While the president of the government negotiates in Brussels for the rearmament of the European Union, which is strongly opposed by his coalition partners, in the Congress of Deputies, the PSOE loses vote after vote, losing the support of Junts (the party of Puigdemont) in some cases, ERC (the party of Oriol Junqueras) in others, and Sumar, the party led by Yolanda Díaz, the vice president of the government.
In one of the votes, and against all odds, Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s party joined forces with Junts, a usual partner of the government, to block the creation of the State Agency for Public Health, an organization that was supposed to manage and coordinate current and emerging health crises and threats. The Catalan independence supporters voted against it in retaliation for the “outrage” perpetrated by the Congress Table, where the left has a majority, by allowing a regulation— the food waste law— to be voted on this Tuesday without including an amendment from the PP, incorporated in the Senate, regarding a reduction in VAT on basic food items.
In another vote, PP, Vox, Junts, and PNV combined their seats to reduce protection for wolves, which means that hunting them will be allowed again north of the Duero River.
Finally, the Government split in two over an initiative from the BNG that called for Spain to leave NATO. Yolanda Díaz’s party voted in favor of abandoning the Atlantic Alliance and against increasing defense spending, both in Spain and across the European Union. The PSOE, on the other hand, voted just the opposite: to remain and increase military spending, in line with what Pedro Sánchez is advocating. The other left-wing parties, namely ERC, Bildu, BNG, and Podemos, also voted against the Government’s position. So while the President of the Government is negotiating in Brussels about the rearmament of Europe, it is evident in Congress that he lacks political support to move forward. For this reason, Sánchez has decided not to put the decisions related to that increase in military spending to a vote
