The Diplomat in Spain

Former minister José Ignacio Wert

The Diplomat. Madrid

The PP accepted yesterday that the former minister of Education, Culture and Sport, José Ignacio Wert, explains, at the Congress of Deputies, his recent appointment as ambassador before the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), but they did not say when.

The appearance will take place “in the ordinary period of sessions”, which means at some point starting next week, although the date for the Parliament dissolution is not far from now, a step that Mariano Rajoy could take by the middle of October.

Socialist sources told The Diplomat that there would be time for one or two sessions at the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the Congress, where Wert would be subjected to questions asked by the deputies, since this body is the one authorized to receive the new ambassadors thanks to the law on Foreign Policy passed a year ago on the initiative of the current Government.

On 2 August, the PSOE had asked the Standing Committee, the institution replacing the Plenary of the Congress during the non-ordinary period of sessions, for the urgent appearance of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel García Margallo, to account for the reasons of the controversial appointment. They had also asked for Wert’s appearance, with the objective of him accounting for his work leading the Spanish Embassy of the OECD in Paris.

Both requests had the support of Izquierda Plural, CDC, Uniò and UPyD, but were rejected by the Standing Committee yesterday with the votes of the PP, which holds the absolute majority. In exchange, the spokesperson of the PP for this matter, Beatriz Rodríguez Salmones, accepted that Wert goes in “an ordinary period of sessions”, although the date is yet to be settled. For the moment, the Government has not communicated the Parliament Wert’s appointment, so his appearance cannot be requested, the aforementioned socialist sources highlighted.

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PSOE regretted Wert being rewarded “with a golden retirement in Paris as if it was a wedding gift”

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Rodríguez-Salmones emphasized that the position as head of the Spanish permanent delegation before the OECD is not a “bargain”, nor a “golden retirement”, and that his predecessor, Ricardo Díez-Hochleitner, “has killed himself with work” while he was in Paris.

On the contrary, the PSOE criticized “the wedding gift” that Rajoy gave to Wert after getting married in July with the one who was his number two at the ministry, Monsterrat Gomendio, who was given a position in May at the OECD. “They reward the worst of their ministries with a golden retirement to Paris as if it was a wedding gift”, the socialist Isabel Rodríguez regretted.