The Congress of Deputies has the power to control the actions of the government. However, the opposition claims that Pedro Sanchez steals this work from the Lower House and that its ministers evade this power “with repeated absences” during the control sessions held on Wednesdays. But is it really like that?
As this newspaper analyzes, during the 17 government control sessions which have taken place since the start of the legislature, ministers have been absent no less than 107 times. This means that there are on average six absences per testing session.
The ministers leading the table are the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares (11 absences); that of Defense, Marguerite Robles (8), that of Industry, Jordi Hereu (8), today governor of the Bank of Spain and until a few weeks ago minister of digital transformation, José Luis Escrivá (8); and the Ministers of Ecological Transition and Culture, Therese Ribera And Ernest Urtasun (both with 7 absences each).
However, not all absences are equal. Some are justifiable for scheduling reasons, such as official travel. But others arise because the minister on duty has no questions to answer and, not being an MP, decides not to occupy the blue bench during the control session.
But there are also ministers who do not go to Congress even though nothing prevents them from doing so on the agenda. And there are those who hide behind the fact that they have scheduled events, even if the truth is that they do not coincide in time with the control session and they could attend both without any problem. Each case has its particularities.
As PP sources explain to this newspaper, their parliamentary group has a quota of ten questions for each control session in the Government. The week before the session, the Secretary of State for Relations with the Cortes, Rafael Simancas, sends them a list of ministers who will be available this Wednesday, depending on the agenda.
The PP therefore has until Thursday of the week preceding the session to record the questions it wishes to ask the ministers. “We choose, according to the strategy of each moment, which ministers we want to solicit. The problem is that if they are not present, we cannot ask them the questions.” they say.
Allegation of “manipulation”
The spokesperson for the PP in Congress, Miguel Telladolodged a complaint with the Congress Council for the “repeated” absence of members of the Government at monitoring sessions and asked to “establish transparency mechanisms” so that ministers “duly justify the major cause” of their absence.
Tellado accused the Executive of declaring itself “in rebellion” and “fleeing” parliamentary control, and called for regulatory reform so that it “protects the rights of deputies” to subject the government to parliamentary control.
But the matter does not stop there, it goes further. According to the PP, the Executive has adopted a strategy in which the Secretary of State announces the absence of certain ministers who, in turn, are present. “This is a total manipulation maneuver,” they criticize.
“Now we are told, on Tuesday of the previous week, which ministers will not come. While we have already recorded the questions for those who will be present, They inform us that in the end the agendas change and that they will attend. This leaves us no room to question the ministers we wish to question,” explain the aforementioned PP sources.
This happened on September 17 with the Minister of the Presidency, Felix Bolanoswhose absence had been reported the previous week and finally came, without it being possible to ask him any questions. This also happened with the head of the Treasury and first vice president, María Jesús Montero, on December 20. and with Therese Ribera the same December 20 and May 22.
As you can see, these are ministers with high political visibility and the opposition may have a particular interest in asking questions.
The Government explains, however, that no parliamentary question can remain unanswered and that if the agenda does not allow it one week, it can be answered the following week. But this is of little use to the opposition because the political moment is lost.
Unjustified absences
Of the 107 absences in this legislature, 28 were linked to official trips, 34 to other commitments on the agenda in Spain and 40, most of them, occurred without other commitments planned on the minister’s agenda. The smallest number of absences, only five, occurred despite the fact that the serving minister’s agenda indicated that he would attend the Congress.
The most striking are the 40 unjustified absences. At the top of this ranking, with four faults each, is the Minister of Culture; Ernest Urtasun; that of the Economy, Carlos’ body; that of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy and former minister José Luis Escriva. But each case is different.
Bustinduy’s team tells this newspaper that the minister is practically never called upon during Government control sessions. “We are the first to want to participate in Congress to debate laws on the family and dependency, or on consumer issues. but they almost never ask us“, they say. “We have always been present when the opposition requested our presence in the House, always,” they add.
Something similar could happen with Urtasun, whose portfolio has fewer powers, even though the four unexcused absences represent more than half of his total absences, which number seven. Even Carlos’ body He said on one occasion that he found it striking that he was almost never asked the question.
But not all cases are like this. The PP has shown more interest in calling on Escriva and, of his eight total absences, half are unjustified. In the case of Jose Manuel Albaresthere are three unjustified absences, as in the case of the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas.
Furthermore, the fact that there are no questions for each minister does not mean that they should not go to Congress. Their presence is also an opportunity for journalists and other MPs to discuss current issues. It is striking that when Pedro Sánchez appears, everyone goes there.
