The ghost of the vote on the labor reform, less than three months ago, had planned in the last hours in Congress but left. This time, there were no scares or validations saved by the error of a PP parliamentarian. The royal decree law on anti-crisis measuresto deal with the consequences of the war in Ukraine, went ahead this Thursday without setbacks, by the minimum, with a very small mattress but a little bigger (four votes), but after a few days of frenzy in which the Executive was about to stumble and fall defeated. In fact, the Government of Pedro Sánchez could only breathe easy once EH Bildu, about 9.30, solemnized the vote in favor, closed very little time before. The five deputies of the ‘abertzale’ formation came to the rescue of a president very pressured by the ‘case pegasus‘. Sánchez saved what was more than a mere parliamentary process, but his distancing from ERC increased, which for the second time rejected a text of enormous symbolic and practical importance for the bipartisan. The doubts about the relationship with the Republicans do not evaporate. they grow.
The Ukraine war response planwhich contains measures such as bonus of 20 cents per liter of fuelthe cap on rents, the rise in the minimum wage or direct aid to carriers or to the sectors most affected by the crisis, resulted finally validated by 176 votes against 172 and one abstention.
In the yes, with PSOE (120) and United We Can (33 plus the Canarian parliamentarian Meri Pita, now in the Mixed), PNV (6), Bildu (5), PDECat (4), Más País (2), Compromís (1), BNG (1), Regionalist Party of Cantabria (1), Nueva Canarias (1) and Teruel Exists (1). In the no, the PP (88), Vox (52), ERC (13), Ciudadanos (9), Junts (4), CUP (2), former UPN deputies Sergio Sayas and Carlos García Adanero (2) finally converged. , Foro Asturias (1) and the orange ex-parliamentary Pablo Cambronero. The only abstention came from Ana Oramas, the deputy of the Canarian Coalition. All the votes tallied this time and everything went according to plan. To the millimeter. In addition, the decree will be processed as a bill, which will allow the groups to introduce amendments, a gesture that Moncloa made official the day before to finish tying support.
Sánchez defends “healthy politics”, the one that connects with citizens, as opposed to “unhealthy politics”, the one that “turns its back on the street”. He wins the general interest, he says, against the “politicking of some”
Moncloa felt, as happened with the labor reform, that the wills and reasons of the groups rushed —of those of the purest and hardest opposition and of the usual partners— to inflict a punishment on Sánchez. As a minister said, that everyone “wanted the decree to come out validated”, because the contrary would be difficult to explain to the citizens, “but not with their votes”. That is why the head of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, started the plenary session defending the text and with a few words that summarized the heartbeat of the Executive: “The vote is not about the Government, it is about helping the citizens.”
Sánchez, at the end of the plenary session, addressed the journalists “vindication of sound politics“, the one that “connects with the demands and needs of citizens at a time of extraordinary uncertainty”, which won this Thursday against the “unhealthy politicswhich is the one that turns its back on the street.” “In the end, the general interest has prevailed over the politicking of some,” he congratulated himself, after being “satisfied” with the result.
✔ The Plenary validates the RD-L by which urgent measures are adopted within the framework of the National Plan to respond to the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine. It will be processed as a bill by the urgency procedure.
📝 : https://t.co/bEX599tTPd pic.twitter.com/M5fUm55FrU
– Congress (@Congreso_Es) April 28, 2022
Change of climate in less than a month
Less than a month ago, on March 30, when Sánchez presented his economic plan to the Chamber, he was left with the feeling that he would not have much difficulty in carrying it out. The groups made apostilles, some considered that it was insufficient and not enough, others, like the PP, that should include more tax cuts… but little else. It was impossible to foresee that the negotiation would become another torture rack for the government and another resistance test for Sánchez. But the ‘Catalangate’, the alleged espionage of more than 60 pro-independence leaders and activists, according to the Canadian Citizen Lab, changed everything. Not only because of the cracking of the dialogue with ERC, whose consequences are yet to be measured, but because of the serious warning that other usual allies of the bipartisan launched. The wind was against. Very against.
The supports finished tying shortly before the plenary session. The last ones were those of Teruel Exists, BNG and Bildu. The ‘abertzale’ formation was totally decisive in saving the decree
This Thursday, in fact, it started with the vote in the air, with 169 yeses, but gradually those of Teruel exists (Tomas Guitarte), Bildu —the force that saved the validation— and BNG (Nestor Rego). Every vote counted, boy did it count. La Moncloa, which thought a few days ago that Alberto Núñez Feijóo could not afford to reject the text, was certain that he was going to no on Wednesday afternoon, after the epistolary exchange between the economic deputy secretary of Genoa, Juan Bravo, and the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero. The popular ones, however, claimed that they stripped the daisy this Thursday, when they found that Sánchez preferred to “give in” to Bildu and not to Feijóo.
The Government saves the decree against the crisis by the minimum https://t.co/kvsQ71v1yE pic.twitter.com/knrMvWkdsf
– Europe Press TV (@europapress_tv) April 28, 2022
The plenary, however, will go down in the history of this legislature due to the notch that occurred in the tumultuous Government-ERC relationship. The Republican formation decided on Wednesday night its no, and this is a “first notice” to the Executive, because the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, “must resign“, in the words of the deputy Montse Bassa. But Sánchez does not plan to let her minister fall and in fact responded with a “of course” when the journalists asked her if she maintained confidence in her. “They know intimacies of our families, friends and relatives”, reproached a very harsh and brief Bassa.
No gestures towards ERC
Bolaños had not sent any message of closeness to ERC at the start of the session, but neither did the president when leaving the Chamber. He did not distinguish between those who fall into “unhealthy politics”: “The pity is that the PP and other parties they point to ‘the worse, the better’. This is not the time to put partisan interests that may be legitimate in other contexts.”
Bildu, totally decisive in the vote, affirms that she supports the decree out of “responsibility”, but not the Government, with whom “a gap” has been opened
Nor did he give greater importance to the fact that it was Bildu who saved him from the shock plan, because the important thing is “what was voted” in plenary, the content of the decree. The ‘abertzale’ left supported the text, said his spokesperson, Mertxe Aizpurua“for responsibility and commitment to citizenship”, even being aware that the alleged espionage is a “serious” conflict that has “opened a gap” with the Executive. On this occasion, Bildu did not coordinate his vote at all with ERC “We will approve the decree by the people, not by the government,” said Aizpurua emphatically. Bolaños had also appealed to ordinary citizens. “Vote as the people would vote [que les eligieron] if they would sit on that bench”, he begged their lordships, although by then the minister already knew that the game was won.
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Junts and CUP, parties also allegedly spied on, settled into their predictable no. But the PDECat and the PNV, although harsh with the Executive for the alleged monitoring, separated the ‘Pegasus case’ from the decree, as Moncloa wanted. Both formations were decisive. All those who supported Sánchez were, because the socialists were seeking vote by vote until completing an absolute majority.
What did the PP do when he governed? The opposite of what they propose.
They raised taxes and cut public services.
They cut the people who most needed politics.
They are still in time not to fail Spain. Vote for the Spanish. @pedro_casares 👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/TEQH9EdYHj
— PSOE (@PSOE) April 28, 2022
The closing of the debate, not too tense and light, was carried out by the representative of the PSOE, Pedro Casares, member of the party’s federal executive. He was surprised by his harshness against the PP and by the fiery tone, almost rally-like, of his speech. He raised his bench to their feet, who yelled at him “Another another!“excited. By then, the fish was sold. But that did not mean that the doubts about the future were repeated. Because now ERC is not as available a partner as before. It is not a small thing, because the legislature has a a theoretical year and a half of life, and the Republicans provided a vital fuel for the government, gasoline that, at the very least, now it will be much more expensive.