Congress, closer to investigating Pegasus after espionage on the Government

05/03/2022 at 08:52

EST


The Congress will decide this Tuesday if it constitutes a commission of investigation on the cases of espionage to state authorities and pro-independence positions. will take care of it the Board of Speakers, which brings together the nine members of the Bureau, the body that governs the Chamber, and the heads of the ten parliamentary groups. The parliamentary sources consulted by El Periódico de España, a newspaper of the same group, Prensa Ibérica, that this newspaper, believe that there is no margin, or that if there is, it is very narrow. In other words, everything indicates that the new commission will see the light.

The Congress Table he already endorsed the investigation last week, and it did so by an incontestable majority, since the three representatives of the PSOE, the three of United We Can and the two of the PP declared themselves in favor of it. Only the one from Vox, Ignacio Gil Lázaro, spoke out against it. If the position of the groups in the Board of Spokespersons is maintained, there are no doubts: there will be a commission because the majority is in favor.

It will be an overwhelming majority because the decision will be on a proposal registered by a dozen political organizations. On April 20, as a result of the first information about the illegal interventions detected on the mobile phones of more than 60 Catalan and Basque pro-independence leaders (this is the case of the deputy Jon Iñarritu), ERC, EH Bildu, PNV, BNG, PDeCAT, JxCat and the CUP, as well as Más País and United We Can, a member of the PSOE in the Government, registered the request for the creation of the commission. They crossed out what transpired as an attack on fundamental rights, and consequently, on democracy, and proposed to the Socialist Party the purification of responsibilities in all areas.

A process closer and closer

The time has come in Congress to find out if the investigation, already endorsed by the lawyers of Congress and by the Board, continues. The Board of Spokespersons, in these situations, you have to choose between two paths: that the initiative prospers or let it decline. The first means choosing a date, specifically that of the plenary session in which the 350 deputies of Congress pronounce themselves. The second supposes parking it, because by not giving it a calendar, it ends up falling into oblivion.

Sources indicate that this Tuesday it will be known which option prevails. This will not lead to the immediate formal constitution of the commission. As described in the regulations, an investigation commission needs, after the agreement of the plenary session, the session for its configuration. The procedure obliges the president of Congress to direct the formation of her Bureau and her spokespersons, which does not have a fixed term. Political will prevails here: if urgent, there will be a commission in May; if not, the following month. In any case, it must be a reality before the end of this period of sessions, that is, before June 30.

The emergence of espionage by Pegasus software has shaken national politics. Not only has it compromised the validation of a decree such as that of the measures of the National Plan in response to the war in Ukraine, which is still in force by four votes, but it has also opened a deep rift between the Government and ERC, the main ally in Congress thanks to its 13 seats.

Relations have deteriorated so much that the gestures of the Executive have not served for now. The Control Commission of the CNI is about to convene, but the independence forces are still not satisfied. The one that can calm the spirits is that of parliamentary investigation, whose birth is approaching. The attacks on the mobile phones of the president, Pedro Sánchez, and the defense minister, Margarita Robles, place Congress one step away from one more controversial investigation. It is true that the cryptology center CNI investigates if there have been more cases and that the National Court will get down to work within its margins, but it is also true that there is enormous political pressure in Parliament.

The PNV spokesman, Aitor Estebanhas affirmed this Monday that there is no other way out than the creation of the commission, like the leader of More Country, Inigo Errejon. One of the sources consulted, a representative of one of the affected parties, practically takes its constitution for granted.

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