The lack of “expertise” of the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, a ‘rare bird’ in the Government, when negotiating the laws of his department with the rest of the parliamentary groups, turned into a “chaos“the negotiation of the employment pension plan law, which accumulates several milestones. Since the transfer to EH Bildu for raise non-contributory pensions by 15%without previously warning the Treasury of it or thereby saving its approval, until the contacts maintained in the last hours to carry out the law and a private vote with Citizens to undo a slip in the procedure in commission.
Once again, the Government was at the limit on a crucial issue (by the way, without the help of ERC in any case), since it is one of the commitments made with Brussels to receive European funds. The employment pension plans bill was approved this Thursday by 172 votes in favor and 164 against (plus six abstentions) after a controversial process in which the leadership of the Socialist Group, led by its boss, Héctor Gómez, and the spokesperson for the area, Mercè Perea, had to get involved at different times; the heads of the Presidency and the Treasury, Félix Bolaños and María Jesús Montero, and the Minister of Social Rights and General Secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, because Inclusion did not guarantee that it would go ahead. The Secretary of State for Relations with the Courts, Rafa Simancas, number two of Bolaños, also screwed.
In the Executive and in the party they attribute the carousel in the negotiation to the personality of Escrivá, “a very special guy, not very political”, who “does not measure”
Government and party sources attribute all these difficulties (or “errors”) to Escrivá he is “a chaos”, “he is a very special guy, not very political” and “does not negotiate in a conventional way”, “does not measure”, “does not take into account the opportunity and the context”. They explain that, in addition, “his team does it too” without counting on the rest of the Executive, referring above all to the ministries of the Presidency and the Treasury. And they also reproach him for giving publicity to the agreements he closes —that, as in the case of EH Bildu, his abstention did not represent a sufficient guarantee to pass the law, and it was not even essential—, “without taking into account that this may cause other groups get off the hook”.
According to sources from the leadership of the PSOE, it was necessary to open urgent talks during the debate in committee to ensure the viability of the initiative. But that was added to the fact that the Socialists, by mistake, approved several amendments registered by United We Can. The changes were not minor. One of the changes involved unstop the pension contribution. That is, those who earn the most are taxed in relation to their income, without limits. Quickly, aware of the ruling, the PSOE registered an initiative (in parliamentary jargon, a particular vote) to reverse the situation and return to the original text.
.@joseluisescriva makes “more than positive” assessment after approving company pension plans https://t.co/ZIp3MjkAo1 pic.twitter.com/y9dGF4ZtQK
– Europe Press TV (@europapress_tv) June 9, 2022
It is “to the moon of Valencia”
Until this Thursday, the socialists they were not tied support for your proposal to prosper. And the direct consequence was the rejection of the law in Congress. The refusal of the main forces of the left to support the law required a ‘yes’ from Cs, PNV and the PDECat, but the PSOE needed support for your private voteto knock down the United We Can amendments erroneously incorporated into the commission.
The popular assure that they were always in favor of supporting the particular vote of the socialists. And they also blame Escrivá for being “to the moon of Valencia” and not understand the situation. On Wednesday, the eve of the vote in Congress, the minister called the popular rapporteur on the law, Tomás Cabezón. This, according to conservative party sources, called for improvements in the transitory nature of the law after accept the tax reductions demanded by the opposition.This request was not heeded, but the PP, they indicate, never transmitted its refusal to support the PSOE in the particular vote.
In the PP they emphasize that their support for the particular vote of the socialists was never in question, and that this was transferred to Escrivá
The truth is that this Thursday morning, in the debate and vote in the plenary session of the law, the Ministry of Inclusion panicked at the possibility that the opinion did not have sufficient support. That led Escrivá to enter into urgent negotiations with the parliamentary spokesman for United We Can, Pablo Echenique, according to sources from the purple formation. It was the Minister of Social Security himself who asked them to support his project and withdraw the amendments and, in exchange, they say, promised to defend the unstopping of prices in the next negotiations with the social partners, which is precisely the content of the UP amendments, which they were trying to overthrow.
From the PP they maintain that this would not have been necessary if Escrivá had been aware that they were going to support the particular vote of the PSOE. A logical position, they underline, since the unstoppability requested by Podemos would have meant that the companies bear additional costs for workers who exceed 45,014 euros in their salary.
United We Can ensures that it has an agreement with .@joseluisescriva for the unstopping of the contribution bases https://t.co/av0k3uRIrT pic.twitter.com/bLX3azPMEG
– Europe Press TV (@europapress_tv) June 9, 2022
Recommendation 5 of the Toledo Pact
The reality is that the amendments of the purple party were reversed with the support of the vast majority of groups, including the PP, Vox and Podemos itself, to the particular votes of both the socialists and Ciudadanos. But at this point also from the socialist group some doubts are introduced about what the popular ones were going to do because, they point out, “they had spoken with other groups to vote against.” “They wanted to overthrow the particular vote to resolve later in the Senate [donde prosigue ahora la tramitación] and make the PSOE suffer”, “his will was for the law to decline and to slap the Executive.” According to Ferraz’s thesis, when the PP saw that the groups maintained their support for the particular votes of PSOE and Cs, it backed off and decided to support them, and then, yes, vote against the opinion.
The unstopping of prices is a measure committed to Brussels, they point out in the ministry, and the announcement of the purples does not mean “nothing new”
The mess around what was going to happen with the vote led Bolaños to intervene and call Belarra, although the dialogue in the case of United We Can was left in the hands of the group. But the final agreement between Escrivá and Echenique just added more confusion about the law. The purple spokesman explained that his vote in favor of withdrawing his amendments was in exchange for a promise “by Minister Escrivá to defend this unstoppability when the time comes to discuss it.”
The UP leader celebrated this “explicit commitment”, although the Minister of Inclusion was not so clear. “The next element is to bring the social agents compliance with the recommendation number 5 of the Toledo Pactwhich aims to adjust the effective returns of people in terms of contributions while maintaining proportionality with the pension received,” was all he said after the rule was approved. Without even mentioning a pact with the purples. On the contrary, ministry sources deny it and consider it to beobvious“That they will discuss with United We Can the proposal that they will transmit to the social agents because they are part of the Government: “We always do it like this. there is no agreement“. What was announced by the purples, they said, “is nothing new”.
The fact is that the movement with the purples, announced in the gallery by deputy Isabel Franco, forced the Government and PSOE to “intervene from above” to try to arrange a negotiation “chaotic“. The leadership had to make sure that the groups kept their vote in the opinion of the lawbecause if not its approval was in danger and the Executive was exposing itself to a humiliating defeat with incalculable consequences.
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From the Ministry of Inclusion, the perspective was totally different. They indicate that the “mess has been eminently parliamentary“, because it started from the error of the vote in committee last week, before which they had to put patches to solve it. “But it is a project that had been negotiating for months, so there could be no surprises. The most strident moment has come at the end. But we are happy because an instrument has gone ahead, collective pension plans, which can be useful for millions of workers, and we have incorporated amendments from alleven of those who voted against such as the PP, and that obviously made the negotiation more difficult, although it has also enriched the text,” sources from Escrivá’s department pointed out.
In the end, true, particular votes and opinion saw the light, but the entanglement sustained in the last week, and in the last hours, once again tested the resistance of a coalition that accumulates continuous shocks and tensions. The government has become accustomed to live on the edge of the abyss, saving votes in discount time and for the minimum, with partners to the left and right, at the cost of enormous erosion. But he congratulates himself that the test, once again, was passed.