Last Wednesday, in the Chamber, the defense of PP senator Antonio Silvan of the tenth institutional clash between the Senate and Congress promoted by his group could barely be heard. The constant “shhh”“ addressed to PSOE senators – who spoke to each other as if the issue did not concern them – clouded the popular party’s message. Those of Feijóo have approved, with the majority of the Senate, a new conflict of powers with the Chamber whose objective is to unblock more than 30 bills that have been paralyzed in Congress for months. This tool, little used in democracy until this legislature, comes into action when a state body believes that another has adopted decisions by assuming powers that do not correspond to it or invading its powers and, consequently, reports it before the Constitutional Court.
The PP declared that it will exhaust this avenue if necessary because “the Government has built a wall between the two Chambers” using the Congress Table, where PSOE and Sumar have the majority to extend the deadline for amendments to the articles. breast die and prevent them from continuing their parliamentary elaboration. “What we are experiencing is an atrocity in constitutional and democratic terms,” continued Silvan, who drew applause from his bench. “The Congressional Council has turned the deadline for amendments into a parliamentary trap, with up to 71 extensions. This has only one purpose: to prevent the Senate’s bills from moving forward. It is a political blockade”, said the popular man who managed to impose his voice during the speech.
“What would they say if a People’s Party government behaved the same way?” he asked. An issue that turned against Silvan during the intervention of the PNV senator, Estefanía Beltrán de Heredia, who accused the PP and the PSOE of “acting in the same way by using the Congress table as a control body”. “In the 12th legislature, the PP and Ciudadanos, with the majority of the Table, resorted to this same trick to block the legislative proposals of the PSOE government after the motion of censure against Rajoy,” he said.
Beltrán de Heredia recalled that the PSOE proposed a change to the Congress rules to limit the number of extensions of the deadline for amendments, but the reform was “a victim of the same practice on the part of the Congress Council of the PP and Ciudadanos”. He concluded his speech by ensuring that “the PP also prevents any other initiative with which it does not agree from flourishing. The legislative production of the Senate faithfully reflects, almost exclusively, its political orientations”.
The PP has an absolute majority in the Senate and can send a large number of bills to Congress, but it comes up against the “wall” of the House table, which the People’s Party accuse of slowing down the progress of initiatives. There are 36 bills in the hands of that Council. Some could advance in the plenary session if PP, Vox and Junts agree and combine votes.
One of the initiatives is the proposal to reduce VAT on hairdressers from 21% to 10%, as the sector claims that it is an “essential service”. The project was presented in December 2023 and has accumulated 39 extensions which do not allow it to be discussed in Congress. Others that PP spokesperson in the Senate, Alicia García, mentioned in a press conference last week are “the eviction of squatters in 24 hours or a reduction in taxation for farmers, fishermen and ranchers.”
The PSOE also reminded the PP of the contradiction of reporting something after “having used the extension in the same way as it used the Table”. Senator Abigail Garrido, whose speech elicited a “very courageous” and another “very good” from her colleagues, accused the People’s Party of “having brought the resource of the conflict of attributions to the limit”. “Wherever you have responsibilities, apply what you yourselves denounce,” he snapped. A PSOE senator supported Garrido and ironically gave a resounding “go!”
Puigdemont’s men used their intervention to deepen the rift with the PSOE. “In Junts alone, four legislative initiatives have been blocked due to this abuse. We are defenseless in the face of this indefinite extension”, argued Senator Joan Baptista Bagué Roure. Another of the stalled projects is the law against multiple recidivism which the PSOE is now inclined to unblock to attract the Catalan team again.
After the conflict of powers approval this Wednesday, the Senate awaits Congress’ response. With this, the Upper House has now used this resource ten times in two years. The different distribution of forces between the two Chambers facilitates the promotion of the PP, which holds the absolute majority in the Senate compared to Pedro Sánchez’s bloc of investitures in Congress.
