Valencia councillor caught shopping online at meeting about flood relief funds
Valencia councillor caught shopping online at meeting about flood relief funds
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José Marí Olano from People’s party says sorry after cameras appear to capture him scrolling through wines. A People’s party (PP) politician in the city of Valencia has apologised after cameras appeared to capture him shopping online for wine and spirits as his fellow city councillors debated additional funding for areas affected by October’s deadly floods.
![[Rows and rows of damaged cars ]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/07982a2304bff84e33633f2427e93d1a2a5fc96c/0_299_5424_3254/master/5424.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Nearly three months after flash floods ravaged part of the Valencia region, turning streets into rivers, sweeping away cars and killing more than 220 people, many continue to reel from the worst natural disaster to hit Spain this century. In the city of Valencia, as part of Tuesday’s plenary session, councillors weighed a proposal to set aside an additional €25m (£21m) to help areas where people were still struggling to recover.
Instead the focus ended up on José Marí Olano, after the councillor was caught on the session’s livestream appearing to scroll through bottles of wines and spirits and add them to his online basket, according to the news site eldiario.es. Opposition politicians reacted with fury. “Buying wine while the reconstruction of the affected areas is being debated is one of the saddest things I have ever seen in politics in my life,” said Papi Robles of the leftwing Compromís coalition.
Sign up to This is Europe. The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment. after newsletter promotion. Olano was the latest PP politician in Valencia to come under fire. Since the floods swept through Valencia, tens of thousands of people have taken to streets across the region to call for the resignation of Carlos Mazón after it emerged the regional president had taken a three-hour lunch on the same day that the flood waters were rising.
