The PP proposes Leopoldo González Echenique as president of RTVE

The candidates proposed for the Council of the RTVE Corporation by the PP are Leopoldo González-Echenique and María Luisa Ciriza Coscolín, for the Congress, and Fernando Navarrete Porca and José Manuel Peñalosa Ruiz, for the Senate.

In application of Royal Decree 15/2012, and speeding up the established deadline (although it was finally extended by 24 hours), the Popular Parliamentary Group has registered the names of its candidates to fill the vacant positions on the Council of the RTVE Corporation.

The candidates proposed by the PP, whose appointment corresponds to the Congress of Deputies, are Leopoldo González-Echenique, who will one day be proposed for the position of president of the Corporation, and María Luisa Ciriza Coscolín.

González-Echenique, a 42-year-old man from Madrid, a State lawyer, with a degree in Law and Economic Sciences, is currently General Secretary of the NH Group and has developed a good part of his professional activity in the information sector. Between 2002 he was appointed General Director for the Development of the Information Society.

María Luis Ciriza Coscolín, a 66-year-old native of San Sebastián, has a degree in Journalism, and has developed a good part of her professional activity within the Corporation, both at RNE and at TVE. Right now she is vice president of the Madrid Press Association.

These two names join that of Óscar Pierre Prats, proposed by CiU.

On behalf of the Upper House, the PP has proposed Fernando Navarrete Porca, director, and José Manuel Peñalosa Ruiz.

Fernando Navarrete studied Chemical Sciences at the University of Madrid. He is a Broadcasting Technician, Broadcasting and Production Specialist, Qualified by the Ministry of Information and Tourism in 1973.

Throughout his professional career he has worked as a producer for Spanish Television from 1967 to 1989, when he requested leave to work in a private company. He founded the production company P.N.N., S.A. of which, as of 2007, he is president and director. Member of the Board of Directors of the Academy of Television Sciences and Arts since September 2006, in 2010 he was appointed vice president of the Institution. In 2008 and 2011 he negotiated and co-directed the Electoral Debates between José Luis R. Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy and later between Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba and the current President of the Government.

For his part, Peñalosa, born in Gerona in 1959, was elected senator for Zamora from 1989 to 1999, currently working as a communications advisor at RTVE.

Rushing deadlines

This Monday the deadline to renew five positions on the Board of Directors of the RTVE Corporation ended after the Congress of Deputies began the process to elect a new president of RTVE on May 21.

In this case, of the five councilors to be renewed, Congress appoints three members of the council and the Senate, two. Of these new directors proposed today, Congress will vote for the new president of the corporation, a position that, in all probability, will fall to Leopoldo González Echenique.

With the reform promoted by the Government, a majority of the chamber will count for the vote if in a first vote the proposed candidate does not obtain the vote of two-thirds of the chamber.

The councilors who have fulfilled their mandate and who must be renewed by Congress are Jesús Andreu, proposed by the PP, Francesc Bellmunt i Moreno, by ERC, and Santos Miguel Ruesga, by UGT.

At the proposal of the Senate, Josep Manuel Silva, a councilor proposed at the time by CiU, and María Cruz Llamazares, proposed by the PSOE, are serving their mandate.

It must be remembered that the new RTVE Council will go from 12 to 9 councilors: five who are appointed now, and four who remain from the previous Council who must leave their positions at the beginning of 2013 after completing their mandate.

The decision that the president of the corporation can be elected without parliamentary consensus, as approved in the previous legislature, has led the PSOE to consider giving up having representatives on the CRTVE Council, leaving the PP free to appoint all its positions.