Just 24 hours after Pedro Sánchez expressed his willingness to agree with the PP on “technical issues” of the law of only yes is yes, socialists and popularists reached the first agreements within the presentation of the Congressional Justice commission , by admitting two PP amendments and transacting two others, based on texts from the popular.
“Technical issuesâ€, they stress in the PSOE, but with a political background, they say in the PP, which reserves the direction of its vote for Thursday, when an absolute majority will be required because the Penal Code is an organic law.
Negotiations continue and Cuca Gamarra, who represents the PP in the talks, hopes to be able to extract another concession from the Socialists. His vote on Thursday and this morning in the Justice Commission cannot be negative because it is the only way for the law to be reformed and to end, in the future, with the pernicious effects of the rule.
The PP already boasted in its day that the bill presented by the Socialists, against the criteria of its government partner, United We Can, was a “cut and paste” of the one that the popular ones had presented.
The agreement is practically made, although the Socialists try to reduce the importance of this pact with the PP.
According to Andrea Fernández, a negotiator for the PSOE, all the amendments included are of a “technical nature” and have to do “with drafting issues”, so they do not “substantially” modify the reform proposed by the Socialists or the definition of consent. of which “not even in a coma is touched”.
Opinion different from that of the PP. For Marta González, another of the popular negotiators, “simply modifying a word, a comma or a paragraph means that it has consequences for one’s own understanding of the text”, so “talking exclusively about technicalities is not very correct” because “even though they are technicalities, they have meaning and great importanceâ€.
The PSOE tries to lower the content of the agreement with the PP in an attempt not to upset its government and investiture partners. But the attempts have been in vain. As soon as they met, the Minister of Equality and author of the law, Irene Montero, attacked that tune. “The PP has humiliated the PSOE by making it further reinforce this return to the previous criminal model that bases the credibility of the victim based on the injuries that the violence of the aggressor exerts on the victim.”
For the minister of Unidas Podemos, “when you shake hands with the PP, it takes your arm”, and it is feared that consent, which is the central issue of the law, will disappear. Irene Montero, who said that the PSOE has time until Thursday – when they will vote in plenary – “to rectify their positionâ€.
The PSOE spokeswoman, Pilar AlegrÃa, responded to Irene Montero that “feminism is inclusive, not exclusive.” Regarding the agreements with the PP, she stressed that it is “a specific alliance, which affects technical amendments” and that “none affects the heart of the bill that this party presented.”
The presentation of the law, which will be approved today in commission, has the vote in favor of the PSOE, the PP Cs and the PNV, while United We Can, Vox, ERC and Bildu vote against. The plural group opts for abstention. Predictably, that will be the result of the vote on Thursday in plenary.
For now, the amendments introduced correct the declassification of the distribution or public dissemination through the Internet, the telephone or any other information or communication technology, of content specifically intended to promote, incite or encourage the commission of crimes of sexual assaults in the case of minors under 16 years of age.
They have also agreed to the amendment that introduces the liability of the legal person in cases of degrading treatment, workplace harassment or property harassment.
