The remarks made this weekend by Pedro Sánchez before the PSOE Federal Commission were not well received by some of his investiture partners. “We are going to move forward with determination on this agenda, with or without the support of the opposition, with or without the help of a legislative power that must necessarily be more constructive and less restrictive,” he told socialist activists. Since then, several of these parliamentary allies have distorted the Prime Minister’s statements and reminded him that, whether he likes it or not, he needs their support to move Parliament forward.
The Government already knows the difficulties of repeating the majority of investitures in the Chamber. Less than a year after the new ministers took office, some of their partners have annulled important laws. But the result of the elections in Catalonia and the decision of the Supreme Court not to apply the amnesty to Carles Puigdemont have hardened the position of Junts and further complicated the accounts in Congress.
The right is aiming for a short legislature and Sánchez wanted to send a message to the socialist conclave this weekend to suggest that the government will continue even if it is not able to draw up the general state budgets for next year. The Executive has already approved the spending ceiling and will present it in the coming weeks to Congress – which Junts already overthrew this summer – and it is likely that it will not obtain the necessary support to approve the public accounts, which would make it lose more than 4,000 million euros without this parliamentary process.
But this ambition of the president of the government despite the parliamentary obstacles cannot mean, his partners believe, turning his back completely on Congress. Among them, the minority allied to the Council of Ministers. Sumar assured this Monday that he would intensify contacts with the rest of the parliamentary groups to try to serve as cement in the negotiation of the budgets. “We want to tell them that we are taking advantage of the opportunity of Parliament to not fall into the blocking strategy that the PP proposes,” said the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun.
The parliamentary spokesman, Íñigo Errejón, tried to minimize these statements and relate them to the proof that Congress does not have simple arithmetic. But he added: “It is time to take matters into our own hands.” “It is obvious that you need Parliament,” he then said. The Government, the deputy recalls, continues to bring texts to the Chamber, continues to appear. “It must be evaluated more by actions than by words. It is not a merit to have Congress, otherwise it would be a rarity,” he said.
Some parties that make up the parliamentary coalition have been tougher. Compromís considered Sánchez’s statements “very unfortunate.” “I don’t know to what extent this is part of a situation of arrogance or sordidness when, as we know, any executive power depends on his investiture or the support of the government,” said the spokesperson for the Valencians, Àgueda Micó. “All the parties that supported the investiture are necessary,” he added.
“I think it is an unfortunate phrase,” said the spokesperson for the Commons, Aina Vidal, this Tuesday at a press conference. “I think it would be good for the PSOE to remember that the government was born thanks to a plurinational and investiture majority,” she said, asking from the outset not to “leave it aside.” “Governing without the legislative power will always be a mistake because the democratic force is lost,” said Jorge Pueyo, of Chunta Aragonesista.
But one of the most significant warning signals was given this Monday by the Basque Lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, who predicted that the government would not be able to survive for long without the help of the legislative branch. The PNV has been one of the most stable partners of the Executive since the motion of censure that made Sánchez president in 2018 and the agreement between the two formations at the state level is a mirror of the one they renewed last April in the Basque Country.
“I believe that ultimately a government must mark a political initiative and that also implies having the capacity to legislate in Parliament,” he said in an interview with Hora 25 in which he considered that a budget could be extended but that the government must demonstrate legislative capacity and that it is very important that the investiture partners maintain their support. “Otherwise, I believe that there could be a problem with the maintenance of the Spanish legislative body itself,” he said.
The spokesman for this formation in Congress, Aitor Esteban, insisted on this idea during Tuesday’s press conferences and reflected on Sánchez’s words that “one thing is missing and another is power.” “Of course, it can be done momentarily, a few weeks, a few months, but be careful, you cannot forget that you have commitments,” he said. Precisely, this Wednesday, the Basque group will facilitate the approval of a PP initiative on the recognition of Edmundo González as president-elect of Venezuela.
Esteban later downplayed some of the importance of the Prime Minister’s words and assumed that the context in which he spoke them would be “a little broader”, but he also established that “it is very complicated to do without Parliament”.
Podemos also complained this week about Sánchez’s statements. The party’s spokesman and organizing secretary, Pablo Fernández, went so far as to call them “autocratic tics.” This government is based in parliament, MP Javier Sánchez Serna insisted Tuesday, telling the president that it is “impossible to govern without the support of Congress” unless you want to “do nothing.”
The party led by Ione Belarra has shown itself willing to negotiate with the government on the next general state budgets, but has set as a condition that the project does not envisage budget cuts and that it introduces social advances so that they can have their four votes, essential for it to advance in a vote in Congress.
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The socialist spokesman in Congress, Patxi López, contextualized the president’s statements this week. “He said: I will continue to govern knowing that sometimes Parliament will not agree with all the measures,” justified the PSOE deputy at the press conference that followed the Conference of Spokespersons.
Lopez recalled that the government has other powers that the legislature does not have, but he promised that his party would fight to advance things in the House because “the objective is to govern.”
Finally, he criticized the parliamentary partners for having “adhered to the history, the discourse and the framework of the right”, with their criticisms of Sánchez’s remarks, which he insisted were decontextualized. “He is the president who has given the most appearances in this Chamber,” he justified.
