‘I can not go on anymore’ Mazón resigns as Valencia president over dealing with of lethal 2024 floods
Resigning his put up, Mazón stated “I can’t go on anymore” as he lamented “brutal” criticism he confronted, whereas “acknowledging” errors made in an “unprecedented” scenario.
Valencia’s regional chief, Carlos Mazón, makes an official assertion on the Palau de la Generalitat Valenciana. {Photograph}: Eva Manez/Reuters
He additionally repeatedly attacked the central authorities for not providing sufficient assist to the flood-hit area.
However acknowledging his errors, he stated, in feedback reported by El País:
“I hope that when the noise dies down a bit, society will have the ability to distinguish between a person who has made a mistake and a foul particular person.”
He additionally didn’t say if he was calling a snap election or quitting his seat within the regional meeting, which might finish his parliamentary immunity, Reuters famous.
Count on extra questions on this and the sensible penalties of “what’s subsequent” to be raised on this through the day, as we hear the proof from Maribel Vilaplana, the journalist with whom he was consuming lunch on the day of the floods, testifying earlier than a choose investigating authorities’ felony legal responsibility for the deaths.
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Czech events signal coalition settlement amid controversy over overseas minister decide
Jon Henley
Europe correspondent
Elsewhere, Andrej Babiš, the billionaire populist whose get together received final month’s Czech election, presents his three-party, right-wing coalition immediately amid deepening controversy over a ministerial decide that would derail the federal government even earlier than iteven takes workplace.
Chief of the ANO motion, Andrej Babiš, holds a press convention at ANO headquarters after the polling stations of Czech elections closed in Prague, Czech Republic. {Photograph}: Anadolu/Getty Photographs
The Czech president, Petr Pavel, final week formally tasked Babiš, whose ANO (Sure) get together topped the 3-4 October vote with 34.5% and has 80 MPs within the 200-member parliament, with main talks to type the brand new authorities.
The previous prime minister, a polarising determine whose earlier 2017-2021 premiership sparked mass protests, has formally signed a coalition settlement with the right-wing Motorists for Themselves and far-right, EU-sceptic SPD simply moments in the past.
Nonetheless, a deepening controversy over Babiš’s deliberate decide for overseas minister, Filip Turek of the Motorists get together, might but throw a spanner within the works, with opposition events interesting to the president to not verify the nomination.
Czech media have uncovered quite a lot of overtly racist, sexist and homophobic social media posts – since deleted – allegedly made by Turek, an MEP and former racing driver, earlier than he entered politics. The posts are being investigated by police.
He has additionally been investigated over a picture showing to point out him making a Nazi salute, and over allegations by his former accomplice, who has accused him of abuse. Turek says the allegations are a part of a smear marketing campaign and denies all wrongdoing.
The Motorists get together chief, Petr Macinka, has threatened to stroll away from the coalition authorities – which might deprive Babiš of his parliamentary majority – if Turek is just not appointed overseas minister.
However Pavel, who should verify all ministerial appointments, has stated that if the social media posts are proved to be genuine, Turek could be disqualified from holding a any ministerial workplace.
The coalition settlement, printed within the Czech media on Sunday, anchors the nation in Nato and makes no point out of a possible “Czexit”, as proposed by the SPD, however guarantees a nation-first agenda prone to spark clashes with Brussels.
The doc stipulates that the EU “has limits” and mustn’t impose selections affecting “nationwide sovereignty”. It additionally envisages nearer cooperation with EU disruptors Slovakia and Hungary, and guidelines out adoption of the euro.
Migration and the surroundings appear set to be main bones of rivalry: the brand new cupboard rejects the EU’s migration and asylum pact, dismisses the Inexperienced Deal as “unsustainable”, and calls the deliberate 2035 phase-out of thermal vehicles “unattainable”.
Safety coverage, although, appears to be like roughly unchanged: the incoming cupboard says it’s going to keep alignment with Nato, participate totally in European air-defence initiatives, and assist diplomatic efforts to finish the conflict in Ukraine.
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German overseas minister attracts criticism for feedback on Syria returns
Deborah Cole
in Berlin
Elsewhere, Germany’s overseas minister, Johann Wadephul of the co-ruling Christian Democrats (CDU), made waves with feedback signalling a softer place on returns of Syrians who arrived through the 2015-16 inflow than espoused by a lot of the federal government
Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) assembly with German Overseas Minister Johann Wadephul in Damascus final week. {Photograph}: SANA/AFP/Getty Photographs
Wadephul, who visited Damascus final week on a Center East tour, sounded out of step with hardline officers pushing for mass expulsions when he famous the size of the destruction within the nation from the civil conflict and the continued instability in lots of areas.
“They can not return within the quick time period,” he stated of the lots of of hundreds of Syrians nonetheless in Germany. “Folks can hardly reside in dignity right here.”
Photographs on Wadephul’s Instagram account confirmed him strolling by means of the Harasta suburb northeast of the capital surrounded by a panorama of ruins.
The minister’s feedback drew sharp criticism from main Christian Democrats.
Parliamentary group deputy chief Günter Krings advised the mass-selling day by day Bild Wadephul’s argument that the diploma of destruction prohibited mass-scale deportations was “completely inappropriate”.
“In spite of everything, who is meant to rebuild a destroyed nation if not its personal residents?” he requested. “The Syrian civil conflict is over, and in massive components of the nation it’s now potential and affordable for the overwhelming majority of Syrians who left to return.”
Sven Schulze, the CDU chief within the jap state of Saxony-Anhalt, the place the far-right AfD is main within the polls forward of a state election subsequent yr, was additionally vital, saying he “can not perceive the overseas minister’s feedback”.
Inside minister Alexander Dobrindt of the CDU’s Bavarian sister get together, the Christian Social Union, famous the coalition had already agreed on a phased-in programme for returning Syrians “starting with felony offenders,” he stated by means of a spokesperson.
He made clear that he thought of Wadephul’s message unhelpful at a time when Berlin is searching for to agree such returns with Damascus.
Nonetheless main Social Democrats (SPD), junior companions within the authorities coalition, lent Wadephul assist, saying their parliamentary group shared his “evaluation that returns to Syria are solely potential to a really restricted extent at this time limit”.
Adis Ahmetovic, the group’s overseas affairs spokesperson, advised Bild: “The scenario within the nation stays unstable, massive components of the infrastructure have been destroyed, and a secure, dignified life is just not assured for many individuals there.”
The friction inside the authorities coincided with unease over the arrest in Berlin on the weekend of a 22-year-old Syrian nationwide for allegedly plotting an Islamist suicide assault in Germany. Police discovered bomb-making materials in his flat and a string of messages on social media espousing Islamic State group propaganda.
Critics of any wholesale expulsion of Syrians underscore not solely the nonetheless advanced safety scenario of their homeland but additionally the excessive diploma of integration in Germany many have achieved over the past decade.
Greater than 7,000 Syrian docs are employed in Germany, a lot of them in areas that had been underserviced beforehand, based on the German Medical Affiliation. Specialists be aware that their absence could be keenly felt all through the system because the German inhabitants quickly ages.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has made combating irregular immigration a precedence of his four-year time period as he seeks to beat again the rise of the anti-migrant, anti-Islam AfD, which is main in a number of nationwide opinion polls.
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Platform representing Valencia flood victims requires protests tonight
Ashifa Kassam
Individually, a platform representing victims of the floods has referred to as on folks to take to the streets of Valencia this night.
“We have a good time that Mazón is leaving, however with out forgetting that our issues proceed,” the organisation stated on social media. “Our greatest tribute to the 229 folks murdered is to proceed the combat.”
A person carrying a T-shirt which reads “229 victims, 0 accountable” in reminiscence of the 229 victims of the DANA within the Valencia neighborhood appears to be like on throughout an indication in Valencia, Spain. {Photograph}: David Ramos/Getty ImagesShareAshifa Kassam
Following Mazón’s announcement that he would go away his put up because the regional head of Valencia, questions are swirling as to what comes subsequent.
Mazón didn’t say if he was calling a snap election or quitting his seat within the regional meeting, which might finish his parliamentary immunity.
Broadcaster Cadena Ser stated it could now be as much as the pinnacle of the Valencian parliament, the far-right Vox politician Llanos Massó, to contact the assorted political events which have a presence in parliament and later put ahead a possible candidate to switch Mazón.
Throughout this time, sources from Mazón’s Folks’s get together advised newspaper El País that their understanding is that Mazón would keep on as performing head of the area.
Any substitute must be backed by parliament. If in two months, no candidate obtains the mandatory votes, early elections could be referred to as within the area.
ShareAshifa Kassam
Following Mazón’s speech, broadcaster Cadena Ser spoke with Rosa Álvarez, who heads an affiliation representing victims of the floods.
“It was a painful, indignant speech… He made himself out to be sufferer,” she stated.
She fought again tears as she described feeling as if Mazón had lengthy disregarded the large ache that she and others who misplaced their family members within the floods have been struggling.
Monday’s speech had bolstered this sentiment, because it had barely talked about the 229 individuals who have been killed, she stated. “It’s infuriating that he left this fashion.”
When requested if his resignation had helped to fix issues, Álvarez replied: “He didn’t resign. His get together didn’t power him to resign. We, the households of the victims and all of the individuals who supported us, compelled him to resign.”
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We’re getting some additional strains from Mazón’s assertion earlier immediately, the place he stated:
“I ought to have had the political imaginative and prescient to cancel my appointments and go to” the affected areas on the day of the catastrophe, Mazón stated.
President of Valencia’s Area Carlos Mazón offers a press convention to announce his resignation at Valencia’s Palau de la Generalitat. {Photograph}: José Jordan/AFP/Getty Photographs
“I do know I made errors. I acknowledge them and I’ll reside with all of them my life,” he added.
“I’ve requested for forgiveness, and immediately I repeat it once more. However none of them have been on account of political calculation or unhealthy religion.”
El País is reporting that after his resignation, Mazón intends to take a couple of days off, quoting a medical cause.
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Valencia chief Mazón’s resignation speech – in photos
Valencia’s regional chief, Carlos Mazón, walks together with the area’s vice-president, Susana Camarero, forward of creating an official assertion in Valencia, Spain. {Photograph}: Eva Manez/ReutersValencia’s regional chief, Carlos Mazón, reacts as he publicizes his determination to resign over his administration’s dealing with of catastrophic floods that swept over the area a yr in the past, on the Palau de la Generalitat Valenciana. {Photograph}: Eva Manez/ReutersValencia’s regional president, Carlos Mazón, speaks throughout a press convention held on the Authorities Palace in Valencia, Spain. {Photograph}: Biel Aliño/EPAShare
For extra on the anger in the direction of Mazón and the requires penalties after Spain’s worst pure catastrophe this century, it’s value studying this report from our Spain correspondent, Sam Jones.
Folks participate in a protest in opposition to Regional President Carlos Mazón’s dealing with of the storm DANA in Valencia, Spain. {Photograph}: Biel Aliño/EPAShare
‘I can not go on anymore’ Mazón resigns as Valencia president over dealing with of lethal 2024 floods
Resigning his put up, Mazón stated “I can’t go on anymore” as he lamented “brutal” criticism he confronted, whereas “acknowledging” errors made in an “unprecedented” scenario.
Valencia’s regional chief, Carlos Mazón, makes an official assertion on the Palau de la Generalitat Valenciana. {Photograph}: Eva Manez/Reuters
He additionally repeatedly attacked the central authorities for not providing sufficient assist to the flood-hit area.
However acknowledging his errors, he stated, in feedback reported by El País:
“I hope that when the noise dies down a bit, society will have the ability to distinguish between a person who has made a mistake and a foul particular person.”
He additionally didn’t say if he was calling a snap election or quitting his seat within the regional meeting, which might finish his parliamentary immunity, Reuters famous.
Count on extra questions on this and the sensible penalties of “what’s subsequent” to be raised on this through the day, as we hear the proof from Maribel Vilaplana, the journalist with whom he was consuming lunch on the day of the floods, testifying earlier than a choose investigating authorities’ felony legal responsibility for the deaths.
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Up to date at 03.59 EST
No Tomahawks for Ukraine, for now
Jakub Krupa
US president Donald Trump stated on Sunday that, for now, he isn’t contemplating a deal that will permit Ukraine to acquire long-range Tomahawk missiles to be used in opposition to Russia, Reuters reported.
President Donald Trump is illuminated by a digicam flash as he walks throughout the South Garden of the White Home. {Photograph}: Mark Schiefelbein/AP
“No, probably not,” Trump advised reporters as he flew to Washington from Palm Seashore, Florida, when requested whether or not he was contemplating a deal to promote the missiles. He added, nonetheless, that he might change his thoughts.
His feedback come regardless of rising stress from Ukraine’s allies and up to date talks with Nato’s secretary normal, Mark Rutte, on the White Home. On Friday, Rutte stated the problem was underneath evaluate, and that it was as much as the US to determine.
Over the weekend, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy pointedly thanked Germany and chancellor Friedrich Merz – in German – for supply of two extra air defence Patriot methods, as promised earlier this yr.
He stated:
“Russian airstrikes are Putin’s essential stake on this conflict – by means of terror he tries to compensate for his incapacity to attain his insane objectives on the bottom. Subsequently, each strengthening of our air defence actually brings us nearer to the top of the conflict that we’re all ready for. The much less Russia achieves, the larger its motivation might be to finish the conflict.”
I can even regulate different information tales in Europe for you, together with the political aftermath of the lethal floods within the Valencia area of Spain after the primary anniversary final week, the newest from anti-government protests in Serbia, and the coalition talks within the Czech Republic.
It’s Monday, 3 November 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa right here, and that is Europe Stay.
Good morning.
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Up to date at 03.48 EST
Valencia chief resigns over dealing with of final yr’s lethal floods
Sam Jones
in Madrid
Carlos Mazón, the embattled president of the jap Spanish area of Valencia, has bowed to public fury and political stress by resigning over his botched dealing with of the lethal floods that killed 229 folks within the space simply over a yr in the past.
President of Valencia’s Area Carlos Mazon offers a press convention at Valencia’s Palau de la Generalitat. {Photograph}: José Jordan/AFP/Getty Photographs
Mazón, a member of the conservative Folks’s get together (PP), hadvert held on regardless of requires him to face down after it emerged that he spent greater than three hours having lunch with a journalist because the floods hit and folks have been drowning of their houses, garages and vehicles.
His cussed refusal to stop had prompted a sequence of huge demonstrations throughout Valencia, many underneath the slogan: “Mud on our fingers, blood on his”. A latest survey discovered that 75% of Valencians believed Mazón ought to stop.
Protesters maintain masks depicting Valencia’s regional President Carlos Mazón. {Photograph}: Biel Aliño/EPA
Mazón had beforehand insisted there was “no authorities on this planet that has the instruments to change, cease or keep away from an episode of torrential rains that find yourself pummelling historic rainfall data in a given space at a given time”.
However on Monday, Mazón yielded to the inevitable and introduced that he would abandon the regional presidency.
Spanish floods: earlier than and after footage reveals the size of destruction in Valencia – videoShare
