2023-12-22 00:01:47
Cost much. There were several dates. Finally this Friday they meet in Congress and not in Moncloa – something atypical – Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The President of the Government summoned Feijóo as leader of the opposition to hold a meeting to address state issues. A tense meeting is expected. Sánchez granted “the fat bitch” – that’s what he said – to the popular leader and accepted that the appointment would be in the Lower House. It will be the fifth meeting of both, they have never closed any agreement. The most important point for the socialist leader is the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), which has been blocked for five years.
Núñez Feijóo’s objective was to include, whatever the case may be, the amnesty law, the ‘lawfare’ and the PSOE pact with Bildu for the motion of censure in Pamplona among the items on the agenda. And so it will be. Both the scenario and the agenda have been set by the president of the PP. In addition to the renewal of the CGPJ, Sánchez expressed the importance of addressing the regional financing system and the reform of article 49 of the Constitution, which he describes as ‘disabled’ for people with disabilities.
Five years with an expired CGPJ
An agreement between the two seems almost impossible, perhaps it will come through article 49. They will arrive with a very clear and almost immovable position. Sánchez, who gave up Moncloa and the agenda, will not give up his position regarding the Judiciary. The magistrates (conservative majority under Mariano Rajoy’s legislature) have had their mandate expired for five years. The Popular Party now defends that the judges have to be chosen by the magistrates themselves. The PSOE defends the current model. Since the last legislature, Pedro Sánchez has accused the PP of failing to comply with the Constitution due to the judicial blockade, something that worries him and that Brussels follows closely.
In 2022, Sánchez and Feijóo built a bridge that Pablo Casado had frozen and met to address the blockade of the CGPJ and also the reform of article 49. The agreement was never so close. However, he jumped into the air. In April 2022, Feijóo unfrozen the dialogue but maintained his position. When the then president of the Judiciary, Carlos Lesmes, resigned and a period of institutional crisis began, both met on October 10, 2022.
It seemed like he was closer than ever. Félix Bolaños and Esteban González Pons entered the game, joining the match. When the PSOE-PP agreement was almost closed, the dialogue broke down. On October 27, the barons of the Popular Party advised Núñez Feijóo to break off the negotiation. It occurred in the context in which several publications indicated that the Executive planned to reduce the penalties for sedition. And until today.
Amnesty and pact with Bildu
The coalition government takes advantage of the previous legislature and celebrates the economic data, social advances and social protection policies in a context of crisis and uncertainty. Sánchez remembers that there is still much to do and meanwhile, he accuses the Popular Party of not having a country project. He points out that Feijóo lives in a permanent tantrum and accused him of “agitating the streets.” Meanwhile, the amnesty law continues with its deadlines to see the light. A rule that has placed the PP in tough opposition.
Both PP and Vox affirm that the amnesty law is unconstitutional. The PSOE calls on them to wait for the resolution of the Constitutional Court (TC), which has the last word. The law, agreed with Junts per Cat and ERC, is another item on the agenda. The socialists defend that it will have a conciliatory and restorative character. The right says that it is another payment to the independence movement to make Sánchez President.
If the Government control sessions were going to be tense, the opposition raised its tone after learning what happened in Pamplona. The Socialist Party has agreed with EH Bildu on a motion of censure against UPN in the City Council. The baton of command in the Navarrese capital will fall to the nationalist formation. Núñez Feijóo commented that it was the “most miserable pact of all those that Sánchez has signed.” Government figures such as Óscar Puente, Minister of Transportation, or Nadia Calviño, first vice president, explained that these pacts are normal in democracy.
A “too risky” strategy
For her part, the second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, describes the Popular Party’s strategy as “too risky.” She accuses Feijóo of being “breaking with the institutions.” The leader of Sumar considers that she is “on the lines of being anti-system” for demanding that her meeting this Friday with Pedro Sánchez be held in the Congress of Deputies and not in the Moncloa Palace, as is normal for these types of meetings.
Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo close 2023 with a meeting. The socialist leader celebrates that it ended like his previous meeting before the 23J elections. One as President of the Government and another as leader of the opposition. With no agreement in sight, an uncomfortable date is expected before saying goodbye to the year.
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