The Popular Party will propose to the Congress of Deputies the reform of the Penal Code with the aim of stiffening the penalties for repeat offenders, a reform that was announced yesterday by the spokesman Miguel Tellado, in an act of the pre-campaign of 12- M. The the scenario chosen is not futile, since the Catalan capital has high numbers of multiple recidivism, there is a broad social debate open to address this problem, with proposals on the table, and the PP is thus trying to spearhead this movement and bring it to Congress with a proposal for a recidivism law.
Tellado, accompanied by candidate Alejandro Fernández, pointed out that multiple recidivism in Catalonia “is exaggerated” and urged the other parties to support this reform in the Lower House. He recalled that “not only is a parliamentary majority needed to approve it, but also a Government of the Generalitat to apply it”. Together he has moved initiatives in this sense in Parliament; the PSC has also marked a similar line, especially from Barcelona City Council, and it will be necessary to see how the debate develops in Congress when it is raised.
The Bar Association has already proposed several measures after a collective debate, especially the need to withdraw the requirement that the amount stolen in three crimes be greater than 400 euros. According to data from the Mossos d’Esquadra and the Urban Guard, in 2023 they arrested 25 people on 893 occasions.
Tellado also put on the table yesterday from Cornellà the need to make legal changes so that in illegal occupations the owners can recover their flat in 24 hours, “with reinforcement of the usurpation penalties or canceling the registrations irregular in the register”. Security will be the focus of the PP campaign in the coming days, and in the key to Catalan competences, Alejandro Fernández proposed the incorporation of 570 new agents of the Mossos d’Esquadra, and strengthening their competences and resources. He also explained that he wants to form three new units to address sexual crimes, multiple recidivism and illegal employment.
In this scenario of denunciation of insecurity in Catalonia, Fernández defended the presence of the police and the Civil Guard, understanding that the objective of the pro-independence parties is to “throw them out”. He referred to the announcement by the Government and the City Council to turn the police station in Via Laietana into a memory center, and pointed out that while no one doubts the abuses that took place there, there is no nothing to do with the work that “a fully democratic police” carries out today.
