The socialist proposal to reform the law of only yes is yes will be debated in Congress urgently, but not before March 7. The lack of agreement between the PSOE and Unidas Podemos within the Executive and the scant progress in the parliamentary negotiations have led the PSOE to remain only in its desire to introduce the debate in plenary next week, while its allies demand that socialists and purples present a "dialogue proposal" in the Lower House.
Last week, the PSOE registered its plan to change the law and asked to process it urgently. Being more than a fifth of the deputies in Congress, the parliamentary group had the capacity to propose the shortening of deadlines, but the Socialists needed unanimity in the Board to be able to modify the agenda of the plenary session next week, which was already closed, and include the reform of the law of only yes is yes.
Something that is going to be impossible, according to what fundamental partners of the Executive have been ruling out throughout this Tuesday, which leads to the consideration of the text being debated in the week of 8-M, international women's day, and with strong internal tension within the government derived from the hundreds of reductions in sentences and dozens of releases that the star law of the Ministry of Equality has recently facilitated.
"The urgency is to stop the bleeding of the alarm that the reduction of sentences is generating, the release of some criminals before what would have corresponded to them with the previous sentences," justified this Tuesday the spokesman for the Socialists in Congress, Patxi Lopez. "Does it have unwanted effects? We are going to correct them as soon as possible so that society as a whole understands that this is a good law, because now it is not understanding it," he added.
At the Board of Spokespersons held this Tuesday, ERC and EH Bildu have conveyed their refusal to advance the call for the debate on this reform, while other groups, such as Unidas Podemos, have remained silent. Minutes before, the PSOE has been forced at the Bureau to process the measure with the support of the PP and Vox, since the purples have abstained, considering that it is not necessary to treat it urgently.
But the definitive 'no' has arrived at noon, with the celebration of the Board of Spokesmen. Allies such as ERC will only support the proposal if it has the approval of the Ministry of Equality, led by Irene Montero. "It would be quite Martian to move forward without the creators of this law," reflected the parliamentary spokesman for the Republicans, Gabriel Rufián.
"We call for the responsibility of the PSOE and Unidas Podemos," said Néstor Rego, of the BNG, who believes that the coalition and its parliamentary partners need more time to "reach an agreement between all the parties." Of course, it should be debated "as soon as possible", he has emphasized.
There is, however, the option that Congress convene an extraordinary plenary session for the week of February 28. A possibility that should be approved by the Lower House at the request of the Government, but that many allies of the Executive, for now, do not contemplate as possible. "I imagine that it will not succeed," said Íñigo Errejón, from Más País. The parliamentary spokesman, in this sense, observes that "there is no unanimity" not even within the Council of Ministers, so it is most likely that the rest of the forces will not support the advancement of his arrival in plenary: "We are waiting for a proposal of Government as Government".
Other parties, on the contrary, assure that they will not hinder the processing of the reform, even if they are against it, as is the case of the CUP. Vox, on the other hand, has remarked that it will not oppose it in the Board, since "this Government is only correct when it rectifies", as specified by Iván Espinosa de los Monteros to refer to the necessary and urgent modification that the norm requires after having benefited the conviction of more than 500 sexual offenders in recent weeks.
Given the lack of agreement with its partners, the PSOE could be forced to carry out its reform with the help of the PP, with which it has not maintained any formal contact for now. "They do not want the law, that they do not come to us with stories. They are against any law that implies progress, that they do not come as saviors", Patxi López has riveted regarding the offer of the main party of the position.
According to the Socialists, with the urgent procedure, the reform of the only yes is yes could have been approved in 20 days. In the absence of a more precise calculation, they slip that now "this is going to take longer."
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