Starting this Tuesday, something usual is going to happen in Congress, especially this legislature, which is going to from urgency to urgency. From a pandemic to a war at the gates of Europe.
What will happen is this: you will receive a decree law approved by the Council of Ministers, the Board will qualify it and within a few days it will set a date to validate or repeal it in plenary. This decree will consist of measures to deal with the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the Spanish economic and social fabric. It will contain initiatives in the energy, fiscal, transport and social spheres aimed at palliate a reality that citizens are already suffering, as the increase in the price of fuel or the electricity billat historical maximum levels.
In less than 30 days, the plenary will meet to endorse the decree or to return it to the Government. A member of the Executive will appear to defend a text that, it should be remembered, will be in force at that time. The parliamentary groups, each party with a presence in the hemicycle, from the PP to the CUP, will present their position. In a context of adversity, speaking out against such measures can be difficult to navigate, if not impossible. The next step is voting.
The president will open the turn, the deputies will press the corresponding button and the votes will be counted. It is more than likely that the decree will be supported by a significant majority of the Chamber, according to what its leaders have declared this Monday. Neither PP nor Cs, on the one hand, nor ERC, PNV or EH Bildu, on the other, have advanced rejection or oppositionperhaps criticism of aspects that they miss. One more or less common has dealt with the delay of the decree, which could have been approved two or three weeks ago, the Cs spokesman, Edmundo Bal, has pointed out. The PSOE, according to sources from its leadership consulted by The Newspaper of Spainis optimistic, of course much more than with the previous great decree, that of the labor reform.
Nothing else to do the scrutiny, Meritxell Batet will ask if any group wants that decree to be processed as a bill by the urgent procedure. One has already said that he wants that to happen: Ciudadanos himself. Consequently, Bal will say “yes” to the question of the president of the Congress and then a second vote will begin. In the event that the votes in favor win, the decree will follow the usual circuit of the laws, although with the option of contracting the times by half, since that is what the urgent procedure consists of. If the votes against win, Congress will do nothing with the decree and its role will have ended here.
The risk of forgetting
The coronavirus pandemic, in March 2020, led to a series of decrees that, little by little, in a trickle, were reaching Congress. The parliamentary majority gave the go-ahead to all but one, that of the treasury remnants of the municipalities. The Ministry of Finance did not negotiate it well and ran into the anger of the opposition, which repealed it. The Congress is currently characterized by a fragmentation that has not been experienced since the early 1980s, so that a bad negotiating step, or a false step, can cause displeasure. They have scared the government a little, but some socialist official is still startled when he is reminded that other decree of European funds, the one that went ahead because Vox, clueless, abstained. If not, paperón before the EU.
Many of those decrees became bills for processing. Some are still in the drawer of the corresponding Commission, accumulating weekly extensions of the amendment deadlines. Others unlocked. Here is one of those limbos that parliamentary practice has created, taking advantage of a regulatory vacuum. Although the majority votes in favor of the urgent procedure, the project may slide into oblivion and not come out of it.
The decree law is a tool that the Constitution protects. Article 86 marks its use for situations of “extraordinary and urgent need”. Congress must “immediately”, according to the Magna Carta, debate it and validate it or repeal it within a period of 30 days. If the period is between legislature, the function is assumed by the Permanent Delegation. Point 3 of the article states: “During the term established in the previous section, the Courts may process them as bills through the urgent procedure.”
As previously noted, this emergency route cut deadlines in half stipulated in the regulations for ordinary processes. That is one difference; the other, that amendments to the whole, or in other words, vetoes, are not allowed. The ordinary rhythms mark periods of 15 days for the different phases of the procedure, in particular the presentation of specific amendments to the articles, the consent of the Government to them and the writing of the report in presentation. From 15 to 15 days, the term would go to a month and a half. On the other hand, the urgent procedure would leave it in a month, approximately.
It is therefore a faster processprecisely because of the urgency from which the decree starts, and give room to groups so that they can leave their stamp on the law. Or a seal more visible than there may be.
However, it is hardly applied.
An economic and social shield against war
A situation like the one caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine justifies the decree. It is another context of urgency. This is what the government has done. This Tuesday it will approve a very ambitious one, full of measures, such as the bonus of 20 cents for each liter of fuel poured into the vehicle, the ban on dismissal for causes related to the armed conflict, the limit of 2% to reviews of the rents during these three months (raising them according to the CPI may be unaffordable for many families), the increase in minimum vital incomethe extension of the tax reductions in the electricity bill, a new line of ICO guarantees, the limit on the price of gas, etc.
The reactions were immediate, starting with that ofthe PSOE, whose state of mind has mutated. From the sorrow of having to face the political loneliness caused by the Government’s decision on Western Sahara to the illusion. Sources from this party point it out. Although they do not want to venture the majority validation of the decree, they believe that it is the most likely scenario.
On United We Can the tables have turned. There was the party with the knife between its teeth for sending weapons to Ukraine, the commitment to increase military spending and planning a social response to the crisis. In the end, measures such as the rent ceiling or the mechanism (still unspecified) to subtract part of the benefits of the electric companies have pleased the formation, indicate management sources. Your “ok” is guaranteed.
Like that of Cs, as Bal has advanced, although the “buts” are numerous, especially the delay. in the dp Cuca Gamarra He pointed to the back. ERC and PNV They prefer to wait to know the decree before making a decision, but for now they have not advanced rejection. EH Bildu yes it has been more blunt: it has not confirmed the “no”, but it has asked for more ambition. More Country He wants to have the details of the measures and the vote has been saved, but his conditions coincide with the tenor of the text: it does not harm renewables, at least on paper, and there are several measures designed for the most vulnerable social layers.
The Minister of the Presidency, Felix Bolanos, called the groups between Sunday night and Monday morning. He told several spokesmen that some of his contributions had been included in the draft of the decree. ERC and Cs sources attested to it. Now, they are not enough. The center right wants more tax cuts; the left calls for more ambition in social protection. Negotiating changes is already very complicated.
The decree may be processed as a bill. The government may work to prevent it. Whatever happens, that there are modifications is almost impossible.