1 day Ago By ARA
Carlos Mazón is balancing his actions to avoid an awkward situation at the European People's Party (EPP) congress being held in Valencia, six months after the DANA (National Action Plan for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women). The Valencian president was absent on the first day of the meeting, arguing that he was dealing with the consequences of the power outage. However, on Tuesday night, he made a surprise appearance alongside Alberto Núñez Feijóo at a reception for key European conservative officials organized by Valencia City Council.
His presence was not scheduled, allowing him to avoid the demonstrations called for that day over the handling of the floods that left 228 dead in the Valencian Community alone. Feijóo was unable to avoid a photo with Mazón, who is highly criticized politically and has an open legal case affecting members of his government, although he managed to secure a photo opportunity away from the spotlight of the EPP congress and the protests. Both appear in the images published on the social network X by the mayor of the city, María José Català, together with the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, the future German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and the re-elected president of the EPP, Manfred Weber.
"We received the highest European authorities within the framework of the European People's Party (PP) congress in Valencia," Català wrote in his message, which was published late at night and in which he makes no direct mention of either Mazón—photographed with a big smile—or Feijóo, who remains in the background in the three images. Focusing on attacks on the Spanish government for its handling of this week's power outage, the conservative leader is trying to avoid being linked to the DANA tragedy, which he ignored this Tuesday in his speech to the EPP. Those who did remind the European politicians gathered in Valencia of the victims of the cold snap were the protesters at the two demonstrations that took place in the city during the day.
A small one at the gates of the Valencia Fair, the venue that hosts the congress, and a massive one next to the City of Arts and Sciences, where the European conservatives' gala dinner was held. Relatives of the DANA victims greeted them with shouts of "don't be complicit," referring to the conservatives' support in Mazón..
