Podemos has launched a “last call” to the PSOE on Monday to try to avoid ‘in extremis’ taking into consideration the reform of the ‘only yes is yes’ law, which will be voted on Tuesday in Congress. The purples have described the position of their partner as “shameful” and “regrettable” because, they understand, the proposal of the Socialists, which has the support of PNV and PP, “represents a return to the Penal Code of La Manada.”
The co-spokesperson for the purples, Alejandra Jacinto, has gone a step further in the verbal escalation towards her coalition partner and has described it as a “betrayal of the feminist movement” if this Tuesday the socialist reform continues its parliamentary process.
Asked if this would mean a departure of Podemos from the Government, Jacinto, who is also the candidate of Podemos for the Community of Madrid, has ruled out this extreme. “The bad news for those who want to see the coalition government fall is that it will continue, we have a very important legislative agenda to develop,” she concluded.
Despite the attempts of the formation led by Ione Belarra, the Socialists maintain their intention to carry their proposal on ‘yes is yes’ “to the end”. Since the negotiations between the ministries of Justice and Equality blew up in early February, after the PSOE registered its proposal alone, from Ferraz they insist that their reform does not touch consent. With their text, the Socialists seek to introduce violence and intimidation as an aggravated subtype and recover some higher penalties prior to the law.
The third position in contention is that of the allies of the investiture bloc, especially Esquerra and EH Bildu. Both parties have maintained separate contacts with PSOE and Unidas Podemos. But they have not changed their criteria, which means that the Government agrees to the “surgical” reform of the law because they are not going to accept that it does not come out with the endorsement of Equality. The spokeswoman for the Republicans is clear in this regard: “A law that is processed with the support of the PP is a bad law.”
“To defend it is to improve it”
The PSOE Secretary for Equality, Andrea Fernández, insisted today at a press conference in Ferraz that in this case the important thing is not the “who” but the “what”. “This law is a good law. For the PSOE to defend it is to improve it », she argued. “The fundamental thing is that this regulation goes ahead because it provides an answer to the victims who have been affected by the unwanted effects of its application,” he reiterated, referring to the more than 700 sentence reductions agreed by the courts in recent months, according to the CGPJ count.
The Socialists take it for granted that in taking it into consideration they will not only obtain the votes of the PP and Vox. They know that they will also be able to count on those of the PNV and the PDeCAT and they continue to speak with other allies of the investiture so that they support it. As for Podemos, they threw in the towel a long time ago. However, the spokeswoman for the executive, Pilar Alegría, still asked the minority partner of the Government “to reconsider” and “reconsider his position.”
The discomfort of the formation with the purples and, above all, with the virulence of their criticism is palpable. But even so, the socialists also defend that this crisis will not end in a rupture. “It is important that we look back and see all the things that this government has achieved,” argued the also Minister of Education. There are many more things that unite us than those that separate us »