Spain Congress authorizes activities unrelated to its deputies: 15 lawyers, 29 teachers, 16 mayors and more than 50 councilors

Congress has approved the first round of authorizations so that deputies can combine the seat with other tasks, both political – positions in their parties or institutions (16 mayors and 51 councilors) – and private (lawyering, teaching, participation in societies , literary productions, talks or gatherings). In general, they may do so as long as they do not receive payment from the public sector or affect their parliamentary obligations.

The first opinion approved by the Commission on the Statute of the Deputy in this legislature, to which Europa Press has had access, grants these endorsements to 268 members of the Chamber, 76% of the total of 350 deputies. However, the report, which must soon be ratified by the Plenary, includes authorizations for people who have already left the seat due to having moved on to other responsibilities, such as the director of the Cabinet of the Presidency of the Government, Óscar López, or his number two, Antonio Hernando.

Only 31 parliamentarians have not declared any activity outside of Congress, of which twelve are from the PP: the fourth vice president of the Table, Marta González; the third secretary, Guillermo Mariscal; Carlos Aragonés, Bella Verano, Pablo Pérez Coronado, Cristina Teniente, Mercedes Fernández Cherines, Ricardo Tarno, Maribel Sánchez Torregrosa, Sergio Sayas, Sandra Moneo and Sandra Pascual.

There are also four from the PSOE (Susana Sumelzo, José Zaragoza, Ramón Gómez Besteiro and Antonio Hernando), three from Vox (its spokesperson Pepa Rodríguez de Millán, Alberto Asarta and Tomás Fernández Ríos) and two from Sumar (Nahuel González and Eloi Badia).

In the case of the PNV and Bildu, almost all of them do not declare any activity unrelated to the seat: four of the five the PNV – its spokesperson, Aitor Esteban, Mikel Legarda, Joseba Agirretxea and Begoña Sagastizabal -, and four of the six from Bildu -Mertxe Aizpurua, Jon Iñarritu, Iñaki Ruiz de Pinedo and Bel Pozueta-. The others are the former ERC councilor Teresa Jordà and the only deputy of the Navarro People’s Union, Alberto Catalán.

Those who do not report any activity are joined by another dozen who report that they have ceased their previous work and no longer have any other work. Here they include, from the PP, Marta Varela, who until August was director of Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s Cabinet; María Eugenia Carballedo and Pedro Ruiz Abrines, who were deputies in the Madrid Assembly; Joan Mesquida, who ran a hotel, or Juan Antonio Rojas, who took a leave of absence from his captain’s position on a shipping company.

Socialist Blanca Cercas renounced her retirement pension, while her partner María Adrio left the legal profession. The third vice president of Congress, Esther Gil, and Lander Martínez, from Sumar, also left their jobs. On her side, Isidre Gavín, from Junts, is on forced leave from his position as business director at the public company Cimalsa.

Compatibility has been granted to 16 deputies to maintain their mayorships: nine from the PP, six from the PSOE, and one from Junts, Josep María Cervera, in Port de la Selva (Girona). And another 51 people will also be able to combine their national and municipal minutes (20 from the PP, the same number from the PSOE, five from Vox, two from ERC -Gabriel Rufián, in Santa Coloma (Barcelona), and Inés Granollers in Bellpuig (Lleida)- , and one from Sumar, PNV (Maribel Baquero in Larraul, Guipúzcoa), Bildu, and CC (Cristina Valido, in El Rosario).

They are given permission as long as their municipal work does not undermine “the regime of absolute dedication to parliamentary tasks.” The majority declare that they will only receive per diems for attending plenary sessions, although there are four who have waived these compensations: the socialists Begoña Nasarre, mayor of Alcolea de Cinca (Huesca), Herminio Rufino Sancho, mayor of Mezquita de Jarque (Teruel) and Sergio Gutiérrez, councilor in Escalona (Toledo); and Macarena Lorente, from the PP, who is a councilor in Rota (Cádiz).

On their side, the ‘popular’ Tomás Cabezón, mayor of Castilfrío de Sierra (Soria) and Carlos Gil Santiago, mayor of Benavites (Valencia); the socialist Manuel Arribas, mayor of Sanchidrián (Ávila); The councilor of Bildu in Errigoiti (Vizcaya) Marije Fullaondo, and Vicenç Vidal, from Sumar, councilor of Esporles (Balearic Islands) say that they do not receive any remuneration, but do not specify anything about compensation. For her part, Socorro Cuesta, mayor of Espirdo (Segovia) does not give any details on this aspect.

And not only are they councilors from small municipalities, there are also those from several capitals such as Madrid (Marta Rivera de la Cruz, PP, third lieutenant mayor; Javier Ortega Smith, and Carla Toscano, Vox), Vigo (Irene Garrido, PP). ), Pamplona (Carlos Garcia Adanero, PP), Santander (Emilio Jesus of the Valley, Vox), Cuenca (Beatriz Jimenez, PP), Toledo (Miracles Tolon and Jose Manuel Velasco, PSOE); Huelva (Gabriel Cruz, PSOE); Guadalajara (Alberto Red, PSOE); Bajadoz, (Antonio Cavacasillas, PP), Real City (Ricardo Chamorro, Vox), Las Palmas (Andres Alberto Rodriguez, Vox), Valladolid (Mercedes Cantalapriedra, PP, and Oscar Puente, PSOE) and of large municipalities such as Badalona (Cristina Agüera). ); Marbella (Christopher Garre, PP, and Isabel Perez Ortiz, PSOE) or Fuenlabrada (Noelia Nunez, PP).

Of the group of deputies with municipal positions, only one person, Ana Martínez Labella, from the PP, reports that she has given up her deputy’s salary to earn money for her position as first deputy mayor and councilor of the Presidency of Almería.

Regarding political positions, in the PP Feijóo, Cuca Gamarra, Elías Bendodo, Miguel Tellado, Carmen Fúnez and Carmen Navarro charge representation expenses, while Juan Bravo speaks of “retribution.” Borja Sémper states that he was a party worker until August but does not report emoluments. They do get paid for their positions in Vox, its vice president Javier Ortega Smith, and the deputy secretaries María Ruiz, Manuel Mariscal and Ignacio Hoces.

Fifteen parliamentarians will be able to continue practicing law (eight from the PP, six from Vox and one from the PSOE); Twenty-nine will be teaching (12 from the PP, eight from the PSOE, four from Vox and five from Sumar), being paid in some cases, and about 80 will be able to participate in talks, media gatherings or make scientific or literary productions. Some report that they charge for these tasks and others for copyright, such as the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.

From the PP, Pilar Alía works as an economist (she has three companies), Pedro Navarro is a consultant (they have endorsement to do so without relating to the public sector) and Agustín Conde can work as a frigate lieutenant without pay, just like Maribel García López (PSOE) , as an athletics referee.

There are also 76 deputies who receive seniority benefits for their professional careers. There are 29 from the PP, among them Alberto Núñez Feijóo; many others from the PSOE, including several ministers such as Teresa Ribera, Margarita Robles and Fernando Grande Marlaska; eight from Sumar (like Agustín Santos or Marta Lois), six from Vox, two from ERC, one from Junts, and the BNG deputy, Néstor Rego.

Among the twenty who participate in companies are the ‘popular’ Esther Llamazares, who has nursing homes, or Mar Sánchez Sierra, who presides unpaid Inpronosa Inversiones; the socialist Joaquín Martínez Salmerón, joint administrator of recupera SL, or the deputies of Junts, Pilar Calvo and Eduard Pujol.

There are eight that have agricultural holdings, three of which receive European funds from the CAP – those of Pablo Hispán, Javier José Folch, of the PP, and that of Herminio Rufino Sancho, of the PSOE-. On her side, Minister María Jesús Montero has a place for rent.