The Board of the Congress of Deputies agreed this Tuesday, with the votes of the PSOE and United We Can, to extend for the second time the deadline for presenting amendments to the socialist bill to modify the criminal section of the so-called Law ‘of only if it is Yeah’.
According to parliamentary sources cited by Servimedia, the three PSOE members at the table accepted the request of the three from Unidas Podemos, who wanted to give themselves more room to reach an agreement within the coalition government on how to reform the rule to avoid the imposition of lesser sentences for sexual offenders.
The spokesperson for Unidas Podemos, Pablo Echenique, stated at a press conference before the Board of Spokespersons that this second extension of the term “gives us more time to negotiate.”
The first secretary of the Congress Table, Gerardo Pisarello, testified in another previous press conference that UP continues to work with ERC and EH Bildu to present possible joint amendments, which these last two groups will agree on among themselves in any case, as verified in their own appearance before the Board of Spokesmen that of the abertzale group, Mertxe Aizpurua.
This bill was taken into consideration at the beginning of March, after the initiative presented by the PSOE received the support of the PP and the abstention of Vox. The socialist formation highlighted the need to put an end to the reduction of sentences for sexual offenders after the entry into force of the ‘only yes is yes’ law piloted by the Ministry of Equality of Irene Montero. Faced with the blockade in the negotiations between the two government partners, the PSOE chose to register the proposal alone, which caused the Socialists and United We Can to face each other in Congress.
