The political controversy continues in the Alicante City Council following the family foster care leave enjoyed by the spokesperson for Esquerra Unida Podem. The Social Security has decided to demand the reimbursement of 1,411.10 euros received as a birth and childcare benefit.
This direct contribution from the Social Security covered the period between January 10, 2025, and February 15 of the same year. However, the state body interprets that the reincorporation to his responsibilities as councilor occurred on February 5, ten days earlier, according to the communication sent by the Alicante City Council. Therefore, Social Security considers that the councilor would have unduly received that money.
The councilor filed allegations against the first communication from Social Security, but his arguments have not been taken into account, and the reimbursement claim remains, unless an appeal process is initiated before the courts. The councilor maintains that this claim stems from an institutional confrontation with the mayor, which would have materialized in a letter from the Human Resources department to Social Security informing about the date of his reincorporation.
“"The ruling by the Superior Court of Justice (TSJCV) itself makes it clear that attending a plenary session and exercising representative functions cannot be considered labor activity, but rather the exercise of a fundamental right enshrined in Article 23 of the Constitution."
The councilor denies having engaged in political activity on February 6, stating that on that day he remained in the Elda hospital for family reasons. Furthermore, any communication sent that day was managed by the municipal group's staff without his direct intervention. The councilor considers the situation contradictory: "First I am prevented from participating on behalf of an alleged leave, and then they try to argue that I was working. You cannot defend one thing and the opposite as politically convenient."
Sources from Esquerra Unida Podem believe that "Alicante does not deserve a government focused on persecuting the opposition while the city faces problems of housing, cleanliness, transport, and inequality between neighborhoods." For his part, an assistant spokesperson for the Popular Party (PP) government team and Human Resources councilor, has indicated that the TSJ ruling in favor of the councilor is not final and that the municipal Legal Advisory department continues to assess the possibility of filing an appeal before the Supreme Court (TS).
