The Congress of Deputies will finally vote on Thursday on a PP initiative aimed at canceling the date of definitive cessation of exploitation of the nuclear power plants of Almaraz (Cáceres), Asco I (Tarragona) and Cofrentes (Valencia). The position of Junts, who staged a break with the government in Congress a week ago, is decisive for the measure to go forward. The amendment presented last week in the Senate to the law on sustainable mobility did not receive the Government’s veto because, according to Executive sources, it does not affect the budgets.
The Government has decided to stop two other initiatives approved by the popular people to finance the network of electric stations (charging stations) and the renewal of the fleets, which would mean 310 million euros and another to compensate bicycle transport contractors which would mean 4.6 million per year, as confirmed by parliamentary sources. Both initiatives, therefore, will be eliminated and will not be voted on on Thursday.
On Tuesday afternoon, almost on deadline to enter this week’s plenary session, the Lower House received the Senate’s amendments to the Ministry of Transport law. A fundamental text for the Executive, left halfway through the previous legislature, and on whose approval the disbursement of 10 billion euros of European funds depends.
Although parties like ERC have not yet defined the meaning of their vote, last week they supported in the Upper House (together with EH Bildu and PNV) the PSOE’s proposal calling for the nuclear calendar initiative to be overturned and to return to the original articles. Junts abstained in that vote and for now is not revealing what he will do in the plenary.
The change goes against the government agreement signed between PSOE and Sumar. The minority shareholder has proven particularly reluctant to give in to the demands of the energy companies. Iberdrola, Endesa and Naturgy have just asked the Executive to extend the useful life of the Cáceres power plant until June 2030, thus extending the current disconnection dates: the first reactor in 2027 and the second in 2028.
The President of the Government, in an interview given this Sunday to EL PAÍS, opened up to the study of the proposal of these companies. “If the owners of the nuclear power plants guarantee the security of the territories and the energy supply, and do not ask us Spaniards to pay more taxes in order to earn money, then we are willing to study what their alternative is. But they must respect these three requests which, in my opinion, are pure common sense,” he said. The general secretary of the Extremaduran Socialists and candidate in the December 21 elections, Miguel Ángel Gallardo, was sure on Monday that the useful life of Almaraz would be extended because there was “a commitment from the government” to do so.
“I would warn the president to be careful because not everything in the COP is Tik Tok (…) I would advise him to stop making calculations in Extremadura and make calculations in La Moncloa,” reproached Sumar’s deputy spokesperson, Alberto Ibáñez, on Tuesday. Beyond their anger, Yolanda Díaz’s group doesn’t have much room for maneuver, because the text as a whole will not be voted on on Thursday either, given that it is not an organic law. It will only be decided whether or not to approve the amendments sent by the Senate.
