Robles affirms that it is a personal decision by Pedro Sánchez with the aim of favoring “concord”
Defense Minister Margarita Robleshas claimed this Monday that the Constitution is “perfectly protected” despite the repeal of the crime of sedition from the Penal Code and has left in the hands of Congress the possibility of reforming the crime of embezzlement.
In interviews on TVE and Antena 3, Robles has acknowledged that the reform it is a “political decision” of the president of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, in favor of “concord”. “A government has the obligation to make those political decisions that it considers to be good for its country”, he has defended, appealing to this spirit of “concord” that he has evoked that was also present during the Transition.
For this reason, beyond being for or against the measure, he has rejected that “the truth is lacking”, as he believes the Popular Party is doing. “Clearly, Spain is a country of which we should feel deeply proud, with a democracy strong and a constitutional framework that allows coexistence”, he claimed.
Thus, he recalled that the proposal does not modify article 155 of the Constitution, which allows the intervention of an autonomous community, nor the crimes against the Magna Carta contemplated in the Penal Code; but modifies those that are within crimes against public order. “The titles that regulate the attacks against the Constitution have not been touched – he insisted -. What has been done has been to give a more modern wording, more appropriate to European approaches, of the crime of sedition.”
The PP “breaks” the Constitution
The Minister of Defense, a lawyer by profession, has thus rejected that the critics try to “protect” the judges and has recalled that they have the function of “interpreting and applying the laws”; she at the same time that she has shown her “pride in her” by the professionals of Justice and by the Supreme Court.
In addition, he has recognized that he is “funny” that the PP warns that the Constitution is at risk when those of Alberto Nunez Feijoo they are “in breach” of the Magna Carta using the judiciary as a “hostage” with his refusal to reform the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). In fact, he has attributed the criticism of the ‘popular’ to an attempt to “cover up” this “breach” of the Constitution.
“You can not share a political decision, but you cannot do what is being done“, he has also insisted, pointing out that all escaped politicians, such as the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, will have to “go through the scope of a judicial procedure.”
parliamentary debate
Refering to possibility of also reforming the crime of embezzlementRobles has made a “defense” of the legislative power. In this sense, he has assured that he does not know the amendments that are going to be presented during the parliamentary process of the reform, but he has insisted that those that have the support of the majority will go ahead.
In any case, he explained that the regulation of the crime of embezzlement is “very unequal” because “a corrupt person who takes money in his pocket is not the same as someone who doesn’t”. “Now there is unequal regulation. I don’t know what regulation there is going to be, if that amendment is going to be presented and if it is going to be approved or not; but I do say as a jurist that everyone knows that is not the same corrupt who profits personally than the one who does not profit personally“, has affected.
In this way, he has left this debate in the hands of Parliament but has insisted that “everyone knows that it is not the same.” it has been going down because of the disproportionate nature of the topic”. “I don’t know. I only know that there is a proposal on the sedition reform, the only thing it does is the configuration of public disorder aggravated in order with other European countries”, he said, inviting the ‘popular’ to assume a parliamentary debate “rigorously and seriously” .
Bolaños supports him
The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, has also opened the door to reform the crime of embezzlement along with that of sedition, although he has specified that ERC It has not been raised for now to the Government and that we will have to wait for the parliamentary processing of the bill to amend the Penal Code.
In an interview in Ser, Bolaños has not ruled out that possibility, but has said that “in the processing of the sedition it is possible to consider modifying the crime of embezzlement“. He has assured that they have not spoken with ERC about his reform and has urged wait to see the amendments that the parliamentary groups propose to the bill presented last week by the PSOE and United We Can.
The Minister of the Presidency has stressed that there are many crimes, such as those of rebellion or disobedience, related to the illegal referendum of October 2017 in Catalonia, which “have not been touched” in the text proposed to Congress. “Now in the parliamentary procedure, we are going to see what happens.” he has specified and has assured that they will study any amendment that is presented.
Bolaños has returned to delink the reform of the crime of sedition from the negotiation with ERC of the State’s general budgets and he explained that only when the Catalan republicans lowered their “maximum” position to suppress it was an agreement reached, but exclusively for its adaptation to “European standards”. “This is where everything rushes,” stressed the head of the Presidency, who has denied that during the negotiation with the PP to renew the General Council of the Judiciary, the sedition reform was being agreed with the ERC and has accused the popular of filtering “manipulated” private messages in a new excuse for not reaching an agreement on the CGPJ.