“We are going to start with point number three, since the spokesperson for the mixed group has requested it, according to the spokesmen, for reasons of compatibility with their work.” This is how the Plenary session was opened this Monday by the president of the Parliament of Cantabria, Joaquín Gómez (PSOE), in reference to the accepted request of the deputy and spokesperson for Vox, Cristóbal Palacio. And it is that the Autonomous Chamber has altered the order of the day, with the connivance of the spokesmen of the different groups, at the request of the representative of the extreme right formation for “incompatibility” with his private work activity, despite the fact that, according to been able to know elDiario.es, has exclusive dedication.
The job compatibility of this deputy was already on the table ten months ago, when Parliament considered that his work in the private sphere as a lawyer was not compatible with absolute dedication, so he had to resign both her and the Spokesperson, position that is associated with it.
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After hearing the request of the Chamber, Palacio refused to resign as Spokesperson for the group and asked the Bureau of Parliament to continue exercising it, but with partial dedication and threatened to appeal to the courts if that possibility was not granted.
Since February, this body has not debated this matter and will do so precisely this Friday, as this media has learned, so that it will clarify whether Palacio should continue with exclusive dedication or if, on the contrary, he can maintain his position as spokesperson on time. part in politics in order to be able to work in the private sector at the same time.
All the same, the deputy from the far-right formation, during these 10 months in which his case has not been resolved, has received his full salary as a deputy and spokesman while he has continued to carry out his work as a lawyer.
Last Friday, he asked the Board of Spokespersons for a change in the agenda in order to defend a motion by his group, made up of him and another Vox deputy, on the possible location of the Vuelta Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) Ostrera on the Island of Monti. Palacio received the approval of the other spokespersons (PRC, PP, PSOE and Cs) and this Monday he intervened after 1:00 p.m. when that point was originally scheduled for 11 a.m., at the beginning of the session.
This newspaper has contacted Cristóbal Palacio to contrast his version and on two occasions he has defended that he has part-time dedication, despite the fact that the official document consulted by elDiario.es says the opposite: that the five spokespersons of the Autonomous Chamber have absolute dedication and charge as such, as established by the regulation.
Thus everything, Palacio has continued to defend that his salary is the same as that of the rest of the spokespersons for exercising that position, not for absolute dedication, despite the fact that if he had partial it would be lower, as observed in the same document. “The spokespersons charge for being spokespersons, not depending on whether we have absolute or reduced dedication,” he says.
However, after having spoken with this medium, which has contacted him to contrast his version on several occasions, Vox has sent a statement stating that this Monday his deputy has asked the Parliament Board for partial dedication, acknowledging therefore it had not done so until now, and blaming the rest of the political forces for wanting to “remove” its spokesperson, due to “the repercussions and initiatives” it presents.
