The impact of what happened this Wednesday in Congress is overwhelming. Overnight, twenty million public transport users, twelve million pensioners or two and a half million workers who earn the interprofessional minimum wage saw their pockets affected. The clamps of PP, Vox and Junts overturned the so-called omnibus decree that the Government submitted to its validation. And the idea now is to chop up the measures included in that decree in successive councils of ministers in search of the parliamentary support necessary to endorse them.
At some point on Wednesday, as soon as Pedro Sánchez’s Executive suffered one of its most notorious parliamentary blows, the idea arose in the president’s closest circle of convening an Extraordinary Council of Ministers to urgently re-approve by decree with some of the policies with the greatest impact, such as pension increases or transport aid, to prevent the political strategy of the right by voting against affecting so many millions of citizens. But it didn’t take long for it to be discarded.
Moncloa’s political commitment is to let the parties that voted against “stew in their sauce,” with an eye toward the discomfort that such sensitive policies may generate among citizens. Although there are those among the socialist ranks who doubt the success of a strategy of wearing down the PP and Junts with the attempt to hold them responsible for the problem, the Government is now trying to put the focus precisely on the groups that voted against.
“The Government has done its job,” said Pedro Sánchez this Thursday during his appearance in Valencia after meeting with the mayors of the municipalities affected by DANA. “It is them, those parliamentary groups that did not think about the general interest, who have to respond to what their position is going to be now. They thought about winning a vote at the expense of the well-being of the people, and it seems to me that it is the worst way to do politics,” lamented the president, who was careful to point more to the PP than to Junts although he included the previous attitude in the “ anti-politics.”
The internal debate now focuses on what to prioritize from the broad package of aid and economic policies that the omnibus decree included. According to all the sources consulted in the Government, at the end of this Thursday the decision had not been made and none of the departments involved in the measures had instructions as to whether any of them will be rescued this coming Tuesday.
Yes, the Ministry of Labor has rushed to plug the hole caused by the parliamentary failure in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage. The extension of the 2024 amount was also annulled and, given the interpretations that this situation leaves Spain without a minimum wage as of this Thursday, Yolanda Díaz’s department launched an instruction, to which elDiario.es has had access, which intends shield it by concluding that the salary floor of 1,134 euros in 2024 is still in force. In addition, it warns that the Labor Inspection will monitor this compliance.
Beyond the reproach to the PP and Junts, the Government does assume that the formula of accumulating measures in the same decree has failed. In fact, in the PSOE there are those who consider this omnibus format to be amortized and openly defend that, with the current parliamentary panorama, it would be irresponsible to use it again in the remainder of the legislature. That is why the plan now is to unravel the content of the text released this Wednesday and submit it for validation in the fragmented Congress to guarantee the support of the Chamber.
Both the PP and Junts have assured that in the event that the Government brings to Congress the revaluation of pensions and transport aid separately from the rest of the measures, they will have their votes to move it forward. And they excuse their vote against this week by including in the omnibus decree some points that do not even appear in that decree. In recent hours, the PP has alluded, for example, to the “tax increase” that it claims is practiced by the Executive and that in no case is reflected in the text.
The left-wing partners are hurrying
In parallel, the left-wing partners do hurry up Pedro Sánchez. Podemos, EH Bildu and the BNG do not want the Government to waste time in reactivating the measures that declined and demand that the Executive move to recover the social shield that included, among other issues, the revaluation of pensions or the extension for six months of aid to public transport.
Some of those partners already showed their anger during the Plenary Session. Esquerra Republicana charged harshly against Junts, understanding that overturning a decree like this only has the objective of harming the Government. “It is not the Government that is harmed, but the people. And society should not pay for the irresponsibility and partisan calculations of the right-wing forces,” sources from EH Bildu report at the same time.
Podemos, however, reproaches the Government for its lack of capacity to negotiate with its partners and move forward with the entire package. And for this reason, this Thursday he demanded that he return to the Council of Ministers as he left a few weeks ago and not give in to the “blackmail” of the right-wing parties, who “want to criminalize the most vulnerable people in our society, who are those who are at risk of eviction.”
Ione Belarra’s party believes that the Executive must act quickly and take advantage of the next meeting of ministers to approve the measures, especially concerned about protection against vulnerable evictions. And that is why he has already transferred his request directly to the PSOE. “There are tens of thousands of people who can reactivate an eviction,” say party sources, who believe that a delay of even a few days can already have “terrible” consequences.
A reasoning similar to that conveyed by EH Bildu, which accuses Carles Puigdemont and Alberto Núñez Feijóo of using similar arguments to justify their vote against in yesterday’s plenary session. The pro-independence party sees it as striking that a day later both have launched the same proposal to the Government to bring to Congress a decree with the measures that have their support.
“What issues have been introduced that are not social and economic protection measures? Which ones do they reject exactly? Neither party has explained it. Citizens should not be confused with excuses that are far from reality to try to justify their vote against; They must assume their responsibility for the political position adopted,” lament sources from the Basque party.
And that is why they insist, like Podemos, that the Government must bring the measures that declined to the Council of Ministers so that they are approved “as soon as possible.” “Not only the increase in pensions and the reductions in public transport as intended by the right-wing parties that yesterday overturned the decree, but also all the measures contained in the social shield: the extension of the electric social bonus, the prohibition of supply cuts basics and evictions for vulnerable families…”, they review.
The BNG also sent a statement this Thursday in which it has asked the Government to try to approve the measures that have declined, although it has focused its requests on the increase in pensions and discounts for rail transport which, party sources recall, are issues that appear in the investiture agreement that they signed with the PSOE.
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