The Government opens to process the decree of energy saving measures as a bill – EL PAÍS

The Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez; the Minister spokesperson for the Government, Isabel Rodríguez, and the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, upon arrival at the press conference after the Council of Ministers, this Tuesday, in Moncloa. JUAN CARLOS HIDALGO (EFE) The political course begins as it ended , with the Government confident of carrying out another key vote, this time the royal decree law on energy saving measures due to the war in Ukraine, without the coalition of PSOE and United We Can having guaranteed support less than 48 hours after vote. The PP is installed in the no while parties like ERC and PNV, two of the main allies of the Government, hurry up the times while waiting to determine what their position will be. In this situation, the negotiators of the Executive have multiplied the contacts with the majority of formations represented in the Parliament – last night they did not rule out doing it with the PP – in order to save the decree obtaining the most comfortable support possible. The way to achieve this would be by opening up to the processing of the decree as a bill once the text as it is written is approved this Thursday in Congress. The Government is therefore willing to study amendments from other parties and incorporate them once validated the decree. It would not be the first time: the coalition already agreed at the end of April to process the anti-crisis decree as law less than 12 hours after a vote that was not guaranteed and ended up being a heart attack. The PP set this condition to consider their vote, which ended up being negative. The Government narrowly saved the decree on anti-crisis measures with 176 votes in favor, 172 against and one abstention. EH Bildu’s support was decisive for Congress to approve measures such as subsidies per liter of gasoline or the increase in the minimum vital income. On the other hand, the Government did not agree to the processing of the labor reform. ERC and the PNV voted against him, annoyed at not having included measures in the Executive’s prior agreement with employers and unions. The Government saved the decree in February thanks to the error of a PP deputy. More information Six months later, in La Moncloa they start from the following premise: the relevance of the multimillion-dollar umbrella that the energy decree contains, and that includes everything from scholarships to students, subsidies users of public transport and aid to sectors as aggrieved by the rise in prices as truck drivers, makes it very difficult to oppose its validation in the extraordinary plenary session of Congress. The vertigo because it declines, in a context marked by uncertainty and inflation of 10.8%, would transcend the Government and would take its toll on the parties responsible for the decree not prospering, they reflect in the Executive. The government sources consulted acknowledge that the setback they would receive would be very severe. But the Government would collect its particular vendetta remembering the following months who voted against the aid. An implicit warning to the PP less than nine months before the regional and municipal elections. The PP Deputy Secretary of Economy, Juan Bravo, criticized precisely this Tuesday that the Executive has grouped in the same decree measures on energy such as the limits set on air conditioning in summer and heating in winter, which the PP does not share, with others such as transportation aid or grants. “We appeal to all political groups, none can say no to aid to the most affected sectors [por la crisis] or scholarships. It is so common sense that the refusal of any political group is not understood”, stressed the Government spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, after the Council of Ministers. The impossibility of voting against part of the decree reduces the options of the parties that They demand greater dialogue from the Government. And it causes paradoxical situations, such as the leadership of the PP giving “absolute freedom” to its regional presidents to appeal the energy decree to the Constitutional Court “if they consider that their powers are being invaded,” according to Bravo. An option contemplated by the president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who last week announced that she will extend the reduction in the price of transport passes promoted by the Government to 50% for the period from September 1 to December 31 . If the decree is not approved, these measures will not come into force. The Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, highlighted this Tuesday that more than 300,000 people had already registered on the Renfe website to purchase free passes and use them from next Thursday. “With these measures we help families and young people to make this situation more manageable, and help to contain the inflationary spiral in which we find ourselves,” she stressed. What affects the most is what happens closest. So you don’t miss anything, subscribe.SubscribeMeanwhile, the timer doesn’t stop while the Government increases the pressure on the rest of the parties. The Executive needs more yeses than noes so that the restrictions, which came into force on August 10, remain effective after the plenary session this Thursday. The coalition starts with the 153 votes in favor of the deputies of the PSOE (120) and United We Can (33). The minority partner of the Government had 35 seats, but the seat of Alberto Rodríguez continues without replacement and the deputy Meri Pita left the mixed group. In any case, Pita usually follows the direction of the vote of her former group. The Government is guaranteed the support of the Compromís seat. José María Mazón, the only deputy of the Regionalist Party of Cantabria (PRC), also informed the Government on Tuesday that he will vote in favor: “They know that we have nuances and we hope that they offer flexibility.” More Country, with two seats, admits talks with the Government and, although the vote is not yet final, it is favorable to yes. Suspense was the tone among the rest of the Government’s usual parliamentary partners. ERC, with 13 deputies, is silent, while in the Government they emphasize that the relationship has been redirected after the crisis due to Pegasus wiretapping. The proof would be that Esquerra facilitated the second package of anti-crisis measures in July. The meeting of the dialogue table at the end of that month is another element that makes the government optimistic about the support of the Republicans in Congress. But the yes of the rest of the parliamentary partners continues to resist the Government. The forecast is that the PNV does not reveal its vote until the last minute. Since the Council of Ministers approved the decree on August 1, Basque nationalists have criticized the “lack of consensus and negotiation” in drafting the content of the decree. Bildu, with five parliamentarians, seems to be leaning towards yes and is receptive to the presentation of amendments. The 86 popular deputies will press the no button unless they are surprised. In the Government there are those who see the possibility that the PP will end up abstaining, as it did in the last anti-crisis decree before the summer break. But that possibility would only win integers, according to these sources, in the event that the main opposition party is sure of the approval of the decree. In the event that it was in danger, his conclusion is that they would vote against it, despite the reproaches he would receive from the PSOE and United We Can in the following months. The vote against Vox (52 seats) is certain, the same as that of the deputy from Foro Asturias and the two from Coalición Canaria. Other parties that have not determined how they will guide their vote are PDeCAT, with four seats, the same as Junts . Its spokesperson, Miriam Nogueras, referred last week to the decree as “a fruit salad of proposals.” The CUP (two) has not defined its position either, like Teruel Exists (one). The Government, open to amendments on renewable energy and the Midcat gas pipeline With the Government open to processing the energy saving decree as a bill and before the reluctance of the political parties to vote in favor of its validation, the rain of amendments could come from several fronts. The Government is receptive to processing proposals from parties such as Citizens in favor of accelerating the electrification of the mobile fleet and completing the Midcat gas pipeline, which would connect with France through Catalonia and its potential use for green hydrogen. Inés Arrimadas, whose party has nine deputies in Congress, sent a letter to the Government on Tuesday with 13 points that contemplated other measures such as “greater flexibility for companies when establishing energy saving measures”, “the differentiation of measures between the different climatic zones of Spain” and the “general study on the extension of the useful life of nuclear power plants”. The Government is blunt in its rejection of the promotion of nuclear energy that Ciudadanos defends. Parliamentary sources of Cs reveal that, in any case, they will not support the decree, but they do not finish clarifying if they could abstain. Among the formations that have criticized the decree for “insufficient” are EH Bildu, Más País and the CUP, which ask the Executive for a broader vision in the restrictions of energy use and the promotion of green energies. While waiting for more specific proposals, EH Bildu, for example, advocates “stopping the exorbitant and unlimited consumption of energy and resources”, “a new model of consumption” and promoting “the end of the era of fuels cheap fossils”.50% discountSubscribe to continue readingRead without limits