In another unexpected twist, Junts came to the government’s rescue this Thursday to prevent the approval in Congress of a PP amendment to the law on sustainable mobility which aimed to suppress the date of definitive cessation of exploitation of the nuclear power plants of Almaraz (Cáceres), Asco I (Tarragona) and Cofrentes (Valencia).
Carles Puigdemont’s party abstained from the vote, which led to the yes of 171 deputies and the no of 172. The move is surprising, just a week after Junts had staged his break with the Executive and when only 24 hours earlier a harsh confrontation had occurred between his parliamentary spokesperson, Miriam Nogueras, and President Pedro Sánchez, whom he defined as “cynical and hypocritical”.
What a priori should have been a successful day for the Executive, because Junts had excluded this rule and the one on customer service (which received the approval of the plenary session) from the announced rejection of the rest of the government’s laws, became another uncertain session for the coalition for several hours. Sources from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition have however defended that the PP text has not changed the roadmap nor has it had practical consequences on the useful life of the plants.
“The amendment tries to generate the false idea that they have managed to reverse the definitive nature of the closure of the plants by removing it from the ministerial decrees, but this is not the case. It does not automatically imply an extension for the plants. The right to request an extension is not created by a ministerial decree, but by current legislation”, said department sources, who underline that the initiative has created “legal uncertainty” and introduced “noise and confusion”. The same sources recall that it is up to the Nuclear Safety Council to issue a mandatory report.
Congress also approved other amendments which concern, for example, compensation in the event of delays in high-speed trains (100% refund of the ticket after 30 minutes and 15% after 15 minutes of delay); the one that guarantees by law that trips cannot be eliminated or timetables changed for buses that run between cities (with PNV and Junts); vehicle labeling; and that trains are free in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands to offset the cost of insularity.
