Most of the political groups, except Vox, have opted more for self-control of language in their interventions in order to improve the climate in the chamber and avoid insults and very risque episodes, such as the one suffered by the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, last week. This was discussed this Tuesday in the Board of Spokespersons after the Vox deputy Carla Toscano offended the minister on Wednesday by pointing out that her only merit was “having studied Pablo Iglesias in depth.”
Unidas Podemos has proposed reforming the Congressional code of ethics to curb these behaviors and has complained that the Congressional Regulations are not being applied “in an even-handed and rigorous manner,” said the group’s president, Jaume Asens.
Other sources from this same group have complained that the president of the Chamber, Meritxell Batet, has put in the same bag the outbursts of some deputies and the behavior of “political violence” of those of Santiago Abascal.
There has also been a general feeling that the Regulations have to be applied and that when the Presidency decides to expel someone for their conduct, it should be done, and not what happened as happened with the Vox deputy José MarÃa Sánchez GarcÃa, who he called a “witch”. to the socialist parliamentarian Laura Berja a few months ago, he was expelled for it, but since he refused to leave, the plenary session was suspended.
Most of the political forces agree that there are already sufficient mechanisms to curb these offensive attitudes which, in the opinion of several deputies, are producing “a profound degradation” of parliamentarism.
One of those who thinks so is the socialist spokesman, Patxi López, when he affirms that “this verbal and gestural aggressiveness” that is seen on some occasions “is not acceptable in a democratic chamber.” He has also blamed the PP for this atmosphere of tension, which is a breeding ground for, he has said, “a Trump, a Bolsonaro or a Meloni to appear”. He believes that in a democracy everything has a limit, including rights, including freedom of expression, because this cannot become “the law of the jungle.” “Let’s see if we all do an exercise to contain this verbal and gestural aggressiveness so that politics returns to this chamber,” suggested Patxi López, also pointing to the PP.
And on behalf of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, has only said that “each group is responsible” for what is said in the chamber.
It seems useful to Ciudadanos to put a commitment in writing, even if it is political, to “reduce the tone of anger and hatred that is sometimes seen”, Edmundo Bal pointed out, but he thinks that the Presidency of the Chamber has “sufficient tools” to prevent them from going further.
Those of Vox have defended themselves from all this criticism by assuring their spokesman, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, that violence is what “Podemos, the left and separatism” exerts and they who receive it “stoically.” He has asked that the two members of the United Podemos Board be disapproved, who according to him coerced Toscano while he was speaking in the rostrum and about his intervention against Montero he said that he does not believe there was a “bad sounding word”.
