Pedro Sánchez seeks to square the circle in a complex parliamentary arithmetic that has led to a new defeat: Congress has overthrown the social shield with the votes of PP, Vox and Junts. The Government negotiated once again against the clock with the aim of leading Podemos to a ‘yes’ vote with the extraordinary regularization of migrants and for those of Ione Belarra to open the door to supporting the delegation of powers regarding migration to Catalonia, which is a demand of Carles Puigdemont in his struggle with the far-right independence movement of Aliança Catalana. But in Moncloa they did not achieve the objective and Junts remained in the ‘no’ overturning that decree, which includes the increase in pensions but also the prohibition of evicting vulnerable people which, for those of Carles Puigdemont, means “that you cannot do anything if they occupy your apartment and do not pay you the rent.”
Now it opens a new phase of cross-talk under the premise that there will be a new initiative to maintain the purchasing power of pensioners starting in February. “There is no single way to fix it, but the Government is going to be where it belongs,” state government sources.
The negotiation on migration, which entails Podemos allowing us to carry out one of the promises unfulfilled so far by Sánchez, was not the only gesture from the Government to Junts. “Last December we approved a line of guarantees that we have provided with 300 million for possible non-payments,” said the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, regarding another of the demands of the group led by Míriam Nogueras. Meanwhile, the Government assures that it will soon publish the fiscal balances and that it is working to make Catalan official in the EU while waiting for the amnesty to be applied that will allow Puigdemont to return after the pronouncements of the Court of Justice of the EU and the Constitutional Court. However, the pro-independence spokesperson reiterated her ‘no’ to the decree and asked that it be divided into pieces to carry out the increase in pensions separately and did not accept the promises on immigration matters as good, at least for now.
“We are where we have always been. Catalonia needs 100% of the immigration powers. Every day more people are clearer that the less they depend on Spain, the more Catalonia works,” said Nogueras. Party sources point out in any case that it is the PSOE that has to move if it wants to move forward with this law, a commitment that has been carried out since the beginning of the legislature, which it reached with Puigdemont’s party to avoid a first parliamentary defeat with several decrees that sought to implement an unemployment subsidy and extend the social shield.
A three-way negotiation
“It depends on them. Hopefully,” says a source from the parliamentary group, who insists that now it is the socialists’ task to re-register the initiative in Congress and make sure to secure support so that it can move forward. If Podemos finally enters the pact, the processing could be more or less rapid, similar to that which led to the negotiation in December on the law on multiple recidivism, another of the commitments with Junts, which will be voted on in the first plenary session of the year, on Thursday, February 12.
“In the delegation of powers we agree. The problem was seen by Podemos and it has already stated that it is not a problem. Hopefully this represents a gesture for Junts that wants to reciprocate to Podemos by carrying out this part of the decree, which is not from Podemos, but which is what Podemos is in favor of,” government sources point out about the possibility that the social shield measures, including the prohibition of evictions but also tax aid for those affected by the dana and the fires or payments on account for the territorial administrations, have sufficient support later. “It is a way of negotiating that we are accustomed to,” these sources add.
This Tuesday, both Irene Montero and Ione Belarra lowered their tone against this possible transfer of powers and acknowledged that they were willing to dialogue, although they assure that there will not be a blank check and they will negotiate to erase the racist overtones of the text, as well as some more technical issues with which they also did not agree. Podemos has denied, however, that the agreement on regularization is linked to the negotiation of the General State Budgets, for which they maintain the same red lines: lowering rents by law, breaking relations with Israel and stopping the increase in military spending. But what is undoubtable is that if this agreement ends up facilitating the transfer of powers to Catalonia, the Government will have once again brought Junts closer to the majority of the investiture, in the absence of the rest of the agreements pending to be finalized, such as the definitive application of the amnesty on Puigdemont or the official status of Catalan in the European Union.
“We will see”
For now, the Government does not reveal its letters regarding the next steps. “We will see,” says a member of the Executive about the formula they will choose to raise the pension increase again. Among the options they have on the table is to split the decree so that the pension increase is voted on separately from the rest of the issues, which is what PP and Junts have demanded. That, however, is the least liked option in Moncloa. “Pensioners are important, but so are the rest of the things. It is not so clear that we have to give up those things because the PP wants to indulge itself more in Congress,” say the sources consulted. The other options involve a multi-party negotiation that allows the ‘yes’ of your former investiture partner with some concession in anti-eviction matters. “We are analyzing it and working on scenarios,” says a minister.
Moncloa’s strategy is to throw the ball into the PP’s court, and to a lesser extent Junts. What Sánchez’s people want is for it to be seen that Alberto Núñez Feijóo puts the pensions of more than 10 million people at risk. “They have done it again, once again the PP takes our country’s retirees hostage,” the president criticized in a video published on social networks in reference to the rejection in Congress of the macrodecree that included the revaluation of pensions in 2025. Finally, PP and Junts ended up supporting the same text.
“We have our faith in a million things and we are not closed to anything. We hope that PP and Junts realize that it is a package of measures that was voted on a year ago. They are the ones who have to explain why they reject it now,” say government sources, who recall that 50,000 vulnerable people are at risk of eviction if this protection is not approved. “A year ago this seemed fine to them. The housing crisis with which they are full of mouths is still on the table and this is a measure that is framed within the situation of addressing housing, which for us is very important,” they say in Moncloa: “We are convinced that it is an excuse. The PP calls itself a state party, but then it does not behave as such.”
“Parliamentary complexity is for everyone and we all have to negotiate everything. We will have to talk,” say government sources, who question the PP: “The decree has nothing against the PP, its ideology or the program. Let them vote for it. We may not have the votes to move things forward, but neither do they.”
Source: www.eldiario.es
