The government does not want to end the legislature without repealing the “Insanity Act.” For the coalition in general, which made this commitment in its investment treaty, but especially for Unidas Podemos, whose members suffered the consequences of this rule to the point that one of its deputies, Alberto Rodríguez, lost, this would be an impossible task. place as a result of the verdict issued by the Constitutional Court based on the testimony of a policeman, the principle of infallibility of which is reflected in the legal text that now wants to be dismantled.
Congress moved forward this Thursday in some respects. The mandated document meeting included in the report the points agreed upon by the investment partners in their meetings as recently as last Tuesday. Among these items are, for example, the reduction of sanctions provided for in the law approved by an absolute majority in 2015 by the government of Mariano Rajoy in the full uproar of social protests due to the reduction after the financial crisis.
The slogan agreed upon by both groups at the start of the legislature was to pass “a new citizen safety law that amends the fraud law to ensure the exercise of freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly.” This commitment has also been extended to the rest of the investment partners of the Congress, who have met more than 35 times in the last ten months in a working group to try to advance the final text based on the proposal of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV). ERC, EH Bildu and PDeCAT also sit at that table.
This Thursday, parliamentary groups gathered for a presentation to Congress, from which a basic text should emerge, to which the various parties can later propose changes. However, the investment bloc wants to reach a consensus so that any changes that are proposed later do not jeopardize the approval of the law, and it is in this discussion where the various actors find it difficult to reach an agreement in the first place. Especially in the six points, among which are regulation of hot return, use of rubber balls and other kind of disorder or what is called disrespect to the security forces.
Working group sources said Thursday’s meeting reached an agreement to draft almost all articles except five, which must be discussed at the next meeting before the Home Affairs Committee convenes. The last step before the opinion is put to a vote in the plenary session of Congress.
This agreement already reaches a percentage approaching 96% of the total articles of the law, which was confirmed on Thursday by the deputy speaker of Unidas Podemos, Enrique Santiago, who is responsible for the negotiations of this law with the partners. investment. When leaving the presentation session, the deputy of the confederal formation specified that the groups included in the text a reduction of the minimum amount of sanctions.
Thus, the minimum fine for minor violations will increase to 100 euros, and the maximum from 600 to 500; Serious ones will be able to range from 501 to 25,000 (instead of the current 30,000) and very serious ones will go from 25,001 to 600,000. In the latter case, the maximum amount does not change, as it is provided for in “very specific cases of change in sporting or cultural events”, as detailed.
Santiago notes that “the regulation of the right to demonstrate has also been strengthened so that it can be exercised freely with protection from the security forces, with clearer regulations regarding the moment when a demonstration must take place and that it is not punishable if communication cannot be carried out due to an emergency due to uncertain facts”, according to Europa In statements collected by Press.
Today’s meeting, in which all the parliamentary groups behind the working table have already taken part, also outlined some points that were agreed in the summer, for example, the article on the responsibility of the participants of the invitation to the demonstration during that fight. which are observed without prior communication. In addition to the fact that the participant in the invitation is not connected to the riots when it appears that he is not connected to them, the text already agreed in the summer by the groups establishes that the lack of prior communication of the protest will not be punished when he responds to a quick expression before an event of undeniable social impact, if it Will not lead to violence or disturbance of public order.
The achievements confirmed this Thursday are the result of a series of meetings held between December and January. This month is a non-working day in Congress, outside of the regular session period, but the government requested the reopening of activity to process this law and the housing law, as well as holding an extraordinary plenary session to approve the royal decree approved by the Council of Ministers in December to alleviate the consequences of the economic crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
The government has expressed some optimism about the law in recent weeks, which some partners do not share. EH Bildu’s sources confirm that they believe it will be “very difficult” for the “soft” fraud law to come out in the way the PSOE wants, they claim. “In recent weeks there has been a joke that Gag law reform is (almost) agreed. The difficulty of the agreement lies in the fact that the PSOE refuses to deactivate the most harmful articles for fear of the reaction of the ultra police unions and polls,” said John Iñárritu, a spokesman for the abertzale formation, this week. Nor is it likely that the ERC will adopt a change in the law that does not include a ban on riot gear such as rubber balls or a ban on hot rebounds.
“There is no agreement, and now we are not even talking about them. I hope that in the coming weeks progress can be made in this regard, because otherwise it will be impossible to achieve total reform or to cancel the most harmful articles. which has been punished more in recent years,” Iñárritu summed up this Thursday at the end of the presentation. Working group sources told the newspaper that an agreement was reached at the December meetings that the parties, rather than parliamentary spokesmen, would discuss the most contentious issues in meetings or bilateral calls, although they have not yet confirmed that those contacts were made. took place
Source: El Diario
