Although Ayuso has frequently accused S\u00e1nchez and his Spanish Socialist Workers\u2019 party (PSOE) of being corrupt<\/a>, she and her administration now face growing calls to provide a transparent explanation for the purchase of the penthouse.<\/p>\n El Pa\u00eds reported<\/a> at the end of July <\/a>that the Madrid regional government had bought the penthouse in the well-heeled Chamber\u00ed neighbourhood of the Spanish capital in April. A spokesperson told the paper the property had been acquired for Ayuso to use while her offices in the Real Casa de Correos<\/a> \u2013 the seat of the regional government \u2013 were being renovated. The spokesperson did not respond to questions about the price of the flat, nor whether Ayuso intended to live in it.<\/p>\n It later emerged that the flat cost \u20ac6.3m and planning laws meant it could only be used for residential purposes, not as an office. El Pa\u00eds reported this week that Ayuso\u2019s government had stipulated that the property it wanted should be \u201cbetween 250 and 400 square metres and have a large terrace\u201d<\/a> \u2013 the latter being an odd requirement for an office.<\/p>\n The penthouse flat bought for Ayuso is in the upmarket Chamber\u00ed neighbourhood of Madrid. Photograph: Alessandro Giamello\/Alamy<\/p>\n The Madrid president lives with her partner, Alberto Gonz\u00e1lez Amador, a businessman who recently put two of the flats they have shared up for sale. Gonz\u00e1lez Amador is awaiting trial on charges of tax fraud and falsifying documents. He denies the charges.<\/p>\n Ayuso initially dismissed the revelations as a \u201csmear campaign\u201d<\/a>, insisting the penthouse was not bought for her to live in but as a venue for \u201cinstitutional meetings\u201d. She also said she hadn\u2019t had \u201cthe faintest idea\u201d about the purchase.<\/p>\n The regional government has subsequently announced that the flat will be sold<\/a> and the proceeds donated to the victims of this summer\u2019s wildfires near Madrid.<\/p>\n Ayuso recently told reporters she considered the matter closed, saying in her trademark colourful language: \u201cEst\u00e1 en venta, chao pescao\u201d, which roughly translates as: \u201cIt\u2019s up for sale, so see you later, alligator\u201d.<\/p>\n The soundbite has elicited comparisons with the time she was caught in congress describing S\u00e1nchez as a \u201chijo de puta\u201d (\u201cson of a bitch\u201d), only to claim she had been misheard and had actually said: \u201cMe gusta la fruta\u201d (\u201cI like fruit\u201d). It has become one of her most well-known pronouncements, along with her electoral slogan of \u201ccommunism or freedom\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, the row over the flat refuses to die down. A judge in Madrid is investigating five separate complaints relating to its purchase and Ayuso\u2019s own boss has said there were still questions to answer. In an interview last week, the PP leader, Alberto N\u00fa\u00f1ez Feij\u00f3o, said that while he was satisfied with her explanations, the relevant department in the regional government \u201cought to explain why a property that can\u2019t be used as an office was bought\u201d.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to This is Europe<\/p>\n The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans \u2013 from identity to economics to the environment<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Alberto N\u00fa\u00f1ez Feij\u00f3o, the leader of the People\u2019s party, said there were still questions to answer over the matter. Photograph: David Canales\/Sopa Images\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Feij\u00f3o said Ayuso\u2019s team had told him in April that they were looking for temporary offices. That acknowledgment appears to be at odds with Ayuso\u2019s insistence she was ignorant of the purchase.<\/p>\n Her opponents have seized on the row, with the central government dismissing her explanations as \u201cpatently insufficient and patently worrying\u201d, and calling for her to resign.<\/p>\n \u201cSo they were looking for \u2018temporary offices\u2019 and they got in touch with an estate agent who specialises in luxury properties (not offices) and they requested something that was between 250 square metres and 400 square metres and which had that vital feature any administrative office requires \u2013 a big terrace,\u201d said one PSOE councillor in the Madrid town of M\u00f3stoles<\/a>. \u201cSee you later, alligator \u2026 but with a terrace.\u201d<\/p>\n Pablo Sim\u00f3n, a political scientist at the Carlos III University of Madrid, said the \u201clack of clear explanations\u201d over the purchase, combined with the judge\u2019s investigation, had left Ayuso in a difficult predicament.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a political perspective, I think this has hurt her, because ultimately it\u2019s a very cross-cutting issue that has generated criticism from both the left and the right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Sim\u00f3n said while the current \u201cwear and tear\u201d was unlikely to prevent Ayuso winning another term at next year\u2019s regional election, it could result in the loss of her absolute majority and force her to strike a deal with the far-right Vox party<\/a> to remain in government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The outspoken rightwing leader of the Madrid region is under growing pressure to explain why her government spent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[82],"class_list":["post-77778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-madrid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783737874_988_500.jpg\")
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