Calviño claims not to have "pressured or stopped" the president of the INE

It declares itself "always absolutely aligned" with the positions of the Bank of Spain and denies pressure on the INE

MADRID, 29 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Vice President of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, stressed this Wednesday in the plenary session of Congress that she has not "pressured or stopped" any director of independent institutions, in the face of criticism from the PP, Vox and Ciudadanos after the recent resignation of the President of the National Statistics Institute (INE).

"So that there is no doubt: I have neither pressured nor dismissed the leader of any independent institution," said Calviño, who in the three questions of the control session to the Government in the Lower House has been accused of having forced the departure of Juan Rodríguez Poo as head of Statistics.

The economic vice president has also wanted to distance herself from any criticism of the governor of the Bank of Spain by the Government, assuring that it is an institution with which, she has said, she is "always absolutely aligned".

"Since he doesn't like the real data published by the INE, he has forced the exit of whoever prepares that data, looking for an INE 'à la carte', in the style of the Tezanos CIS", said the 'popular' Jaime de Olano.

For his part, Edmundo Bal, from Cs, has accused Calviño of "inventing a new" statistical method "to fit his political propaganda" and trying to "hammer in a reality that only lives in his brain, but does not in the pocket of the Spaniards".

The Vox spokesman, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, has speculated that, "since there will not be many professionals willing to risk their prestige", the Government "will end up placing any other Tezanos, someone who does not care about damaging the good name of another institution".

"This is a government that respects and supports the institutions. I would ask you not to make jokes or criticize the officials or the workers of the CIS and the INE, which are two institutions that I have always respected and defended," he replied to Espinosa the vice president.