González, Clegg's spouse: “Snchez should blame himself for not having implemented the British ethical system” | EUROtoday

Miriam GonzalezSpanish lawyer and government, spouse of the previous British Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Cleggdefends the British system to keep away from conditions just like the one skilled Pedro Sanchez and that the Spanish socialist was capable of resolve, in his opinion…

This Sunday Miriam González indicators an article in Financial Times by which he maintains that the dearth in Spain of an “independent body” as exists within the United Kingdom to stop instances resembling that of Begoa Gmez, the spouse of the President of the Government, provokes suspicions that might have been prevented. She titles it: “The Sánchez case shows how the lack of an ethical code in Spain leaves everyone exposed.” In his opinion, “as the Gómez case demonstrates, having a framework of ethical standards is not only good for society, but also protects politicians and their families. Sánchez blames the opposition and the extreme right for public pressure.” about his spouse. But he must also blame himself for not having put in place a system that might have protected her.“. With a clear system, it is possible that Gómez would have avoided dealing with companies in need of support or public tenders and Sánchez would have inhibited himself from making decisions about them.

What system? “If Gomez have been the spouse of a British Prime Minister, the allegations would have been simply resolved by the Ethics Office. below the UK ministerial code of ethics. How it occurred with Cherie Blair, and even myself “When my husband was deputy prime minister in the coalition government, the Office would have ensured the existence of a preventive system to recuse the prime minister from any decision that could be directly or indirectly related to his wife's work,” says Clegg's partner. She has been accountable for business and European regulation on the Cohen Gresser regulation agency and is a director of assorted corporations.

“In Spain there is no such system. We do not have a credible Ethics Office that shows its teeth. In its place, we have an obsolete Conflicts Office whose lack of independence and autonomy is criticized by the EU and the Council of Europe year after year. And surprisingly, the Conflict Office only considers that a conflict occurs when there is a direct commercial relationship between family members and companies, without covering the risk of indirect gain,” he criticizes. In the United Kingdom there has additionally been controversy over the motion of the battle of curiosity supervisors, however for Gonzlez they offer extra ensures than what exists in Spain.

The Spanish lawyer assures that “Snchez is understandably distressed by the pressure his wife is under. But in Spain there is no effective system to deal with conflicts of interest of relatives and spouses of politicians. Thus, it is inevitable that this matter ends up being resolved in the political arena and in the courts, instead of through a more discreet process, which is where it belongs.” In his opinion, though the accusations are “tenuous” in prison issues , “there is little doubt that there is an appearance of lack of probity on the part of Gmez “accused of writing letters of advice to corporations in public tenders.”

The wife of the former British liberal politician – he is currently a senior manager at Meta – criticizes the disappointment in terms of regeneration that the leader of the PSOE has caused. “Snchez got here to energy in 2018 after the conservative authorities of Mariano Rajoy didn’t survive a movement of censure linked to a corruption case by which some officers from his social gathering have been implicated. At that point, it appeared that Spain was lastly going to have a contemporary Government dedicated to establishing a transparent framework of guidelines on integrity.. But after virtually six years within the Government, Sánchez's file on this subject is non-existent“.

In his opinion, “conflicts of curiosity will not be the one space of ​​ethics by which Spanish coverage is behind nations just like the United Kingdom. In Spain we don’t actually have a ministerial code of ethics. Our ministers don’tor they’ve an obligation to not knowingly lie in Parliament. “We do not have a system to control that ministers do not flood the administration with political advisors.”

And he provides: “We do not have regulations that limit the use of ministerial houses or official planes. We do not have legislation on pressure groups. We do not have regulations that oblige officials to be present at ministerial meetings in which debate government issues. And, of course, we do not have an independent ethics body, as in the British system. This lack of comprehensive ethical standards is a perpetual problem in Spanish politics.. But politicians have made no attempt to solve it.”