“It is going to be an intense year,” said the first vice president of the Government and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, at the start of the 2024 academic year in which this week the Executive will face the litmus test of validation in Parliament. , or the repeal, of the first three royal decree-laws of the mandate, which extend the anti-crisis measures. “We were already expecting such an intense start to the year,” Montero acknowledged, in an interview on TVE, while the majority groups of the investiture, and particularly Junts per Catalunya, maintain for now their vote against said validation.
The first vice president has admitted that they are offering compensation to Junts in this first negotiation of the year. “We are trying to see if there are other issues that may be of interest to them. As in any negotiation, if there is an element in which it is difficult to reach the meeting point, we must explore the perimeter to see if there are other issues that can be incorporated,” Montero acknowledged.
“All political parties, and even more so when there is a situation like the one Congress has, assert their votes and their brand, and therefore they want visibility and each one makes their own contribution. Junts per Catalunya is also what it tries to propose, although it does not have the urgency of the elections that other groups have, neither in Galicia nor in the Basque Country,” Montero pointed out. “But even so, from the first moment they have wanted to mark differences with another political group, and specifically with those who dispute the capacity of government in their territory. That must be taken into account when doing the political analysis, because that is present,” he indicated, in reference to the competition that Junts maintains with ERC.
On behalf of Junts, the vice president and spokesperson of the formation, Josep Rius, has demanded this Monday that the central government withdraw the decrees that it approved in December and that it re-present them separated by themes and agreed in advance with the post-convergent group, of such that the social measures included are not in danger.
The training already advanced a few days ago and was not in a position to support these measures since, in its opinion, the current wording endangers the application of the amnesty law, worsens the underfinancing of Catalonia and recentralizes powers of the Generalitat, as Rius lamented in a press conference.
Montero, in any case, has been convinced that, in the end, the Government will be able to validate these first decrees of the course. “We knew from the beginning that this was going to be a legislature of dialogue, dialogue and more dialogue. Every measure and every rule that you want to approve in Congress requires patience and the ability to understand. I am convinced that between now and Thursday, when there is still time, we will find those elements that will allow the decrees to be validated,” she assured. Not in vain, he recalled that these initiatives are beneficial for citizens, and especially for the most vulnerable sectors, since they maintain the reduction in the electricity bill and VAT on basic foods or revalue contributory pensions to 3.8 %.
“We must stop thinking about tactical and partisan elements, and think about the general interest,” Montero called on all parliamentary groups, since the validation of these decrees depends, for example, on Brussels disbursing another 10 billion euros. for Spain, or the protection of unemployed people is maintained. “All this requires a lot of dialogue,” the vice president reiterated.
Montero has insisted that the negotiation with Junts remains open, along with the rest of the majority groups of the investiture. “I am sure that in the end we will find those elements” that allow the validation of these decrees.
Regarding the negotiation with Junts, Montero has defended the initiative in matters of Justice which, in the opinion of Carles Puigdemont's party, could put at risk the application of the future amnesty law. “Junts knows perfectly well that the approach we have taken in the transposition of that decree law has to do with our subordination to community law,” he alleged.
And he has reiterated his conviction that, finally, the Government will be able to see these decrees validated. “We are talking to the different groups and I hope that soon each of the groups will be able to announce their favorable vote,” he confided.
Although the first vice president has ruled out in advance the possible support of the Popular Party for these initiatives to see the light. “The premises that were put in place to make this negotiation possible do not comply with either Europe's recommendations or a fiscal policy in the medium term that allows public accounts to be sustained and the welfare state preserved, because the PP continues with its only mantra of flag tax reduction,” he warned. The training of Alberto Núñez Feijóo thus continues, in her opinion, the same “failed trail” that was already followed in the United Kingdom.
For Montero, therefore, the PP's demands to abstain from voting on these decrees are mere excuses. “I don't think they are demands to abstain, they are justifications to convey that they are going to vote no,” he stressed. “It is a justification for voting no to the decree-laws,” he concluded.
The coalition government also has a task with Podemos. As announced after his departure from the Sumar parliamentary group, the purple party intends to assert its five deputies - now in the mixed group - arguing that their votes "are not there to cut rights" of the most vulnerable population. And he began to put it into practice this Monday, ensuring that, today, he is not "in a position" to approve the three decrees.
It was its spokesperson, Isa Serra, who, despite expressing her "will" to reach an agreement, has justified this position by the need to set limits: "If we accept cuts now, more will come later."
From Podemos, whose leadership is trying hard to eliminate Sumar from the equation by repeating that its only interlocutor is the PSOE, they do not, however, want to bear the responsibility of a hypothetical first parliamentary defeat of the Executive. And that is why Serra has not taken long to soften his order by remembering that until Wednesday there is still time to negotiate. "Remove the cuts and we will vote in favor," he declared, thus setting his compensation for Wednesday's plenary session.
Ione Belarra's party, which had already threatened this weekend to reject the Government's decree on changes to unemployment benefits, is now considering extending its rejection of the anti-crisis decree if a 2% cap on increases is not included. annual rents as well as a limit, also of 2%, on the price of the basic food basket.
