Sánchez confirms his weakness at the end of the political year
An unexpected vote by representatives from the PP, Vox, Junts, and Podemos yesterday afternoon defeated the royal decree on urgent measures to strengthen the electricity system that the government had submitted to Congress for approval. The bill was ultimately defeated with 183 votes against.
The remaining agenda items, eight in total, passed the test with varying degrees of success, leaving the government and the majority supporting it with a 7-1 margin in the final plenary session of the current term. Not bad. But it's also true that the decree on measures for the electrical system was the most important item on the agenda. And it fell.
The votes against the PP, Vox, Podemos, and even the BNG were part of the calculations, but the announced vote for Junts was even more surprising because Carles Puigdemont's party had, in theory, negotiated with Minister Aagesen's team.
Junts' reasons for defending its position against this decree lie elsewhere. Simply put, it sought to issue a stern warning to Pedro Sánchez's government and the limited progress made in its particular issues, especially the implementation of the amnesty. It's possible that last Monday, when the Constitutional Court decided to postpone consideration of Puigdemont's appeal until September, the decree on measures for the electricity system was snuffed out.
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Podemos's rejection was a given since it decided to distance itself from the PSOE and Sumar.
The PP's party is also in the same political orbit. It's true that it has never shared the diagnosis of the causes of the April 28 blackout, but this vote was primarily intended to ruin the end of the political year for the PSOE, with an eye toward what will happen in September. The pressure from the electricity sector for its approval, which existed, was of no use.
The vote against the ultra-nationalists of Vox was taken for granted.
The decree in question is the result of the measures proposed in the report by experts who analyzed the causes of the April 28 blackout. "It enjoys enormous social consensus, ranging from environmental groups to businesses," said Sara Aagesen, who asked that the vote defend "the general interest and not private interests."
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The votes in favor came from ERC, PNV, Bildu, and Coalición Canaria, and all were the result of incorporating modifications to the charter. The Basques were especially interested in the industrial use of energy; the Canary Islands, in the repair of their islands' dilapidated electrical infrastructure; the Republicans, in measures to promote self-consumption and grid integration for domestic energy.
The rest of the agenda also saw success in the two reforms to the Congressional rules promoted by the majority of the investiture, which were voted against by the PP and Vox. This reform provides the Lower House with new tools to combat a phenomenon that has worsened in recent years: the presence of informants, far-right activists, who have broken all rules of conduct in Parliament.
The Senate also voted on the law creating the State Health Agency for the second time. The first time it was attempted, Junts also defeated it along with Vox and the PP. This time, the bad mood came out in another direction, and it was passed.
The last item approved was a decree on extraordinary cultural events, promoted by the Ministry of Culture, which will bring good news to Barcelona.
In short, if yesterday's plenary session was meant to serve as a measure of the state of affairs, it can be said that no one emerged unscathed, but neither was anyone seriously injured. It is true that the government had already preemptively withdrawn the reform of the working day from this last plenary session of the current year—which would have been presumably lost—and also failed to bring forward the justice reform—which would have also been lost—although yesterday, Minister Félix Bolaños, in the corridors of Congress, asserted that it was never his intention to debate it now. It was a light-hearted plenary session, and even so, it ended up being bitter.
The day ended with the President of Congress, Francina Armengol, wishing their honors a happy holiday.
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