Heated debate: Madrid politicians go on the attack after revelations that they are demanding energy aid from the government

WHEN NEWS broke out on Wednesday that the deputy prime minister of the Community of Madrid was claiming benefits to help pay his heating bills, despite earning almost 105,000 euros a year, left-wing parties were clamoring for him to resign. But since then it has emerged that the spokesperson for the Más Madrid group, Mónica García, is also benefiting from the government’s gift.

“I recognize the mistake and I don’t like it,” Garcia said Thursday. ‘I think this is regressive assistance that is not reaching vulnerable people but those who do not need it. I am going to do everything in my power to return it,’ he added, in statements collected by Europa Press.

The controversy began earlier this week, when the online newspaper Info Libre revealed that Enrique Ossorio, of the conservative Popular Party (PP), had demanded 195.82 euros to help him with his energy bills. He not only receives the aforementioned six-figure salary, but he is the Madrid deputy with the greatest financial wealth: 1.8 million euros, including a flat valued at about 400,000 euros.

The benefit he has claimed was introduced by the central government to help Spaniards deal with rising energy costs and is designed for ‘vulnerable consumers’. She was able to claim it since she has four children, two of whom are still studying under her care.

Is this state like large familyor a large family, which saw not only Ossorio receive the subsidy but also García.

She told Cadena SER radio station that the payment was “automatic, we didn’t ask for it.” She also argued that “the difference” between her and Ossorio is that “he believes that he deserves it, and I believe that if he had known, he would have returned it and that is what I am going to try to do.”

The issue has been at the center of today’s debate in the regional parliament of Madrid, which has seen the leader of the Socialist Party (PSOE), Juan Lobato, accuse Ossorio of being a “vampire” who takes advantage of public aid that does not needs.

The regional president, for his part, accused García of being a “hypocrite.” “You have to ask the vice president of Madrid to accept your apology,” Isabel Díaz Ayuso told Mónica García during the heated debate.

Read more: