Half a glass of water can always be seen as half full or half empty, and Pedro Sánchez chooses the first option in the face of the European Commission’s proposal for a directive that proposes placing the maximum penalty for the crime of embezzlement at “at least five years” in prison , despite the fact that his penal reform agreed with ERC, which benefited several leaders of the convicted process, placed it in four years for the reduced rates.
In line with the allegations already expressed by the Spanish Government the day before, Sánchez emphasized yesterday that the proposed European directive is not final, as it still has to be agreed in the Council and the European Parliament, and may have modifications. But he emphasized that “it is good news that legislation is harmonized at European level to fight corruption”. And he stressed that Spain arrives at this debate “with its homework done”. The president highlighted, thus, that this latest reform of the Penal Code incorporates the crime of illicit enrichment, which is not yet included in other EU countries.
At Moncloa, they assure, in any case, that their reform of embezzlement, which distinguishes between committing the crime with or without profit, is included in the proposed European directive.
The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, yesterday extended his hand to Sánchez to reverse, in line with the Commission’s approaches, the reduction of penalties for embezzlement that the Government approved at the request of ERC, along with the repeal of the sedition And he invited him to do it together, as in the reform of the law of only yes is yes. If Sánchez rejects this offer, he warned that he will do it when he arrives in Moncloa. “Do with me what I will do without you, rest the pains for sedition and corruption. If you don’t do it with me, I will when I’m president with the votes at the polls. Rectify as in the law of only yes is yes, and we recover the dignity of our country”, he said.
Rectifying laws like this, clarified Feijóo, is what he is referring to when he promises to “repeal Sanchism”, because “the list of nonsense is too long and painful”. It is, he insisted, about “lowering the level of legal nonsense” of the Executive and “putting the crime of sedition back into the Penal Code, to defend the dignity of democracy and the nation”. Also recover the reduced penalties for embezzlement, because “it is unsustainable to continue benefiting the corrupt and those who attempt against the unity of Spain”, he warned.