PSOE and Sumar have asserted their majority in the Congress Board to support this Tuesday the extension so that the Justice commission has more time to rule on the Amnesty law proposal. Specifically with 15 more days. Until March 7th.
It so happens that, during the first two weeks that the Congress Board gave the aforementioned commission as an initial deadline, it has not met. Although the PSOE and Junts have held conversations outside of it to try to redirect the situation.
Following Junts’ decision to reject the bill in the overall vote to which it had to be submitted in plenary due to its organic nature, the Chamber Board agreed to return the text to the Justice Commission so that it could issue a new opinion. .
The governing body of the institution made that decision on February 6. And it set a first deadline of 15 calendar days that ends this Wednesday, the 21st. But last Saturday the PSOE requested, through a letter signed by the general secretary of the Socialist Group, Montse Mínguez, an extension to be able to continue negotiating with Junts.
In statements to the Ser channel, the first vice president of the Government, María Jesús Montero, has indicated that “hopefully we will reach an agreement within a few hours or within a few days” that I am convinced will end up coming to fruition.
The also deputy general secretary of the PSOE has stressed that the socialists have taken advantage of the prerogative contained in the Congress Regulations to be able to extend the deadline set to close a new opinion with the aim of continuing dialogue.
In this sense, he has pointed out that “the law entered the Congress of Deputies constitutionally and has to leave it constitutional”, which is what has to “pursue any technical matter that wants to be incorporated.”
For his part, the deputy of Sumar and first secretary of the Congress Board, Gerardo Pisarello, has also trusted that this extension of the deadline will lead to an understanding and has confirmed that between PSOE and Junts “there is still negotiation.”
With the resolution adopted today, there can no longer be new extensions because article 131.2 of the Regulations makes it clear that if an organic initiative fails to obtain the vote of the absolute majority and must be returned to the corresponding commission, it “must issue new opinion within a month.”
The intermediate period of 15 days applied in this case is due to the fact that the Amnesty law is processed through the emergency procedure – which implies reducing the deadlines by half.