In the history of Pedro Sánchez’s convulsive mandates, there are notable precedents of heart attack votes in Congress, such as the one that allowed labor reform to be approved by pure carambola, in February 2022, thanks to the mistake of a Party deputy Popular, which saved even the legislature. But the concept of heart attack voting has, since yesterday, a new benchmark that is very difficult to overcome. A last-minute agreement negotiated under the radar between the PSOE and Junts, which includes a wide battery of counterparties for Catalonia, managed to prevent the Spanish Prime Minister from slipping in the first corner of this new legislature.
“The legislature and the multi-party democracy we live in has these chances”, admitted Sánchez himself, having already overcome the fright of this agonizing parliamentary day. “We have to work and a lot, but we are a dialogical Government with the capacity to agree”, he emphasized. “To defend the social majority of this country we will look for votes to the bone”, he justified before the agreement sealed with Junts.
Having reached the pact, the formation of Carles Puigdemont chose not to vote on any of the first three decrees approved by the Spanish Government this legislature, which allowed the validation of two of the decrees: the omnibus decree on which the disbursement of 10,000 million euros depends of European funds, and – after the repetition of the vote following an initial tie – which extends the anti-crisis measures to strengthen the social shield. Two key decrees of the Spanish Government, validated by the minimum – 172 yes and 171 no -, thanks to the fact that the seven members of the Junts did not vote.
Sánchez, already present in his seat these last face-to-face votes once the situation was clarified, was able to save the furniture, in exchange for some counterparts for Junts that outraged the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. “I feel stunned, like most Spaniards. But what is this?” cried Feijóo, after denouncing the “terrible” of this extraordinary session of the Congress that was held yesterday in the Senate, and which culminated in several votes by call of the deputies, requested by the PP, to undo the ties that had previously caused the technical problems that had a representative of Sumar, Gerardo Pisarello, who could not confirm his telematic vote.
Sánchez saved this crucial game ball in an unforeseen way, since everything pointed until the last minute that he would suffer a severe correction by Junts as a warning to sailors about the new winds that govern this uncertain newborn legislature. The warning, in any case, was clear. “Things will not go back to the way they were until now”, warned with prophetic words the spokesperson of Junts, Miriam Nogueras, when she finally took the floor in the intense meeting.
Everything pointed to catastrophe for the Spanish Government, in which alternative plans were already being studied in the event of a tragedy and even some leaders of the PSOE began to warn of the “major miscalculation” they attributed to Sánchez’s negotiating team, and they feared that all the decrees would lapse.
“Until the last minute, until the button is pressed, there is always an opportunity”, said the first vice-president of the Spanish Government, María Jesús Montero. “We play with it a lot”, confided Minister Félix Bolaños in turn. Both of them, together with the secretary of organization of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, were the main negotiators who reached the final agreement with Junts.
Almost the entire plenary already thought that the three decrees would lapse, when the final decision of the seven Junts deputies not to vote saved the two key initiatives for the Spanish Government. Congress also approved that these two decrees are now processed as bills, by the emergency procedure, which will allow the parliamentary groups to present amendments.
Puigdemont’s line-up did not reveal its position in the polls until the surprise recount was announced. “The stability of the legislature is subject to compliance with the agreements”, warned Nogueras.
Instead, the five deputies of Podemos who joined Almixt after breaking with Sumar took their revenge against the second vice-president of the Government, Yolanda Díaz. Podemos added its votes to the PP, Vox and UPN, until gathering 176 nos that overturned the decree with the unemployment benefit reform promoted by the leader of Sumar. “Those who vote against it today have a lot of explanations to give”, Díaz warned after seeing his initiative repealed, which he will now have to rectify in order to see the light of day.
The purple formation, which is engaged in a bitter political, electoral and even personal struggle with Díaz, justified its negative vote because the Spanish Government did not want to negotiate the subsidy decree, which according to its opinion cuts pensions for the most older than 52 years. In the same way, Podemos assured that they voted in favor of the decree containing the social shield because the Executive did want to negotiate it, with the commitment to suspend evictions until 2028.
As a culmination of this hectic parliamentary day, which lasted for almost twelve hours, Congress overturned the amendments in their entirety against the proposed amnesty law for those accused of the process, registered by the PP and Vox, of so that the rule now continues its parliamentary processing. The alternative text presented by the PP again gathered 178 votes against, the same majority that endorses this initiative “for institutional, political and social normalization in Catalonia”. And Sánchez himself denounced the PP’s proposal to “outlaw those who don’t think like them”. “It is anything but democratic”, he criticized. “In democracies, those who think differently are not outlawed”, he assured.
Once the votes that had previously been tied were repeated, the Government also saw its budgetary stability and public debt objectives approved, with which it will draw up the State’s general budgets for this year. But that will be another battle. “It causes terror to think what every week of this legislature will be like”, warned Feijóo before leaving the plenary session.
Sánchez, on the other hand, left the Senate with a smile from ear to ear. “Today is a great day for the social majority of this country”, he celebrated. And he emphasized that Congress would thus approve the revaluation of pensions according to the IPC for the elderly or the public transport bonus for young people. Also, that families will benefit from the reductions in taxes on basic foods and on electricity and gas bills. Or the new injection of 10,000 million from European funds for reindustrialisation, the consolidation of economic recovery and job creation. All initiatives, as he emphasized, that benefit the social majority.
Sánchez took the opportunity to criticize the parties that voted against the decrees. “All the blame for those who are not able to look beyond their navel and put their partisan interests before those of the majority”, he stressed. And he put the spotlight on the PP when he denounced that “this destructive opposition that we have been suffering for five years considers that everything that is good for the social majority is bad for them in electoral terms”.
“We are satisfied and very happy, we had to work hard. But all is well if it ends well”, concluded Sánchez.
