World
Torres called for regulating gifts to officials after controversy over Zapatero's jewelry
The Minister for Territorial Policy called for common rules and greater transparency regarding gifts to public officials. He did so when asked about the jewelry José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said he received from the Saudi king in 2007.
Spain’s Minister for Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, raised the need to establish common rules for gifts received by public officials, amid the controversy over the jewelry José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero declared before the courts he had received from the King of Saudi Arabia during a visit to Spain in 2007.
According to ABC España and Europa Press, based on an interview on La Radio Canaria, Torres said a debate had opened over this type of gift and argued that regulation should be the same for all administrations, with transparency on the part of public representatives.
In that context, the minister compared the issue with the case of a “box of typical products” handed to an official for consumption and raised the question of what should be done in situations of that kind. He also declined to say whether he would have kept the jewelry in a similar situation and limited himself to insisting that regulation is needed.
He also said it will be necessary to wait for the progress of the judicial case in which the former head of government is being investigated in the context of the Plus Ultra bailout, so that situations like this do not happen again.
El Mundo added that rules already exist in Spain on the receipt of gifts by senior officials and members of the government. According to that outlet, both the Public Administrations’ Assets Law and the Code of Good Governance and the Transparency Law provide that gifts received because of the office, if they exceed the usual standards of courtesy or cannot be refused, must be declared and become part of the state’s assets.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this fact.
