Head of Valencia regional government spent three hours with a journalist on day emergency alerts were sent out late
A person raises a sign reading '20:12 very late! Mazón to prison' as dozens of protesters gather outside the Valencia parliament, where regional leader Carlos Mazón was speaking, on Friday. Photograph: José Jordán/AFP via Getty Imageshas claimed that an “information blackout” linked to the government in Madrid was to blame for delays in sending out emergency alerts.
and sparred with Mr Sánchez over the crisis, said that denying errors “would imply that we haven’t learnt anything”. But he gave no indication he would quit and sought to change the narrative in an address to the Valencian legislature on Friday. He spoke of a “two-and-a-half hour information blackout” until 6.43pm when the river basin authority finally sent an email to Valencia’s emergency committee about a “brutal” surge in the level of the Poyo river.
But a government official in Madrid said that while Mr Mazón was at lunch, the river basin authority sent 62 automated emails to Valencia’s emergency managers about the unusually high water levels. The official questioned whether Mr Mázon’s team was on top of the messages or capable of interpreting them.
The furore in Spain has spread to Brussels with conservatives holding up the formation of a new commission. The European People’s Party, the largest group in the EU assembly and which includes the Spanish PP, has said it will not approve Ms Ribera before she is due to appear in the Spanish parliament on Wednesday.
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