The chief executive of a large Spanish company was cross in a recent private meeting of the enormous antipathy that the PSOE and the PP profess to each other, who always prefer to agree more with the more radical parties they have at their respective ends rather than doing it with each other. A pact like the one that existed in Germany between the conservative CDU and the SPD socialists is unthinkable now in Spain. Not even the covid crisis could change this tone, as two former presidents such as Felipe González and Mariano Rajoy came to request in a dialogue at the La Toja Forum in October 2020. Precisely, the breakdown of the pact on the Judiciary , when it was about to be approved, meant a loss of trust between Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo, whose level of enmity has only increased in recent months.
That is why it is so important that the two parties have agreed on the reform of the law of only yes is yes and, moreover, that this pact is made at a time of open electoral dispute. Despite the fact that the socialists insist that the pact with the popular people is limited to “technical issues”, the reality is that the support of the PP will be essential to reform a well-intentioned law but that this subsequent reform was needed to avoid the release of prison terms and the reduction of sentences that some judges had applied.
The PP could have stood out and caused the defeat of the socialist proposal, but its support makes it grow as a governing party. To be in opposition is not only to automatically vote against everything proposed by the Executive, but also to help in crisis situations.
The PNB and Junts will also support the reform and, on the other hand, other partners of the Sánchez Government, such as ERC and Bildu, have signed up to the theses of Unides Podemos for fear that the proposed legislative changes will not really change the dynamic judicial system that favors sexual aggressors. What seems clear is that leaving things as they were would not have been the best solution. Therefore, the change was necessary.
