Junts saves Sánchez while Podemos knocks down Díaz's unemployment benefit increase

Once again, Pedro Sánchez's baraka made his appearance when everything seemed lost. It was one of the most bizarre days in memory in Parliament, and left significant wear and tear on the majority, but once again the president narrowly escaped and presented it as a success, with all his deputies applauding him. At the last moment, after making a speech that pointed towards no, Junts decided to save the Government decrees – which included the so-called social shield, the revaluation of pensions or free transportation for young people, minors and the unemployed – with a movement very atypical and that they kept secret for several hours: their seven deputies did not vote, something that functioned as an abstention and allowed the first decree to go ahead by 172 to 171, a single vote. However, despite the fact that Junts maintained this strategy in the four votes that took place this Wednesday, Podemos' “no” joined that of the PP, Vox and UPN to overthrow the second decree – 176 noes compared to 167 yeses -, which defended Yolanda Díaz, leader of Sumar and declared enemy of the formation of Ione Belarra, which meant a large increase in unemployment benefits, from 480 euros to 570 in the first six months and to 540 euros for the next six (and was compatible with the first 150 days of work).

Podemos thus completed the coup against Díaz in the first vote in which it had the opportunity, while supporting the other decrees after a negotiation with the socialists. The terrible relationship between Sumar and Podemos after those from Belarra did not obtain any ministry thus had its first consequence with practical effects on more than 700,000 recipients of the subsidy, who for the moment will not see their amount increased. Podemos demands that the decree be presented again without the reduction in the contribution of recipients over 52 years of age, which according to Labor has been done to prevent, with the increase in the minimum wage, more contributions being made without a job than with it. , nonsense. “It is a very serious irresponsibility, they have voted with the right and the extreme right,” Díaz said in Zero Wave about Podemos. Sánchez asked those from Belarra to evaluate his decision to overturn a decree that according to him implies clear improvements in the subsidy and pointed out that the Government will take this measure forward in the Cortes as soon as it can, although he did not give dates.

Junts decided in the end not to vote, according to an official statement from this formation, because the PSOE has committed to them to transfer immigration powers to Catalonia through a law, the immediate publication of the so-called fiscal balances and the suppression of the article 43 bis of the civil procedure law that was in the first decree, the bus, which according to Junts' interpretation “put the amnesty law in danger.” In addition, Junts has achieved a commitment that the VAT on oil will be 0% and also a reform of the capital companies law “to reverse the PP decree of 2017 so that companies can return to Catalonia,” says the text. , which does not mention sanctions. In addition, the budget for the digitalization of justice will be multiplied by five. Sources from the PSOE confirm these extremes, except for the one that states that “the State will assume the entire cost of the public transport price bonuses.” These sources assure that 30% will be assumed, as in all autonomies. But the rest of the concessions, much broader than those that had been publicly discussed, are those negotiated, according to the socialists.

Sánchez ignored these concessions, focused on the result and charged against the PP: “I already said that to revalue pensions I would look for votes under the stones. The PP said it was in favor of revaluing pensions and has once again voted against. This opposition has to ask itself why it is in politics. To outlaw political parties? ”He said, visibly satisfied, as if nothing had happened.

But during the day the Government's anguish was evident and the afternoon was full of surprises. The vote this time has not been in person, because the session is not in Congress, which is under construction, but in the Senate. And that is why it was completely telematic, something that usually produces errors, as happened with the vote on the labor reform, which miraculously went ahead – again Sánchez's baraka – due to an error by PP deputy Alberto Casero. This time the error came from the other side, and again thanks to the Government's fortune, it did not have the dramatic consequences that it had for Pablo Casado's PP. Some popular people still believe that this is where the downfall of the PP leader began, who would end up resigning just a month later. This time, again, the progressive majority was lucky and the error of Sumar deputy Gerardo Pisarello, who did not vote from the third decree under discussion, caused a tie that implied repeating the vote.

If there had been two errors like that, the vote would have been lost and there would be no solution. But the tie opened the door to resolving the situation. The PP and Vox tried to complicate life for the Government and quickly asked that the repetition be done by show of hands, to see if anyone failed, including the president, who was in La Moncloa. But the president of Congress, the socialist Francina Armengol, quickly decided to grant an hour of time so that everyone, including the president, would have time to arrive. And Sánchez left in a hurry from La Moncloa and immediately appeared in the Senate: it was unimaginable that the vote would be lost because of him. With the repetition, there were no longer errors, and Junts did participate in the vote to abstain, so the 172-171 returned and the Executive thus issued the other decree, that of the social shield, and two other votes. In fact, the PP movement helped Sánchez, who not only received applause and was able to sell the image of success after an agonizing day, but also, when Junts entered the chamber—this time he did vote in person—he supported the ceiling of spending and there was a vote of 179 seats in favor of the Government as the culmination of the day.

Emotion slide

The day was a kind of permanent slide of emotions in both the Government and the opposition. Since early in the morning, the PP and Vox were sniffing out the possibility of a resounding defeat for Sánchez in his first litmus test less than two months after achieving the investiture with the votes of eight groups. The tone of the start of Félix Bolaños, the main negotiator of these decrees, was especially dramatic. He went so far as to tell all the deputies who were in the no vote – at that time Junts insisted that he was among them – that “the pensioners who voted for them must know that with their no they are avoiding the increase and causing a cut, a freeze of pensions.” In the right-wing benches they murmured indignantly, but at the same time they thought that this tone was a prelude to a great defeat for the Executive. “Valle Inclán is writing his next novel today. “This is absurd,” Alberto Núñez Feijóo mocked in the
hallways, insisting that Carles Puigdemont was displaying from Brussels his ability to “humiliate” the Government by keeping it in suspense all day. “If I had known that this was politics, I would not have dedicated myself to it. “My country does not deserve this misrule, this disgrace, the Government has made a fool of itself by marketing the rights of all Spaniards,” the leader of the PP even said in the afternoon in an appearance before the media.

Félix Bolaños, Santos Cerdán and María Jesús Montero entered and left the plenary session at full speed, they met in the Government area, they slipped into more discreet areas of the Senate. The negotiations multiplied while Miriam Nogueras, the spokesperson for Junts, decided not to intervene in the first decrees to maintain even more suspense. Yolanda Díaz also moved to try to keep her decree from falling. She was waiting for Junts' yes or abstention to try to complete the negotiation with Podemos, who had already been offered the possibility of negotiating her reform through an amendment in the processing as a bill. But Podemos, after a last attempt by Labor that tried to call a meeting without success, at 2:30 p.m., gave the final no and thereby guaranteed the death of Díaz's decree, a clear political revenge after the rupture between the two groups. which was consummated when those from Belarra decided to go to the Mixed Group. Podemos took a hitherto unknown leap and voted “no” with the PP and Vox, and also broke another tradition: it distanced itself from ERC and Bildu—which undermined the position of those from Belarra—who did support the text, which still left more alone this group with the opposition.

The Government expressed great concern at all times, especially after Nogueras in the gallery hinted that they would reject the three decrees. “Make a decree without tricks and you will have our votes,” he even said while officially Junts insisted that they were going to reject the decrees and even proposed that there be immediately an extraordinary Council of Ministers to remake them, something that would have been an even harder blow for the image of Sánchez. Bolaños and Montero left the chamber with visibly exhausted faces, after a long night of negotiation, and it seemed that the fate of the Government was cast. Even some Junts deputy deceived journalists by saying that they had voted against and some media outlets took it for granted. But it wasn't like that. Junts had not voted, something that has the same practical effect as abstention.

Sánchez was saved once again. But the day is not just another. He leaves significant wounds on most. It reopens the bleeding wound between Sumar and Podemos, which thus becomes a major problem for the Executive that needs its five votes for everything – although it can also mean great wear and tear for Podemos, which thus causes 700,000 people to be left with a lower subsidy. —. And it also complicates the mistrust between the PSOE and Junts, which made them suffer all day and thus gave the opposition an advantage. Some members of the Government believe that this day will mark a before and after, because no one imagines a legislature with this parliamentary hell in each vote. Sánchez managed to save the furniture, and that is what is important for a resister like him, but many in the Executive believe that things must be rethought to prevent this torture from becoming the norm.

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