Wednesday was one of the longest, most painful and strangest days I can remember in recent years. Negotiations at maximum to prevent the next day from increasing food prices and electricity bill. Last-minute counterparts in Junts per Catalunya on topics that almost no one counted on. Podemos deputies joined their voices in the People's Party and Vox so as not to advance the rule of the Ministry of Labor led by Yolanda Díaz, with whom the Purples presented themselves to the generals less than six months ago. A remote voting system stopped working when it was needed most. Tie the count. In the end, the party led by Figo unwittingly did the government a “service.”
In the early hours of the morning, the faces of the socialist negotiators were pessimistic. The talks with the post-convergence coalition, whose seven deputies were key, did not portend a happy ending.
Santos Cerdán, organizing secretary of the Socialist Workers Party and main interlocutor with Carles Puigdemont's party, was suffering from a fever. He was wearing a mask and was glued to the phone inside the room. His environment shows that he had several conversations throughout the day with Jordi Turol, Secretary General of the Post-Convergence Party. They both formed a certain complicity after the long negotiations in Brussels that culminated in Gontz's support for the inauguration. But the agreement did not end there. Everything seems to point to Puigdemont's rejection. The specter of instability, an ungovernable legislature, seemed closer than ever.
At noon, Miriam Nogueras, spokeswoman for the Post-Convergence Party, took the stage. He said, “We cannot accompany them in this mistake of theirs (…). Things will not be as they were until now,” referring to the criticism directed at his training due to his alleged violation of the terms of reference, haste, and the inclusion in decrees of all kinds of matters that have nothing to do with each other, and the existence of Article 43. bis of the Code of Civil Procedure, which, in his opinion, could torpedo the future amnesty process.
Electronic voting
When the discussion took place at the Senate headquarters, the Congressional Office decided, with a progressive majority, that the vote should take place remotely, since the Senate includes 266 representatives compared to 350 representatives in the House of Representatives, which further complicates the possibility of representatives applying pressure. The buttons on their seats. But the voting system began to fail. The President of Congress, Francina Armengol, gave another 30 minutes to the vote, and in these final minutes everything was finally put together. As always with Junts, Puigdemont had the last word. The agreement was closed to the greatest extent thanks to a conversation between him and Cerdan.
In exchange for not voting against the decrees, which included measures such as reducing the value-added tax on basic foodstuffs, cutting taxes on gas and electricity, increasing pensions, suspending evictions and launching free trains, the government gave their counterparts juice after the close match. Commitment that future primary law will delegate immigration powers to the state. The state takes over public transport bonuses in Catalonia. Reforming corporate law to make it easier for companies that left in 2017 to return to society. “Instant” publication of the financial balances of the autonomous regions. Reducing the value-added tax on oil to 0%. And canceling the article, which, according to Juntz, jeopardizes the conduct of the judicial process.
In a meeting with his party's senior officers, Türul explained that the Socialist Workers' Party had apologized to him for the “models” during this process that ended in reaching an agreement. Ginz's general secretary replied: “Apologies are useless.” Many socialist leaders agree with this view. What happened Wednesday, “parliamentary torture,” cannot be repeated. The government must take this into account and change its way of working in a complex legislature like this, where the PSOE-Soumare coalition needs all its allies in every vote.
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