When the President of Congress, the socialist Francina Armengol, announced this Wednesday, in the middle of a control session, a recess to discuss the possibility of suspending the plenary session, the matter seemed to be only a matter of minutes. The day in the Lower House had started sadly, with a mandatory minute of silence for the victims of DANA, and its memory distorted from the start the usual quarrel between their lordships. The corruption surrounding the government and the allegations of sexual abuse against Íñigo Errejón remained in the background and the speakers, from the opposition and the executive, began their interventions with messages of affection to those affected by the storm . At 8:15 a.m., the spokesperson for the Popular Parliamentary Group, Miguel Tellado, sent a message to Armengol inviting him to celebrate a minute of silence for the victims. There was only talk of thirteen deaths at the time. Sources from the presidency of Congress, consulted by ABC, assure that she had already expressed her desire to do so to her cabinet at seven in the morning. Careers aside, your Lordships’ cell phones have received definitive notification. There were already around fifty dead. Unfortunately, a number that has increased. Tellado himself raised his voice, asked to speak and asked Armengol to suspend the plenary session given the circumstances. His socialist counterpart, Patxi López, initially supported him and the compromise deputy Àgueda Micó underlined what was on everyone’s minds: “There are fifty deaths”. At that point, Armengol declared a recess and their lordships began to discuss the best decision. The Congress Council met first, then the Council of Spokespersons Standard Related News Yes The government will place on the board of RTVE the press chief of Bolaños and a former communications director of the PSOE, Emilio V. Escudero José Pablo López, the content director fired months ago by Elena. Sánchez appears as a possible replacement for Cascajosa at the head of RTVE. The members of the PP within the board of directors of the Lower House defend the suspension of all parliamentary activity, but differences are already appearing: the socialists demand that a distinction be made between “governing” and “legislating” and they advocate the postponement of the ordinary plenary session, that of control to the Executive, but not the extraordinary one to validate the RTVE decree with which the PSOE and its partners will ensure their control. At the Council of Spokespersons, according to parliamentary sources in conversation with this newspaper, Tellado is also betting on a suspension of all activity. At first it seemed like this was what was going to happen, but everything changed when López and the first vice president of the Council, Alfonso Rodríguez Gómez de Celis, arrived at the meeting. Vox supports the PP’s criteria, but the socialists convince their partners. Yes, the ordinary plenary session, committees and activity for this Thursday have been postponed. Sumar MP Aina Vidal, according to sources present, argued that since the MPs. were not going to travel to the affected areas of eastern Spain, it made no sense to suspend the debate on the decree; only the control session because of his harsh tone. The decision caused a boycott of this debate by PP, Vox and Compromís, particularly affected by the tragedy because it was a Valencian party. The Government’s argument does not explain why the ordinary plenary session – including votes on the issues debated the day before –, the committees and the legislative activity scheduled for this Thursday were postponed. The Senate, unanimously, canceled everything planned for this week and will pay tribute this Thursday to the victims of the tragedy in the Plaza de la Marina Española Reactions President of the PP Alberto Núñez Feijóo “Efforts must focus on the collaboration. A plenary session does not make sense with what is happening” Spokesperson for the PSOE in Congress Patxi López “The decision was to suspend the plenary session of control and maintain the legislative activity of Parliament” Spokesperson for Vox in Congress Pepa Millán “Today politics should not be a novelty and, nevertheless, we are witnessing with astonishment a Dantesque spectacle” Compromí Deputy Àgueda Micó “We are in a moment of mourning and we are not going to not participate in the plenary session that is being held » Gabriel Rufián, of ERC, slipped to the Council of Spokespersons that the PP only wanted the RTVE decree not to be validated, according to the sources present, to which Tellado responded by the absolute availability of his party to debate it another day. The PP and Vox remained quiet, while Junts stood out, emphasizing that Parliament had indeed suspended its activities, but left the decision in the hands of the majority.
