The former ‘popular’ president of the Community of Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, has sparked a huge controversy after her statements to the media imitating the Andalusian accent of the minister María Jesús Montero, referring to the Catalan ‘quota’.
“The Minister of Finance says, ‘what she says, what she says and not what you say’,” Aguirre told reporters, referring to Montero’s way of speaking, typical of Andalusia.
The Board defends itself
The Minister of Economy, Finance and European Funds and spokesperson for the Andalusian Government, Carolina España (PP-A), has claimed this Tuesday the Andalusian accent: “The Minister of Finance may have other problems, but it is not the Andalusian accent for which she must be criticized,” said the spokesperson for the Junta in response to questions from journalists at the press conference following the weekly meeting of the Andalusian Government Council.
Along these lines, Carolina España has declared herself “very proud of her Andalusian accent.”
“Lack of respect for the Andalusians”
The spokesperson for the Vox group in the Andalusian Parliament, Manuel Gavira, accused Aguirre on Tuesday of having committed “a tremendous lack of respect towards all Andalusians.”
Manuel Gavira has argued that Andalusians have a “peculiarity in speaking” and that Andalusia is “a very rich land” where “everyone has a different accent”, and he has considered that Esperanza Aguirre has incurred in “a tremendous lack of respect for all Andalusians” regarding the accent.
“I think it’s very ugly, and I hope someone tells that lady that Andalusia is a serious land, and that we don’t deserve someone like that to act nice to us,” added the Vox spokesperson in the Andalusian Parliament before concluding by calling Aguirre’s behaviour “shameful” and saying that it makes him “very ashamed.”
The Andalusian left calls for the “reproach” of Aguirre
The leaders of Adelante AndalucÃa, the PSOE-A and Izquierda Unida have reproached Juanma Moreno’s PP for not criticizing a “mockery” of the Andalusian accent of their party colleague.
Specifically, the spokesperson for Adelante AndalucÃa in the Andalusian Parliament, José Ignacio García, has called for the “reproach” of the former Madrid president in the autonomous chamber for “making fun of the Andalusian accent”, and has asked the president of the Junta and the Andalusian PP to come out and “paint the face of that lady” and go out to “defend the Andalusians”.
“If a Catalan politician had done this on TV3, today we would have an extraordinary meeting by Mr. Moreno Bonilla and he would activate his entire propaganda machine,” he said, adding that “since a leader of the Popular Party from Madrid has done it, they are not going to say absolutely anything here.”
Aguirre’s statements have also provoked a reaction from the secretary general of the PSOE-A, Juan Espadas, who has indicated that Juanma Moreno “knows well” that the PP has “a long tradition of classist disrespect towards our Andalusian accent and, in general, towards our culture and idiosyncrasy.”
“Unfortunately, insults and disqualifications against those who do not think like you happen every day, but this makes it even more regrettable,” said Juan Espadas on the social network X, where he accompanied this message with a video of Esperanza Aguirre’s statements.
Likewise, the general coordinator of IU, Toni Valero, has reproached Juanma Moreno, also through a message on X, for not having “come out to reproach his party colleague for having mocked the Andalusian accent”, demonstrating that “his beating of the chest with the Andalusian flag is pure imposture”.
