Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez faces the humiliation this week of seeing his three first measures struck down in parliament by his own supposed allies in the new coalition government, drawn from the far left and Catalan and Basque separatist parties. The speed with which his government has run into trouble demonstrates the difficulties Sánchez faces in ruling through a ragbag coalition with few if any shared political principles—just as the conservative opposition predicted.
On Wednesday, the Congress of Deputies will debate and vote on three bills proposed by the executive branch, the first three of this legislature. The three bills include legal reforms designed to release a tranche of €10,000 million in EU recovery funds:
- supporting work-family balance;
- an inflation relief (“the economic package”);
- an ‘omnibus’ decree on matters of justice, public administration, and local governance—including the adaptation of the judicial system to new digital tools and cybersecurity measures—and administrative cooperation between levels of government.
While passing the legislation is a precondition for Spain to continue to receive EU recovery funds, Catalan separatists Junts per Cat have pledged to vote against all three bills. They contend that the omnibus bill includes articles the party claims will impede the amnesty for MEP Carles Puigdemont and other separatist leaders of the 2017 illegal referendum.
Junts’ seven congressional votes will be key to Sánchez passing any legislation.
The Partido Popular (PP) warned that Sánchez could not expect to find reliable support for his government by relying on Catalan politicians. It also said it will only support the economic package if Sánchez agrees to amend three parts of the current proposal.
Most importantly, the PP opposes the omnibus bill because Sánchez has proposed it as a decree law, allowing it a speedy legislative path without the chance for parliament to propose or pass amendments. The PP argues that a bill touching on matters as important as the judiciary needs to be given deeper debate and consideration in parliament. Rightly, they present rule by decree as a mechanism for excluding the electorate. Other smaller parties such as the far-left Unidas Podemos have supported Sánchez’s investiture but since indicated opposition to certain parts of the economic package and may not support it. With future legislation only likely to be passed by decree, the disruptive threat from self-styled parliamentary allies shows how weak Sánchez really is.
Why is the “Omnibus” Degree Controversial?
Among its provisions is article 103, which modifies the Civil Procedure Law and adds a new article. The article states that when a preliminary question is put to the Court of Justice of the European Union, carrying out the law in question will be “suspended” “until the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is recorded in the minutes.”
For practical purposes, this means that when the amnesty law is passed and should apply to Pigdemont and others, a preliminary question could be raised that would paralyze the amnesty until the CJEU resolved on that issue, It is almost certain that the opposition will take the law to the CJEU.
Sánchez claims that the Catalans have misunderstood the article.
