Vox had summoned all its regional spokespersons this Monday in Madrid to articulate a common strategy in the negotiation of regional budgets. The message was clear, I had warned People’s Party that he will not be able to count on their votes without giving in to some of his policies, notably those related to immigration which caused the departure of Santiago Abascal from the coalition executives.
However, the orientation changed and the surprise came early in the morning at the national headquarters on Bambú Street reading the news, reported by El Confidencial and confirmed by ABC, that a bill already on the verge of approval in the Senate could benefit dozens of ETA members and reduce their penalties.
This is a legal change as part of the transposition of a European directive which will benefit prisoners of the defunct ETA terrorist group who have already served years in prison outside Spain. The change went unnoticed during its processing in Congress – in fact it was unanimously approved – and is now being submitted to the full Senate without amendments having been introduced during its processing – it is being debated this Tuesday.
At Vox, they recognize that They never knew of the effect of this legislative amendment and, in fact, they still doubt whether its legal effects will benefit terrorist prisoners, because its wording is complex and nothing has raised alarm bells during the parliamentary process.
Those of Abascal thus strive to make it understood that their will is quite the opposite: “For terrorists and murderers, life imprisonment”said party spokesperson José Antonio Fúster. “We are studying this text. “We have doubts,” he added.
At present, and given their limited room for maneuver, in Bambú Street they are trying to talk to the Popular Party to delay the treatment in the Senate and not vote tomorrow, although since a procedure of urgency has been requested, their debate can only be delayed for an additional week.
Furthermore, Vox asks the government not to commit this “betrayal” and asks it to withdraw the project from the Cortes Generales before its final approval. According to him, he could do so under rule 127 of the Senate rules, which gives the Executive the power to withdraw a bill at any time during the procedure.
If the legislative reform ultimately results in prison grants for ETA members, those of Santiago Abascal assure that they will without hesitation ask forgiveness from the victims of terrorism and from all Spaniards. They see it as a new “atrocity” on the part of the government in its transfers to Bildu in exchange for its support for Pedro Sánchez.
“This looks like a legal trick, a deception, one more deception on the part of the government. “If that’s the case, things don’t hurt me, if that’s the case, if it’s a mistake, we will apologize to the victims,” Fúster assumed.
