In the history of Pedro Sánchez’s turbulent mandates, there are notable precedents for heart-stopping votes in Congress, such as the one that allowed the labor reform to be approved by sheer nonsense, in February 2022, thanks to the mistake of a Popular Party deputy, who he even saved the legislature. But the concept of heart-stopping 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 range of counterparts for Catalonia, ensured that the President of the Government did not skid in the first corner of this new legislature.
“The legislature and the multiparty democracy in which we are present have these hazards,” Sánchez himself admitted, now over the shock of this agonizing parliamentary day. “We have to work a lot, but we are a government that engages in dialogue and has the capacity to agree,” he highlighted. “To defend the social majority of this country we are going to look for votes even under the stones,” he justified before the agreement sealed with Junts.
Once the pact was reached, Carles Puigdemont’s party chose not to vote for any of the first three decrees approved by the Government in this legislature, which allowed the validation of two of them: the omnibus decree on which the disbursement of another 10,000 million depends. of euros from European funds, and – after repeating the vote after an initial tie – the one that extends the anti-crisis measures to reinforce the social shield. Two key Government decrees, validated by the minimum – 172 yes and 171 no –, thanks to the fact that the seven Junts deputies did not vote.
Sánchez, already present in his seat in these last in-person votes once the panorama was clarified, was thus able to save the furniture, in exchange for compensation 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 “grossness” of this extraordinary plenary session of the Congress that was held yesterday in the Senate, and which culminated with several votes by call of the deputies, demanded by the PP, to undo the ties that had previously caused the technical problems experienced by a Sumar deputy, Gerardo Pisarello, who could not confirm his telematic vote.
Sánchez saved this crucial ball of play, in an unexpected way since everything indicated until the last minute that he would suffer a severe corrective by Junts as a warning to sailors about the new winds that govern in this uncertain newborn legislature. The warning, in any case, was clear. “Things will not go back to the way they have been until now,” warned the Junts spokesperson, Miriam Nogueras, with prophetic words, when she finally took the floor in the intense plenary session.
Everything pointed to a catastrophe for the Government, where alternative plans were already being considered in the event of a tragedy and even some leaders of the PSOE began to warn of the “major miscalculation” that they attributed to Sánchez’s negotiating team, fearing that all the decrees were going to fall. .
“Until the last minute, until the button is pressed, there is always an opportunity,” however, confided the first vice president of the Government, María Jesús Montero. “We have a lot at stake,” confirmed Minister Félix Bolaños. Both, together with the organization secretary of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, were the main negotiators who achieved the final agreement with Junts.
Almost the entire plenary session already thought that the three decrees were going to fail, when the final decision of the seven Junts deputies not to vote saved the two key initiatives for the Government. Congress also approved that these two decrees are now processed as bills, through the emergency procedure, which will allow parliamentary groups to present amendments.
Puigdemont’s party did not reveal its position in the votes until the surprise vote count was announced. “The stability of the legislature is subject to compliance with the agreements,” warned Nogueras.
On the other hand, the five Podemos deputies who joined the Mixed Group after breaking with Sumar, consummated 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 noes that overturned the decree with the unemployment subsidy reform promoted by the leader of Sumar. “Those who vote against today have many explanations to give,” Díaz warned after seeing her initiative repealed, which she will now have to rectify so that it can see the light.
As a culmination of this hectic parliamentary day, which lasted for almost twelve hours, Congress overturned the entire amendments against the proposed amnesty law for those prosecuted by the process, registered by the PP and by Vox, so that the The norm now continues its parliamentary processing. The alternative text presented by the PP once again gathered 178 votes against, the same majority that endorses this initiative “for the institutional, political and social normalization in Catalonia.” And Sánchez himself denounced the PP’s proposal to “illegalize those who do not think like them.” “It is anything but democratic,” he reproached. “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 budget stability and public debt objectives approved, with which it will prepare the general budgets of the State for this year. But that will be another battle. “It’s terrifying to think about what each week of this legislature will be like,” Feijóo warned before leaving the plenary session.
Sánchez took the opportunity to criticize the parties that voted against the decrees. “All the reproaches 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 focus on the PP, denouncing that “this destructive opposition that we have suffered for five years considers that everything that is good for the social majority is bad in electoral terms for them.”
“We are satisfied and very happy, we have had to work hard. But all’s well that ends well,” Sánchez concluded.
