Valencia flood, relatives of victims demand truth and justice from EU

Brussels – A delegation of family members of the victims of Dana, the flood that devastated Valencia in October 2024, has visited the top EU institutions in Brussels today (May 13) to demand truth, justice, and accountability. The group was received by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Parliament President Roberta Metsola, who were handed a letter denouncing serious omissions by the Spanish and Valencian authorities in their handling of the emergency and treatment of the victims. On this occasion, the families renewed their appeal, “We do not ask for revenge, but for truth and justice.”

The representatives stressed that the flooding that hit the Valencian community, causing 228 deaths, was not just a natural disaster, but a “political, administrative and human” tragedy. After months of silence and institutional backtracking, they chose to take their voices to Europe, convinced that “community institutions are the last hope for those whom the state has forgotten.” They asked the European Commission to denounce the lack of protection of fundamental rights, the lack of transparency and the impunity of the authorities responsible for managing the disaster.

In their conversation with von der Leyen and Metsola, family members called for an independent Europe-wide investigation into whether gross institutional negligence contributed to the deaths of their loved ones. “There are public managers who knew, who had access to data and forecasts, but did nothing. And today those same people still occupy positions of power,” said Christian Lesaec, president of Asociación Damnificados DANA Horta Sud Valencia. Their goal is for the EU to stand as guarantor of an autonomous and impartial investigation that can break the wall of silence and political protection that, according to them, has blocked any possibility of truth at the local level.

The delegation expressed satisfaction with the listening it received in the European forum, in sharp contrast to the indifference experienced in Spain: “In less than an hour we have been heard more than in five years by the Valencian institutions,” said a spokeswoman, also recalling the 2019 flood. Particularly harsh was the criticism of the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, who is accused of an attitude of closure and cover-up. Family members publicly called for his resignation, stating: “Who has allowed people to turn a blind eye to avoidable deaths cannot continue to govern.”

Their complaint includes a call for reforms: in addition to creating a European parliamentary commission of inquiry, they called for adopting a European protocol for the management of victims of climate disasters. “We are not here out of pity. We are here because we have the right to know why our children, parents, siblings died, and to know who had the duty to protect them and failed,” Lesaec concluded.