The Government and Esquerra advance in a meeting to smooth the processing of the budgets

The chief negotiator of the Government of Pedro Sánchez, Minister Félix Bolaños, finalizes the talks with the Popular Party to finally renew the General Council of the Judiciary, after almost four years of blockade and frustrated opportunities.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
19 October 2022 Wednesday 09:31
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The Government and Esquerra advance in a meeting to smooth the processing of the budgets

The chief negotiator of the Government of Pedro Sánchez, Minister Félix Bolaños, finalizes the talks with the Popular Party to finally renew the General Council of the Judiciary, after almost four years of blockade and frustrated opportunities.

At the same time, from another flank of the Government, talks were held yesterday with Esquerra in order to put the processing of the new general budget project of the State on track, for the third consecutive year.

After the appointment, held this Tuesday with the utmost discretion, both parties see many possibilities of being able to seal a new budget agreement. "Everything has gone very well," they agree.

Time, as usual, is pressing. This coming Friday, at 2:00 p.m., the deadline for parliamentary groups to register amendments to all of the new budgets in Congress ends. The Popular Party in the first place, after yesterday Alberto Núñez Feijóo urged Pedro Sánchez to withdraw a project elaborated, in his opinion, on fictitious economic forecasts in the middle of the energy and inflationary crisis. Both the ERC and the PNV, the two essential formations so that the accounts of the Executive can be processed in the Cortes, maintain their warning that they have not yet made a final decision on whether they will present amendments to return the budgets to the Government, which would leave The course of the legislature and Sánchez's own mandate are up in the air.

But the meeting with ERC representatives seems to dissipate, in principle, this threat. In Moncloa they are convinced that, despite the fact that the negotiation will be tough with all their parliamentary allies, the budget project will exceed the entire debate in Congress, scheduled for October 26 and 27. And, after processing, they expect that the new accounts will once again gather a large absolute majority, with the support of the investiture bloc, for approval, "in a timely manner", so that they come into force on January 1. .

Esquerra, in compliance with the agreement sealed at the dialogue table between governments last July, demands steps in the dejudicialization of the Catalan political conflict. And he demands to reopen the debate on the reform of the crime of sedition in the Penal Code.