The Congress of Deputies, after having left its activity to a minimum in the last two weeks due to the tragedy caused by the cold fall in the province of Valencia, where more than two hundred deaths have been confirmed, will return to a certain normality from tomorrow. It does so by accumulating outstanding issues from the plenary session suspended due to the disaster, but also by taking an inevitable look at the Isolated High Altitude Depression (DANA) which caused devastation in several eastern and from the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Peninsula.
The week will begin with a possible defeat of the Government on the horizon due to the ideological incompatibility of several of its allies. And tomorrow afternoon, the opinion of the bill aimed at imposing a minimum level of taxation on multinationals and large companies will be discussed at the Finance and Civil Service Commission. During the development of this norm, the PSOE saw how its partners pushed in two opposite directions regarding the exceptional taxes on banks and energy companies, approved at the time in response to the crisis derived from the war in Ukraine.
Sumar, ERC, Bildu and Podemos favor making taxes on banks and energy companies permanent, but the Socialists agreed with Junts and the PNV to extend the tax on banks in 2024, 2025 and 2026 and, in turn, delete it. energy companies, the latter would therefore expire on December 31. This led Sumar, who shares the coalition government with the PSOE, to table his own amendments. But even though Vice President Yolanda Díaz’s party is making efforts not to cause a split in the executive, the bill is under threat.
Bildu sources consulted by ABC plan to vote against the text if the two taxes do not become permanent, which Junts and the PNV oppose. “For the moment, all scenarios are open,” they say, stressing that they will decide tomorrow within the same commission. Podemos takes a similar position, criticizing the fact that it was negotiated first with the right and warning: “We cannot accept such a measure.” Meanwhile, from ERC, among the issues that have been submitted to the government to address the management of DANA are the need to “adapt the fiscal framework to the climate emergency”. That is to say: “Make taxes on the operating margins of banks and the profits of energy companies permanent, including deductions for investments in ecological transition projects.”
If all of Pedro Sánchez’s partners retain their leading positions, socialist defeat seems certain. In the event that the decision comes to fruition tomorrow, either through an agreement or to gain time to continue negotiations, the bill would be debated in plenary on Thursday. In the law for the protection of citizens’ security, known by its detractors as the “gag law”, ERC and Bildu decided to overturn it in committee the last legislature when not all its demands had been accepted – what the PSOE has now assumed.
Beyond this, it seems clear that Sánchez will complete his assault against RTVE and that Congress will appoint the eleven advisors who correspond to him in accordance with the new government regulations, expressly approved in the midst of the DANA crisis. On October 30, the day after the tragedy, with the opposition of the PP and Vox and the assent of the majority of the Council of Spokespersons, the President of the Congress, Francina Armengol, decided to suspend the ordinary plenary session but not the extraordinary one who met the day before with a single objective: to validate the royal decree-law which guarantees the Executive and its parliamentary allies control of the public entity.
The storm
The parliamentary week will continue to be very marked by DANA in Valencia. Minister Ángel Víctor Torres will appear and the government control session will be almost monographic on this issue.
taxes
The disagreements between Junts and the PNV, on the one hand, and Sumar, ERC, Bildu and Podemos, on the other, on the issue of taxes on banks and energy companies could mean a new defeat for the PSOE.
public television
Barring any major surprises, Sánchez seems to have guaranteed the appointment of RTVE advisors who correspond to Congress. Thursday, final vote.
This week, the nominations committee validated the eleven candidates – the PP refused to participate and Vox voted against – and the day after tomorrow, at half past twelve, the first vote in plenary session will take place. It requires a qualified majority of two thirds, supposed to guarantee the plurality of the RTVE board of directors, which will not be possible. Two days later, Thursday, the second vote will take place where, thanks to the reduction in majorities, the nominations can take place with only 176 deputies in favor. In other words, if the executive receives the support of its allies, several of whom obtained seats in RTVE although they are independent, success will be assured.
Cold drop, very present
This week, several DANA events and orders were canceled again, but starting tomorrow everything will return to a certain air of normality. Of course, the cold drop will be present. On Wednesday, before the control session, with the majority of questions on the tragedy, the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, will appear to detail the measures adopted by the Government to respond to the emergency situation. The PP and Vox wanted Sánchez to do it or, failing that, the vice-president and head of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, whom they accuse of being “hidden” in the crisis. She will be in Brussels that day for hearings ahead of her appointment as vice-president of the European Commission.
The Secretary General of Podemos, Ione Belarra, will ask Vice President María Jesús Montero why she did not take control of the situation in the face of the “absolute uselessness” of the autonomous government. Vox will interview the Minister of Finance, Margarita Robles, and the PP, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska. On Thursday, in addition, the outstanding questions from the suspended plenary session will be voted on. Among other things, it will be decided whether the Lower House demands the dismissal of the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, after his indictment for allegedly revealing secrets.
