The Popular Parliamentary Group of the Madrid Assembly has proposed Diego Closet López and Antxón Sarasqueta González as members of the Telemadrid Board of Directors, according to what ABC has learned from parliamentary sources. The proposal has been registered today and responds to what marks the bill presented at the time by the PP to make changes to the law that regulates Telemadrid
Some changes that the popular want to speed up so that, before August, when the term of the current board of directors ends, the new members are already elected with the new law.
This procedure is part of the second reform that the popular have presented to the regional Chamber of the law that regulates radio television in Madrid.
The bill modifies the majorities necessary for the appointment of the members of the board of directors, which go from 9 to 5, and of the general director himself. In both cases, the percentage of two thirds is maintained in the first vote, but if a second vote is necessary, they will be elected by simple majority.
The Popular Group has guaranteed itself to have control of the voting, since only with the abstention of Vox can it carry out its initiative. However, the Abascal formation has not yet made a statement.
One of the circumstances that justifies this second change in the law, in the opinion of the popular, is the blockage that has occurred in the coverage of the vacancy of the journalist José Oneto, who died in 2019, on the board of directors of Telemadrid. “At first we thought that the majority system was good for reaching consensus, but in the end it has not worked, but only for a minority to block things, for example, the right to fill the vacancies that correspond to us and that have been vetoed. We continue with the same spirit of seeking consensus and never needing second rounds, but the blockade is going to end on the left, ”say popular sources.
Another of the causes that have led the popular to promote this second reform is that the management body of public television does not reflect the parliamentary majority of the Assembly. Neither Vox nor Más Madrid have representatives, and the PP does not have them in the proportion of the votes obtained in the last regional elections on May 4, 2021.
Antxón Sarasqueta is a journalist, writer, investigator and consultant with 50 years of experience in the world of journalism and national and international information. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of RTVE from 1996 to 2000 and a special advisor to the European Commission with the commissioner of the audiovisual sector.
Diego Armero López also has an extensive professional career and, among other positions, has been head of the national area and political correspondent, director of the Diario de América on Radio Exterior and director of the information services of Radio Nacional de España between 1996 and 1998 In the year 2000 he was appointed deputy director to the president of the ICO and advisor to its companies until 2004.
