As usual, the Government managed to validate ‘in extremis’ the decree on saving measures, energy efficiency and reduction of dependence on natural gas. However, on this occasion the approval of the legal norm did not reach the degree of agony of previous occasions. Although some groups, such as ERC, did not reveal their vote until the last moment, it was already known a few hours before that support for the decree was guaranteed. Nothing to do with the way in which it was possible to carry out, for example, the labor reform, the star measure of the Executive, which was approved in a catastrophe, thanks to the error of a PP deputy.
what happened with this by decree to allwhich includes everything from free commuter trains to an extra scholarship to the maximum temperature of the air conditioning and heating, shows once again the inability of the two main political forces to reach state agreements, not even when it comes, as is the case, of urgent measures, committed to the European Union and aimed at alleviating the energy crisis, a consequence of the war in Ukraine. The PP, partly dragged by the populist policy of the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, partly convinced that this type of opposition wears out the Government more, opted for the rejection and disqualification of the measures – he called them “frivolities” – , although these are still a carbon copy of those that other European countries are adopting. Meanwhile, the Executive of Pedro Sánchez gave one more example of the allergy that dialogue with the opposition seems to produce, and even with his partners in the Government and the legislature, to seek alliances. He even seems to have forgotten that proclaimed co-governance with the autonomous communities in the first months of the covid-19 pandemic which, had he maintained, would have expedited the support of nationalist groups.
A pact is everyone’s business. Neither can you blindly ask for adhesions nor can everything be rejected for the simple fact that it comes from the government you want to beat in the next elections. There are, however, some reasons for hope. The ceding of the Executive to the pressure of some groups to process energy restriction measures such as billand if it is done in four weeks, it opens the norm to the participation of all the groups that will be able to present their proposals through amendments. Also the Government’s decision to convene a round of contacts next week with electricity, gas, oil companies, large consumers, social agents and parliamentary groups to prepare the contingency plan that must be presented in September in the EU to deal with a possible cut in the supply of Russian gas represents a change of attitude in the right direction . It is a matter of increasing the measures already adopted and, surely, of tightening them, which requires, even more so if possible, a broad consensus.
The war in Ukraine looks set to last and the prospects for autumn and winter are bleak for the entire EU and, therefore, also for Spain. The country is not here for frivolities and we are referring to those in which some politicians fall day by day, more concerned about their electoral expectations than meeting the needs of citizens, who face with difficulty the rise in prices and the gloomy omens that those The same public representatives predict for the most immediate future.