The government delegate in the Community of Madrid, Francisco Martín, has contributed his vision on the lessons learned at the political level and within the Public Administration during the management of the pandemic, among which he has highlighted the observation that “in times of crisis, it is always the most vulnerable groups who suffer the worst.”
This is why, in the opinion of Francisco Martín, it is necessary to strengthen public services so that, in this way, “it is not, as always, the most exposed, weakest people, who pay the consequences of a health catastrophe such as Covid-19”.
The government delegate defended these ideas during his speech in the framework of the XXXIII Permanent Seminar on Administration and Public Economy: evaluation of the management of the Covid-19 pandemic in Spain, in which he shared with the attending students the challenges and challenges that he faced within the General Secretariat of the Presidency in those times of health crisis.
Lack of understanding
On the management of that crisis, he lamented what he called the “lack of openness” of some political leaders and some parties “that did not close ranks with the government to get out of the crisis, but, on the contrary, and in a scenario of uncertainty, raised issues outside the pandemic, thus subtracting energies to combat an unprecedented state of alarm in the country.”
He added that the government’s bet was to try to involve “all the administrations to minimize the existing differences, both in the management of the pandemic and in communication,” but that the understanding in this regard “did not happen.”
The government delegate has also been particularly critical of those who “took advantage of that uncertainty to enrich themselves with the commissions for shipments of health equipment, so necessary in the crudest moments of the pandemic.”
Research funded by European funds
The round table, moderated by Javier Lorente, professor of Political Science at the Rey Juan Carlos I University, was held at the Ortega–Marañón Foundation.
It has been organized by the Rey Juan Carlos University, through the Good Governance Observatory, which has conducted a research on the management of the Covid-19 pandemic in Spain within a project financed with European funds.