The PSOE sanctions a deputy for missing the meeting that was supposed to veto the PP and Junts agreement on the electricity tax

The parliamentary leadership of the Socialist Group in Congress has opened a sanctioning file against the Almeria deputy Juan Antonio Lorenzo for not having attended the meeting of the Ecological Transition Commission Table in which the Government parties were going to veto the PP amendments and of Junts that in the end made possible the agreement of these parties to annul the electricity production tax. He faces a fine of 1,200 euros.

The Board of the Ecological Transition Commission, chaired by former socialist minister Cristina Narbona, met last Monday to review the amendments proposed by the groups to the law on the greenhouse gas emissions trading regime and examine the vetoes of the Government to stop those proposals that it considers harmful to budgetary policy, whether due to excess spending or loss of income.

However, Lorenzo’s absence left PSOE and Sumar without a majority on the commission’s table and two amendments from the PP and Junts were saved from being vetoed; There was a two-way tie between the Government and PP and in the end the veto fell and the amendments were able to continue.

Precisely these two amendments were the basis of the agreements between PP and Junts that were later approved, bending the Government, in the presentation that was going to debate the law. One of them, the reduction to zero rate of the tax on electricity production with which the State collects between 1,000 and 1,500 million euros each year.

A family emergency

According to ‘El Independiente’, the general secretary of the Socialist Group, Montse Mínguez, had to call the deputy on Monday to try to locate him and Lorenzo explained that he had a family emergency and that he did not know that the board meeting was going to be so relevant.

In any case, the parliamentary leadership of the PSOE has decided to open the sanctioning file given that the episode has caused the Government to defeat a law, something that does not seem easy to fix. For now, the PSOE and Sumar have decided to freeze the processing of the law, seeking a formula to revoke the PP and Junts agreement.

Socialist sources have confirmed to Europa Press that Lorenzo faces two fines of 600 euros, one for each amendment that could not be vetoed, which will mean a total of 1,200 euros, slightly more than the supplement of 802 euros that he receives monthly as secretary of the Table of the Ecological Transition Commission.