"I like studying and I have made sacrifices like so many young people in this country." The words with which Noelia Núñez described herself a few years ago on political analyst Euprepio Padula's podcast resonate differently since this Wednesday, after several days of controversy, when she admitted that she did not complete any of the university degrees that appeared on her CV. A revelation that has taken her from being one of the most promising young faces in the Popular Party to abruptly resigning from all her positions in a matter of hours.
Núñez (Fuenlabrada, 1992) was just a few days ago confirmed as national deputy secretary of Mobilization and Digital Challenge at the top of Génova. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, however, signed her in November 2023 due to her belligerent tone in one of the great socialist strongholds of the Community of Madrid : Fuenlabrada. Her youth and aggressive dialectical profile had already convinced Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who promoted her to become one of the party's emerging figures not only in the capital, but throughout Spain. Hence the organic tasks that Feijóo entrusted him with: turning the PP into a present and combative party on networks, where his speeches went viral, and the activation of the party's bases thanks to his connection with New Generations at a time of important social response to Pedro Sánchez's roadmap in Moncloa.
In Fuenlabrada, she became the main voice of criticism against the mayor, Javier Ayala, and Ayuso's battering ram against the region's great socialist stronghold. She also competed with Vox in its main vote-getter in Madrid following the implementation of the reception center for unaccompanied foreign minors in the municipality, one of the major points of conflict between the regional administration and the socialist Fuenlabrada City Council.
Her projection until this very Wednesday broke the regional framework and from the front row of the Congress of Deputies she had emerged as one of the great scourges against the Government and its bloc of parliamentary allies."How do you feel about being a minister in a Government with people that your own group describes as thieves and whores?" she attacked Minister Sira Rego a few weeks ago during a committee meeting in the Lower House.
In fact, Núñez was gaining increasing relevance and attention as a Popular Party leader. So much so that on July 5th, less than , he spoke at the PP's national congress, where he had a conversation with tennis coach Toni Nadal. He thanked him for taking the PP side and considered that, due to his sporting career, he"embodies" the values of sacrifice and effort that are also part of the pillars of the main right-wing party.
Words that, as the days passed, became unjustifiable for Núñez, whose resume had effectively sealed her political career. After Minister Óscar Puente insinuated that she had falsified her academic information on her public profile as a member of Congress, the former spokesperson in Fuenlabrada admitted early Wednesday that she had made a"mistake" and that she had begun her university studies—a double degree in Law and Legal Sciences of Public Administration—but had not completed them.
"Asking for forgiveness isn't enough," Núñez said in the statement announcing her resignation following this scandal."I feel more at ease if I contribute to restoring trust in politics, personally making the most difficult of all possible decisions. I'm proud to be a member of a party with this level of demands. The Spanish people deserve nothing less, the Spanish people deserve nothing less."
