Álvaro García defends himself against the criticism of PP, Vox and Cs, who make him ugly for being "a clone" of Delgado and his "affinity" with the PSOE

It is committed to the FGE acting with more transparency: "We will try to ensure that the attorney general is not the Sun King"

MADRID, 28 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The candidate for state attorney general, Álvaro García Ortiz, has claimed this Thursday in the Congress of Deputies his worth to occupy the position in the face of criticism from PP, Vox and Ciudadanos, who have accused him of being "a clone" of his predecessor, Dolores Delgado, have criticized his "affinity" with the PSOE for attending an event with Galician socialists and have disgraced the position of the Prosecutor's Office in the 'Miguel Ángel Blanco' and 'Stampa' cases.

García Ortiz has appeared before the Justice Commission as part of the legally established process to be confirmed as Attorney General of the State, a procedure that the first vice president of said Commission, the 'purple' deputy Roberto Uriarte, has considered evacuated, announcing that thus They will be transferred to the president of the Lower House, Meritxell Batet, so that she can in turn notify the Government.

The hearing has been marked by the accusations made by PP, Vox and Ciudadanos, who have made it clear that they do not consider that García Ortiz, until now head of the Technical Secretariat of the State Attorney General's Office (FGE), is the right person to lead the Public Ministry when estimating that it does not comply with due impartiality, autonomy and neutrality with respect to the Government.

"You have been Delgado's right hand, left hand and 'alter ego'", said the PP deputy Luis Santamaría, who has come to brand García Ortiz as a "clone" of the resigned attorney general, whom he has blamed of "one of the blackest stages of democracy" as far as the FGE is concerned. In his opinion, this proximity between the two makes him "partly responsible for the discredit of the institution."

Along the same lines, the Vox deputy, Javier Ortega Smith, has argued that the fact of having as "cover letters" being "the candidate of Pedro Sánchez and the godson of Dolores Delgado" means that he lacks "any requirement of impartiality " and the "minimum suitability" to hold the position.

"I would have liked you to be an indisputable person (...), that nobody would say that you are related to the PSOE, and that you were and will continue to be Delgado's right hand, a person who should never have been the attorney general," he said. , for his part, the deputy of Ciudadanos Edmundo Bal, to conclude that García Ortiz "does not have that image" of impartiality, neutrality and independence that the position requires.

The candidate has wanted to make it clear that he is not "number two" in the prosecutorial career, but "simply" the head of the Technical Secretariat, a job that he has recalled that others have done before, including the TS magistrate Manuel Marchena, " at the service of the attorney general. "On them there will be no mantle of suspicion (...), what I do not understand is why I am going to be different," he pointed out, to add: "What I do not understand is how evil Delgado is" for some.

However, he has admitted that, although in our model it is up to the Government to appoint the attorney general, it can be improved through legal reform, which -- he has underlined -- is the task of the Cortes Generales. In any case, he has committed to greater transparency in the actions of the FGE: "We will try to ensure that the attorney general is not the Sun King."

Santamaría has also accused him of breaching the Organic Statute of the Public Prosecutor's Office (EOMF) for attending an event organized in Galicia by the Ideas Foundation, linked to the PSOE. "He has made it very clear what his affinity and connection with a certain party is," said Ortega Smith.

García Ortiz has responded that he understands that it has "bothered" them that he went to "an act with PSOE logos", although he has stressed that he did not breach the EOMF because he asked for permission from the Tax Inspectorate and it was granted, while at the same time emphasizing that prosecutors also have freedom of expression, criticizing that this right is recognized "for one sector and not for another." Likewise, he has stressed that forest fires were discussed at the event.

Another focus of criticism has been the position of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the National High Court (AN) in relation to the investigation against the former heads of ETA for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murder of the 'popular' councilor Miguel Ángel Blanco. Bal has reproached him that, if there were "doubts" about whether the facts could be prescribed, he should have positioned himself "on the side of the victims", not of "the executioners", the same criticism that Vox and PP have launched at him.

In this regard, he has assured that "no guidelines of any kind have been given, much less of a political nature" to assess the prescription, stressing that the Prosecutor's Office has supported the reopening of this and other cases against former ETA leaders and in that we are not yet at the "opportune" procedural moment to talk about the expiration of crimes. In any case, it has announced that the matter will be raised to the Board of Prosecutors of the Chamber to set criteria.

Likewise, Santamaría and Bal have highlighted that seven members of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) cast a private vote rejecting their suitability, among other issues, for the management of the 'Stampa case'. In the reply, García Ortiz has pointed out that another twelve voted in support of him and has accused the seven members of crossing the "red line" for talking about a case that is still going on in court. "I felt like I was in a court of honour," he lamented.

However, he has gone to the heart of the matter to affirm that "there is nothing to criticize" in his actions, arguing that if his "recommendations" had been followed earlier in the internal investigations into Stampa, "if that instruction had been done correctly "It would have ended sooner.

In addition, the PP has asked him if he shares Sánchez's opinion regarding the former Andalusian presidents convicted by the ERE, Manuel Chaves and José Antonio Griñán, that "just pay for sinners" and if "the rush" of the Government to "occupy the Constitutional Court" have to do with a possible suspension of the entry into prison of the second, with whether "the pardon is being prepared" for both. Bal, for his part, has advocated reforming the law to prohibit pardons for corruption and for attacking territorial unity.

PP and Vox have also wanted to know what the "dejudicialization" of the "conflict" in Catalonia will mean, something on which the candidate has not spoken. "Will there be impunity for those who promote coups d'état, are you going to promote pardons so that the cowardly fugitives do not appear?" Ortega Smith snapped.

From another perspective, Jon Iñárritu (Bildu) has raised it, who has asked to resolve these "conflicts" with "politics"; Josep Pages (Junts), who has urged that "the FGE stop promoting judicial set-ups against the Catalan independence movement"; Genís Boadella (PDCat), who has urged to "lift the request of the accelerator of this premeditated action in the 'procedures'"; and Jaume Asens, from United We Can, who has demanded to put aside the "judicialization of politics".

The deputies of Bildu and Catalan parties have also urged him to get to the bottom of the investigations into the alleged espionage with Pegasus and have drawn his attention to the "sewers" of the State, something that Asens has also warned about for his intervention to "manufacture evidence" against the 'dwelling' formation.

The hearing has also served for García Ortiz to present his project, with which he has promised to reinforce the autonomy of the FGE and the "right to disagree" of the prosecutors; make the gender perspective "transversal"; strengthen the protection of minors and victims of trafficking; "redefine" the AN so that it adds to its anti-terrorist specialization the fight against corruption, drug trafficking and organized crime; and being attorney general for "all prosecutors."