The Floodgates Have Opened: Political Responses To Crisis in Valencia
Photo Courtesy: Free Malaysia Today
In the wake of October’s catastrophic floods, Spanish politicians are scrambling to delete a digital footprint of incompetence. But their tracks are already left in the mud of Valencia’s streets.
Blame is being triangulated across the Spanish political spectrum. From King, to regional President, to Socialist government, all levels of Spanish authority face allegations of neglect and incompetence. But for the families of victims, the political affiliation of leaders is superfluous. Rather, the polarisation of these political coalitions is what matters. Such division diverts attention away from a universal solution and compounds the consequences of the climate crisis. If this continues, no government will ever be prepared for a disaster like this again.
Immediate displays of unity shown after the floods rapidly deteriorated as leaders anticipated calls for accountability. Responding to accusations that many deaths were ‘avoidable,’ Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez redirected blame towards the regional Valencian authorities and the inevitable consequences of climate change. Yet one act of political defence spawned more accusations from his right wing opponents. A column in ABC newspaper accused Sanchez of utilising climate change as a reason for the deaths of 220 citizens; he supposedly absolved himself of responsibility by blaming a larger, but less tangible, issue.
The Prime Minister sits within a larger web of political infighting that has only become more defined in recent weeks. Sanchez has pointed the finger at Carlos Mazón, Valencia’s regional President and member of the right wing People’s Party (PP). His hesitant response has been cited as crucial to the region's high number of deaths. The Valencian authorities failed to send out texts to residents warning them to stay home until after 8pm on the first night of rainfall. More damning was the, now deleted, video of Mazón declaring that the rain would ease up by the evening, a mere 7 hours prior. Rushing to relocate responsibility, Mazón has turned towards the Military Emergency Unit (UME) and state meteorological agency, AEMET. Each figure in this crisis proliferates more excuses and scapegoats.
Head of the UME, Javier Marcos, has responded to Mazón’s claims of incompetency, stating that any slowness to act reflects on the regional government’s stalling. Lacking an explicit request from Mazón’s government to deploy emergency services, Marcos’ hands were tied. Another channel of blame flows from Valencian authorities to AEMET, with the former arguing that the information provided by the meteorological agency was misleading. A red alert on the morning of the disaster of severe weather was perhaps too little, too late. Anger in Spain’s streets extends to those ostensibly above politics; Valencian citizens hurled accusations of ‘murderer’ at King Felipe VI when he visited the Paiporta days after the floods. For them, any symbol of Spanish authority has blood on their hands.
Yet this game of political ping pong is redundant in the broader arena of climate change. It distracts from the reality that we are not prepared for an increasingly volatile climate, or the implications of a 1.5 degree temperature increase above pre industrial temperatures. Addressing the European Commission last month, President Ursula Von De Leyen insisted that ‘preparedness’ must become a part of ‘the underlying logic of all our actions’ in our navigation of the climate crisis. Yet, perversely, leaders have pushed the climate to the periphery of debate in the aftermath of the flood. Attention focused on immediate accountability and reparations, and on an acute instance of disaster rather than solutions with longevity. Instead of gaining clarity on sustainable goals moving forward, onlookers have developed whiplash from the number of accusations launched back and forth between Spanish leaders.