The Congress of Deputies, in a plenary session held exceptionally in the Senate, has rejected the entire amendments presented by PP and Vox to the proposed amnesty law for those affected by causes derived from the process, which allows the initiative to continue its processing in the Lower House with debates in committee on possible partial amendments. After a bizarre plenary session in which the Government has been able to save, for the moment, one of the decrees that seemed like they were going to fail, the majority of the investiture – without the Canarian Coalition – has come together again to overcome the PP amendment that has received the support of 171 deputies to 178 against. For its part, Vox has been left with only its 33 deputies voting for its amendment while 309 deputies have voted against it. In this way, neither PP nor Vox have obtained support for their proposals to toughen the Penal Code against the independence movement and even outlaw parties.
The spokespersons for the PP and Vox, Cuca Gamarra and Pepa Millán, respectively, have been in charge of defending their amendments with alternative text and have accused the PSOE of promoting the amnesty by “seven votes”, precisely those of Junts for the investiture, and they have warned the Government that it is only prolonging the “agony” of Pedro Sánchez, after seeing how his partners overturned his decrees.
For his part, ERC spokesperson, Gabriel Rufián, has defended the bill with special emphasis on the popular initiative to dissolve parties that call for independence referendums outside the constitutional framework.
The PP proposed “the reform of the Penal Code to include a series of crimes of constitutional disloyalty” punishing those who promote “non-observance of the laws or non-compliance with judicial resolutions” and intended to create a new chapter in the Penal Code that contemplates “ the penalty of dissolution” for any legal entity or political party “that calls or carries out acts aimed at calling a referendum or any form of independence consultation” outside the constitutional framework.
In defense of his amendment, Gamarra has considered that article 155 of the Constitution “cannot be the last resort in the face of separatist threats” and has recalled that the Penal Code already provides for the dissolution of legal entities if they commit certain crimes, so It is not extraordinary that if the constitutional order is violated, they can also be dissolved or suspended at the request of the judges. Gamarra has called the amnesty a “law of impunity for some politicians on whose votes the President of the Government depends” and has reiterated that his initiative is based on two basic principles: “the principle of equality of all Spaniards before the law and the defense of the separation of powers”.
For its part, Vox proposed in its amendment “the classification of a new type of crime aimed at punishing those who negotiate matters pertaining to the Cortes Generales with those who have been prosecuted or removed from the action of Justice for crimes against the Constitution, order public, treason and the independence of the State and peace and national defense.”
In defending his amendment, Millán has assured that it is “a disapproval of the Government as a whole”, he has denounced the “ambition” of Pedro Sánchez and his need to “remain screwed” to power, and has ironically stated that the rule should be called “organic law to make Sánchez president in exchange for seven votes.” “There is a majority of Catalans who respect the law and a minority of coup plotters and privileged people. They have turned the former into second-class citizens to bring back the latter with honors,” he added. For Millán “the parties that attack the common heritage of Spaniards cannot be represented in the seat of national sovereignty.”
Rufián’s reply to defend the proposal has been directed fundamentally at the PP, a party that he has reproached for “walking in these while they have people collecting plastics in Galicia.” The PP has asked what has changed in a year for them to vote against a very similar initiative presented by Vox and has called on them to “accept their defeat.” Regarding the amendment, the Esquerra spokesperson has questioned “what affects people’s daily lives more, what harms more, the amnesty or illegalizing parties?” And he has concluded that “it is more dangerous to leave hundreds of thousands of people without parliamentary representation than to amnesty some people for organizing a referendum.”
Both Gamarra and Millán have disgraced the socialist group for not defending the amnesty law and Rufián being in charge, whom the Vox spokesperson has branded as “spokesperson for the tailcoat collector” who, in their opinion, has come to “collect the price so that Pedro Sánchez can be in Moncloa” to accuse the head of the Executive of “buying an investiture” last year of which “now we are talking about the price.”
In the positions taking turns, both Mikel Legarda (PNV) and Jon Iñarritu (EH Bildu) have accused the PP and Vox of wanting to transform a political conflict into a problem of public order, police and judiciary, and have considered that the amnesty It is necessary to return the issue to the field of dialogue and negotiation. “An advanced democracy cannot be understood without the principle of legality but neither without the principle of citizen consent,” Legarda has warned, pointing out that during the process all parties made errors that the bill seeks to correct, which is why has considered it “necessary” to close a political cycle to face with “a new point of view” the territorial conflict that broke out in 2017. For his part, Iñárritu has accused the authors of the amendments of “continuing in the mud.”
Deputy Josep M. Cervera has intervened for Junts, who has disfigured PP and Vox for “abusing the entire amendment to propose a penal reform”, which, in his opinion, “is the opposite of what the amnesty proposes.” “, “perverting”, in his opinion, the parliamentary system. “They do not present an alternative text,” warned Cervera, for whom what PP and Vox do is “shield the criminalization of the activity of the independence movement.” Regarding the Vox amendment, Cervera has pointed out that “it is as far from the democratic framework as the party itself.” And specifically, regarding the PP amendment, he has accused them of wanting to legislate to outlaw a party that “a few months ago you said was a party whose tradition and legality was not in doubt.”
What they want – he has reproached – is “not to lose the ability to influence the judicial leadership as they have done in the last 40 years.”
In a similar vein, the PSOE deputy Artemi Rallo has disfigured the PP for wanting to penalize constitutional disloyalty when the General Council of the Judiciary has not been renewed for 1,863 days, five years. “This is indeed constitutional disloyalty,” snapped Rallo, who added that the amnesty is “timely, necessary and suitable to save coexistence and satisfy the general interest” and has indicated that “there is no collision with the Constitution.”