Ayuso calls for political activists to be removed from institutions

The Madrid president demands a profound reset after conversations about the Plus Ultra airline bailout were revealed.

Generic image of a microphone on a podium.
IA

Generic image of a microphone on a podium.

The President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has demanded that "all political activists" be removed from institutions and that Spain be "restarted" from scratch.

The Madrid president stated this Sunday that Spain "needs to restart from scratch, from the root" after a report from the Economic and Fiscal Crimes Unit (UDEF) on the Plus Ultra case was made public. The leader expressed her position on social media after the UDEF revealed conversations among those involved in the alleged scheme being investigated by the National High Court, particularly regarding the participation of the former President of the Government in the airline's bailout during the pandemic.
"Spain needs to restart from scratch, from the root. Remove all political activists from institutions, eliminate all sectarian laws that go against rigor and reality, and radically reinforce the separation of powers," Ayuso wrote in her message.
The report submitted by the UDEF to the judge in charge of Central Court of Instance Number 2 details the analysis of a conversation from March 30, 2020, in the early days of the pandemic, between Plus Ultra executives Rodolfo Reyes and Julio Martínez Sola, the airline's current president.
Investigators emphasize in their analysis that the company's executives, which received a 53 million euro bailout in 2021, employed two channels of influence to achieve it: one through the former President of the Government and another through the then Minister of Transport.
In the examined conversations, those involved referred to the former President of the Government as a person "pro Sánchez and pro Maduro," according to the known information from the police report.