Felipe González defends Griñán after the ruling of the ERE: "I would appoint him minister again"

MADRID, 8 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former Prime Minister Felipe González acknowledges having received with "perplexity and pain" the decision of the Supreme Court ruling that condemns the socialist José Antonio Griñán to prison terms for the ERE case and comes out in defense of his "irreproachable moral integrity ", for which he assures that if he had the opportunity to appoint him a member of a government that he presided over, he would do it again.

In a statement collected by Europa Press, the former president thus comes out in defense of Griñán, who was part of his Government as Minister of Health between 1992 and 1993 and later as head of the Labor and Social Security portfolio between 1993 and 1996.

"I want to state that if I could designate him today to be part of a Government of Spain that I presided over, I would do it again," González guarantees, alluding to the "competence and intellectual capacity" of the one who later became president of the Andalusian Government.

In the statement, it also highlights Griñán's "vocation for public service" with the aim of "improving the lives of the majority and promoting coexistence in democracy and freedom", in addition to his "impeccable moral integrity".

The former president clarifies that his commitment to the Constitution has always led him to abide by the decisions of the courts, even more so those of the Supreme Court, but he insists that, although he does not know the arguments that have led to his conviction, he does know "thoroughly to Griñán.

"The knowledge of the person leads me to consider it impossible for him to be considered guilty of a crime of embezzlement and, therefore, unjustly sentenced to prison for it," he affirms, advancing that he will rule "respectfully" on the content of the sentence once once it becomes public.

The spokeswoman for the PSOE, Pilar Alegría, has already vindicated the "honesty" of both Griñán and his predecessor on the Board, Manuel Chaves, and stressed that none of them had kept "not a penny" of public funds.

The head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, also maintained that in this case "the just are paying for sinners", affecting an issue in which "there was no personal enrichment" and instead "there were resignations more than five years ago assuming their political responsibilities," he stressed.