Sánchez calls out Ayuso over penthouse bought with public money

The political price of Ayuso's penthouse, according to Sánchez: "Madrid taxpayers' money"

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez launched an unusually blunt attack on Isabel Díaz Ayuso on Cadena SER radio on Monday. "This lady tried to buy herself a huge penthouse with Madrid taxpayers' money to live in, and she got caught," he said, making clear that the Madrid regional government's purchase and subsequent sale of the penthouse admits no charitable reading. His demand for accountability did not stop at the regional premier: Sánchez pointed at Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who had known about the deal since April, and accused the PP (Spain's main conservative party) of having "a problem of transparency, accountability and responsibility" that only gets worse with what he called "the funnel law" — rules that apply to others but not to them.

Official housing as a mirror

As Moncloa (the PM's office) fires away, the debate over the use of public resources to house politicians has reignited, with uncomfortable data on the table. Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz occupies a 443-square-metre residence; the regional leaders of the Basque Country, Catalonia or the Balearic Islands have palaces and complexes paid for by the public purse. The question is whether there is a difference between an institutional residence and a penthouse bought for private use with regional funds. The answer, judging by Sánchez's words, is that each side wants to apply its own yardstick. Meanwhile, the migration crisis in Ceuta and the scandals touching the president's own circle fuel a mutual blame game that blurs any real accountability. Until there is an independent investigation, the penthouse will remain the symbol of a political class that measures public money as it sees fit.