you in the European Parliament? This is insane and has no head or tail ”, Bal launched at Vázquez.
The party has boasted over the last two years of having its accounts in good standing and of not owing “not one euro to the banks”, since they do not ask for credit. He even assured that the headquarters on Calle Alcalá in Madrid – an imposing six-story building next to the Las Ventas bullring – was not in danger, having paid its rent until the end of the year. Then announced that they planned to leave it and move to a more central location in Madrid and more economical, before the loss of income. The party is financed exclusively with membership fees (whose census has been reduced to less than 8,500 in recent years), fees contributed by elected officials, institutional subsidies received by the party, and contributions from groups. Also with private donations that, according to the law, cannot exceed the limit of 50,000 euros per person and year.
According to the report and the economic memory of the 2021 accounts, which The Objective revealed, “the orange formation then had a comfortable economic mattress of 11.6 million euros with which to face the demanding electoral cycle of 2023”, data that has been confirmed by more than one source to this newsroom. In 2022 the budgets presented and uploaded to the party website they showed a balance between income and expenses of 1,760,000 euros in favor. But the party only publishes global figures, without specifying or detailing the expenses of each item.
“Representation expenses” for half a million euros
In the last budget presented to the general council, corresponding to 2023, the spending forecast for the electoral campaign of the double date on May 28 was not included. In 2018, the year of the Andalusian elections, on the other hand, the budget reserved 1,035,141 euros as “provisions for electoral campaigns”.
In the budget document for 2023, to which elDiario.es has had access, it was explained that the party was going to face that year “a double, municipal and regional electoral campaign throughout the national territory, with its corresponding pre-campaign plus a campaign for national elections, also with its pre-campaign. And the uncertain results of any electoral process make it especially difficult to prepare a budget for the entire year”, they justified themselves. elDiario.es has requested the detail of the expenses of 28M, but for the moment it has not received any response.
The party leadership also warned this week that they had held “an extraordinary assembly and a new leadership has taken the helm of the party”, for which they had also faced extraordinary expenses for “the new corporate image, structural changes in the team of employees, resolution of inherited issues and initiatives capable of turning the game around that always translate into significant expenses, which this year’s budget should have incorporated”.
These accounts were finally approved last March by the general council, the party’s highest body between assemblies. At that meeting, some directors asked if the item of 460,080 euros corresponding to “representation expenses” referred to the activity related to the fifteen members of the permanent committee in their organic activity and the answer was yes, that the expenses came from there. “salary supplements” of the permanent. What is unknown is how much each member of that internal body earns, although the sources consulted by this newsroom say that between “3,000 and 4,000 euros” per month, and “some, in addition, have been paid the rent for the house.” “It is a scandalous lack of transparency,” agree several members of the critical sector.
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