The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, attacked the left this Monday in one of its lines of action, the fight against sexist violence. On the eve of November 25, the day on which the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is commemorated, the popular councilor accused Más Madrid and the PSOE of not having made an institutional declaration this year by all municipal groups. “This year the left-wing groups have presented neither a declaration nor a proposal. I think it is a political failure,” he criticized. In response, the left claims that the City Council “silences” the opposition on the events organized for the 25N and criticizes the fact that the City Council has “vetoed its interventions”.
The spokesperson of the popular municipal group of the City of Madrid, Carlos Izquierdo, assured on Tuesday that, although the PP is willing to accept the institutional declaration, “the situation of the PSOE and Más Madrid makes it very difficult at this moment to talk about the issue of women”. The same argument that the leader of the municipal government will use shortly after: “Maybe they won’t present a proposal so that we don’t talk about anti-abuse bracelets or Ábalos, and the others so that we don’t talk about Errejón.” Almeida used the anti-abuse bracelet ruling that rocked the Ministry of Equal Opportunities in early November to divert attention from Vox’s controversial anti-abortion initiative, which the PP first supported and then distanced itself from, saying they “had made a mistake.”
The socialist spokesperson in the Consistory, Reyes Maroto, argued that the fact of not having presented an institutional declaration “is the fault of Vox’s denialism” and that the PP is making far-right agreements with the governments of the autonomous communities and municipal councils, such as that of the Valencian Community, where the People’s Party tried to reach an agreement with Vox on the candidacy for the presidency of the Generalitat of Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca, after the former president Carlos Mazón submitted his resignation, motivated by criticism of his management during the disaster that killed 229 people in October 2024.
The leader of the socialists of the capital criticized the fact that the municipal administration “took away the voice of the opposition groups” in the institutional event with which the Municipality of Madrid commemorated the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women this Monday, with the motto Gender violence destroys lives. Let’s listen to those around the victims. On the other hand, Maroto recalled that the PSOE will take an initiative on Tuesday in the plenary session of the City Council to propose to withdraw the draft Equality Strategy 2025-2028 and to launch “a new process so that its preparation guarantees effective participation, to guarantee the continuity, stability and strengthening of the Network of Equality Spaces”.
Más Madrid’s deputy spokesperson in the City Council, Eduardo Rubiño, also denounced that the City Council silenced the opposition during Monday’s event: “This city council decided, at a certain moment, to separate the groups and turn it into a partisan event to showcase the mayor.” Furthermore, he condemned that the right “has succumbed to a tendency that denies sexist violence” and recalled in his speech the 38 women killed by gender violence so far this year and the 1,333 since the official count began in 2003. “From the far right, sexist violence is denied and the problem is that the apparently moderate right of the PP follows the game and walks on that path.”
