Spain: Without the Fugitive, There is No Law

PuigdemontCarles Puigdemont

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, had to retract and concede again publicly yesterday, accepting the demands of the fugitive Puigdemont – leader of Junts, who with his seven deputies in Congress decides which laws move forward and which do not – in order to push through an “omnibus” Decree Law with 29 measures, which include everything from pension increases to subsidies for public transport passes or aid for those affected by the DANA in Valencia.

A week ago, the Government suffered a humiliating defeat in Congress – yet another one – when Junts (along with the PP and Vox) rejected the “omnibus” Royal Decree in which the Government had included 80 measures of all kinds, forcing all parliamentary groups to vote yes or no on the entire package. A take-it-or-leave-it situation that neither Junts nor PP accepted, demanding that the Government separate the social measures they were willing to support from those they were not willing to back – such as the extension of protection for vulnerable “inquiokupas” (tenants who do not pay their rent and become squatters) for example.

Until yesterday, the Government was adamant about not “breaking up” the Royal Decree and forcing its approval with all 80 measures, insisting that it would be the responsibility of the PP (the majority party in Parliament and head of the opposition) if pensioners saw their pensions reduced in February, following the increase already paid in January. “The social shield is a whole; it will not be divided,” government members insisted time and again.

However, Puigdemont has asserted his votes and forced the Government to break it up, including, for example, protective measures – a public guarantee – for property owners suffering from “squatting.” Additionally, Junts will reformulate its parliamentary proposal for Sánchez to submit to a vote of confidence, and the PSOE will support the initiative, something Sánchez had previously refused as “inappropriate.”

Pedro Sánchez’s take-it-or-leave-it situation has been so harsh and evident that even the government newspaper El País has had to acknowledge that Sánchez “continues to have the ability to concede – and frequently contradict himself about what he will never do, only to end up doing it…”

As Emiliano García Page, the socialist president of Castilla La Mancha, explained the day before on TV, it is evident that the PSOE is in an “impossible labyrinth,” having to satisfy both the far left and the independentist right at the same time in order to advance its legislative projects. Meanwhile, Puigdemont, the leader of Junts, maintains “the remote control” of the legislature with his seven seats.


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The Corner
The Corner has a team of on-the-ground reporters in capital cities ranging from New York to Beijing. Their stories are edited by the teams at the Spanish magazine Consejeros (for members of companies’ boards of directors) and at the stock market news site Consenso Del Mercado (market consensus). They have worked in economics and communication for over 25 years.