The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, after their meeting in 2020. Europa Press
Tuesday, January 31: The Official Journal of the Autonomous Community of Madrid announces that the Public Prosecutor’s Office has appealed to the Superior Court of Madrid against the requirements to obtain the Baccalaureate degree decided by the government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso. Wednesday, February 1st: Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s government announces that it has appealed to the Constitutional Court against Pedro Sánchez’ executive plan for a tax on large estates. Thursday February 2nd: After a month and a half vacation, the Madrid Assembly resumes its activities, knowing that the regional PP has registered an initiative for the Chamber to repeat this decision. This is the day-to-day of the open war that Ayuso has waged against Sánchez since taking office in August 2019: a constant coming and going in the courts where Madrid has registered up to 12 appeals against state decisions, such as the central government’s two against the Regional government, according to the Ministry of the Presidency of Madrid. A lawsuit that begins with a tweet.
October 29, 2019. 2:28 p.m. Ayuso writes: “The Sanchez government confirms that it will not pay us the VAT of December 2017 in the amount of 377 million euros. That’s why I’m announcing this tomorrow [miércoles] We will appeal to the National Court to demand this. The socialist government can no longer turn its back on the people of Madrid.”
🔴 The government of Sánchez confirms that it will not pay us the VAT of December 2017, 377 million euros. Therefore, I announce that tomorrow we will appeal to the National Court to demand this.
The socialist government can no longer turn its back on the people of Madrid.
— Isabel Díaz Ayuso (@IdiazAyuso) October 29, 2019
It is the first of many lawsuits. And the one that has turned out best for the regional government so far: at the end of January 2022, Ayuso and his advisers accept the conditions proposed by the Treasury, leaving Madrid to receive around 400 million euros according to the VAT bill in the month of December 2017. The same applies to the rest of the autonomous ones communities. And that acts as an incentive. The courts, it is clear, also serve to settle political disputes. And if anything sets the duo formed by Sánchez and Ayuso apart, it’s the many fronts that have confronted the two governments they lead.
Some examples. Madrid has taken the central government to court for managing the pandemic: there he asked for clearer explanations of the criteria that had prevented him from going through the de-escalation phase (he eventually gave up); and attempted to reverse two perimeter closures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus on two festive bridges; or the restrictions on working in the hospitality industry.
Court disputes (mostly unresolved) have also had an impact on economic policy. In addition to that caused by the December 2017 VAT statement, there were those for deliveries on account of 2019 (Madrid estimates that 53.65 million euros are due); against a decree of the central executive distributing nine million euros of European money between the Basque Country, Navarre, Extremadura and the Valencian Community; against a resolution laying down the general instructions for the distribution of Covid subsidies; against the Air Conditioning Energy Conservation and Management Shock Plan; and against the tax on large fortunes.
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But it is precisely in the education sector that the greatest conflicts are concentrated. Madrid has objected to the baccalaureate curriculum and the government’s decision to lower public university prices. For its part, the central government has done so against the community’s decision to tighten the requirements for obtaining the baccalaureate and secondary school (ESO) degrees. According to the list provided by the Ministry of the Madrid Presidency, these are the only two regional decisions that the state has followed since Díaz Ayuso’s government.
The President of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, speaks during a plenary session at the Madrid Assembly.Gustavo Valiente (Europa Press)
Now the proximity of local and regional elections in May, along with general elections later in the year, is spurring the court battle. And they rush all ways. First, the PP will seek Vox’s support to urge the assembly to challenge the tax on large wealth to the Constitutional Court, as the regional government has already done. A strategy that repeats that launched last March by the Conservative Party to defend the interests of the regional executive and its president.
Thus, amid the controversy surrounding the commission of more than 55,000 euros that Ayuso’s brother collected from a company that had a contract with the community, the PP filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office for 12 contracts with the central government (the a total of 326 million euros) and 14 donations in the form of guarantees (896,000 euros) allegedly in connection with relatives, relatives or acquaintances of President Pedro Sánchez; the first vice president, Nadia Calviño; the former health minister Salvador Illa or the former transport chief José Luis Ábalos.
“We will start investigating everyone,” Ayuso celebrated at the time, uttering the phrase during a control session at the assembly.
In July, the investigation was launched into the 15 public guarantees or warranties, worth 896,000 euros, received between February 18, 2020 and May 25, 2021 by the company Industrias Plásticas Playbol, which in the past was owned by the parents of the governor. And in October, the investigation into the concession of a public tender, endorsement and accreditation as a digitization agent of the Kit Digital program to the company Beedigital, where Vice President Calviño’s then-husband worked, also fizzled out.
These affairs are therefore over. But the future seems the same: the judicial war between the two governments continues on the way to the elections.
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