Ricardo Costa remains General Secretary of the PP in Valencia

Ricardo Costa remains General Secretary of the PP in Valencia
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By h.b. - Oct 13, 2009 - 8:06 PM

Ricardo Costa arriving at the meeting of the Valencia PP - EFE

The region's number two said he would stand down temporarily only if there was an internal investigation into the Gürtel affair

All political eyes were on Valencia on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the meeting of the PP regional executive when the Regional Party Secretary, Ricardo Costa, was expected to be temporarily sacked as a consequence of the revelations in the case summary of the Gürtel case. The intention had been made public on Friday night by Francisco Camps, the PP President of the Valencia region.

However events took a different turn on Tuesday morning when Ricardo Costa made it clear in a statement that he had no intention of resigning, saying he had done nothing more than follow the instructions of Camps and the national party leader, Mariano Rajoy. He suggested Rajoy carried out an internal investigation if he had any doubts to his honesty, and noted that the Orange Market company, one of those linked to Francisco Correa at the centre of the affair, had been taken on by the PP well before his arrival, and that he had never received any instructions not to deal with them.

Following that statement the PP went into press shut down; Francisco Camps made no statement, both María Dolores de Cospedal and Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría cancelled their normal press conferences, and nobody knew where Mariano Rajoy was.

Camps arrived for the executive meeting at 6,25pm, avoiding the press, as did others attending.

Finally after an hour long meeting the press was told that

Ricardo Costa (left) and Francisco Camps (right) clap each other at the end of the Regional Executive Meeting - EFE

Ricardo Costa had agreed that he would stand down as General Secretary only if the National Party sets up an internal commission to investigate the financing of the party. This means that once the National Party decides to do that, Costa will stand down for the duration. However until that decision is made he remains as the PP General Secretary for the Valencia region.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, Ricardo Costa declared, ‘My wish as a PP activist is that if Camps has any doubts about my management, that an investigation be opened. And if one is opened, I will present my resignation. I have asked therefore that if this internal commission is not opened, that my post as General Secretary of the PP in Valencia be ratified. I will continue as the PP’s parliamentary spokesman. I am at the disposition of the national party. I hope the national party considers that the explanations I gave this morning are sufficient, I have not heard Señor González Pons ask for my head’.

El País considered that was the result of a deal made between Ricardo Costa and his friend Francisco Camps, which effectively showed his loyalty is to Camps and not to Mariano Rajoy.

Camps called for unity and for an acceptance of the conditions demanded by Costa. He said that Costa would cease his functions ‘for the period of time that the National Party considers it opportune’.

As for the National Party headquarters in Calle Génova in Madrid; they released a press release saying that Camps had told them that they had agreed in Valencia to temporarily suspend Costa, but that statement then had to be corrected by the party in Valencia.

El Mundo sums up the confusion with the headline, ‘Camps does not dare to push out Costa, but Rajoy considers him sacked’.

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