With the penthouse crisis, Alberto Núñez Feijóo has resorted to his political manual to face the challenges related to Isabel Díaz Ayuso: the main tactic, despite the internal discomfort, is to maintain balance. The leader of the PP has been very measured in his words about the controversial purchase by the Madrid Government of the luxury penthouse worth 6.3 million euros, whose use is still unclear, but Génova’s decision is to reduce the pressure on Ayuso despite the internal unrest over the “reputational damage to the PP brand” caused by this issue. “We would prefer to be talking about the Government,” they criticize Ayuso in Génova, although the leadership believes that the Madrid leader will be able to weather this crisis electorally because her opposition in Madrid is not strong. The PP leadership is trying to put the crisis behind them and now supports Ayuso’s explanations.
The party spokesperson, Borja Sémper, considered Madrid’s clarifications “reasonable” on Monday, despite the doubts that still persist about the operation, and clarified that Feijóo was only informed that a temporary location was being sought to house the offices of the Madrid presidency, but not that a luxury penthouse would be purchased. That meeting between Feijóo and Ayuso’s Government, which was made public a day later, took place on April 8, six days before the controversial purchase of the property.
Génova is trying to stop the storm while Feijóo maintains a calculated balance over a controversial operation surrounded by dark points. On one hand, the PP leader has kept his distance when he called on the “Heritage of the Community of Madrid” to explain why it acquired a penthouse worth 6.3 million euros to supposedly house the offices of Puerta del Sol temporarily when this property could only be used for residential purposes. With those words, in an interview released this weekend by Europa Press, Feijóo avoided a firm defense of the Madrid Government’s actions and chose to step aside, just as the national PP has done throughout the summer. Even Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, who is a friend of Ayuso, said in an interview with EL PAÍS that she still did not understand the operation. It is a tactical retreat.
But then, at the same time, Feijóo has supported Ayuso’s version (or alibi) when she said that the luxury penthouse was a “premises” (using language that downplays the importance of the property) that was purchased to house the temporary offices of Puerta del Sol during the upcoming remodeling works. Moreover, the PP leader claims he knew of that purpose since last April, which tries to reinforce the idea that there is nothing hidden. However, that version has significant gaps. If that were the case, it is not clear why other Community of Madrid facilities were not used or a real office rented, not a luxury penthouse opposite Ayuso’s mother’s house that is not suitable for hosting a workplace.
The national PP spokesperson clarified on Monday that Feijóo was informed by Puerta del Sol only of the intention to carry out works at the presidency headquarters and to seek another temporary accommodation last April. “In April, Feijóo knew that works were going to be done at the community headquarters because in the context of an informal meeting he was told: look, we are going to do some works here. Ah, very well. That is the information President Feijóo had, and since he hides nothing, unlike other political leaders, he told it that way,” Sémper clarified on Monday.
That meeting took place on April 8 at the Real Casa de Correos, the same morning Feijóo presented his fiscal proposal at an event organized by the Juan de Mariana Institute under the slogan You pay more, you receive less. Against Pedro Sánchez’s tax hell. At the meeting at Puerta del Sol, which was made public afterwards, Feijóo and his number two, Miguel Tellado, attended along with Ayuso and her entire Council of Government.
A spokesperson for the Madrid Government states that it was at that meeting that the reform was discussed, but claims to be unaware of the specific topics discussed, so cannot specify whether the purchase of the penthouse or only the planned works at Puerta del Sol were addressed. “It was a generic meeting,” this spokesperson points out, reports Lucía Franco. Génova also confirms that Feijóo received the information at that meeting, which took place exactly six days before the purchase of the penthouse. The national PP leadership insists that Feijóo was not informed that the luxury penthouse would be purchased. “None of that,” they emphasize.
That meeting between Feijóo and Ayuso’s Government was then presented as the first in a series of meetings of the PP leader with popular regional executives to address political priorities, but no further meetings of that nature with other communities have since emerged. The relationship between Génova and Ayuso’s cabinet is especially close: Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, chief of staff to the Madrid leader, advises Feijóo, with whom he maintains direct communication, which may also have influenced the PP leader’s position on the penthouse crisis. It is a different matter that it might not be bad for the popular leader if Ayuso weakens politically as an alternative to his leadership. But the opposition leader learned from the Pablo Casado crisis, who left Génova through the back door defenestrated by his own, that a direct confrontation with the Madrid president will never be convenient for him, for whatever may happen.
