Junts is at a critical juncture in Congress. The independentist formation tries to reconcile with the break with the government coalition by voting for and against the PP, harshly attacking Pedro Sánchez, José María Aznar, the FAES and the Supreme Court and, among other things, proposing some initiatives in favor of Catalonia. All on the same day. It happened this Thursday, to the shock of almost all the other parties in the Chamber. The Government also experienced the great victory of the defeat of the PP amendment aimed at prolonging the life of the Almaraz nuclear power plant thanks to the abstention of Junts. And the Catalan nationalists reacted: “The final defeat will be greater”.
After several weeks without this type of debate due to stability problems in the Executive, the plenary session which largely discussed and approved two important laws ended, and the seven Junts deputies remained seated in their seats for a few minutes. Coordination. The much needed socialist bench rose like a spring to applaud the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, as if he were the protagonist of the success as soon as the votes on all the amendments to the law on sustainable mobility were concluded, where the PP insinuated to the Senate its intention to prolong the life of the Almaraz plant, in Cáceres. It was an unexpected success, at a symbolic moment, with the PP of Feijóo, Aznar and Ayuso attacking the amnesty again on the day it received an important European endorsement.
President Sánchez and Vice President María Jesús Montero also showed their enormous satisfaction with the counting and meaning of the votes. A sensational defeat at that nuclear point had been predicted for days and did not occur. The PP’s amendment was rejected by one vote. He declined by adding only 171 votes, against the 172 rejections of all the parties who supported Sánchez’s investiture two years ago and with the abstention of Junts. Other points counted for Junts’ votes, that one didn’t. In the shocked PP, they chose to highlight that the Executive had missed other amendments and, above all, they challenged Junts and the socialist deputies of Extremadura to explain their refusal to prolong Almaraz’s life.
In the Executive and the PSOE, however, they rejoiced. Not so much for the background of the measure, which local officials and the candidate in the Extremaduran elections on 21 December will have difficulty justifying in their election campaign, but for what it means politically just 24 hours after the Junts spokeswoman, Míriam Nogueras, had disqualified the president of the government calling him “cynical, hypocritical and speechless” and had confirmed that their relationship is broken and with no way out.
Sánchez and his team have taken these new threats from Junts very carefully and from now on they will select the proposals and laws to bring to Parliament, but they think that many, with good content for Catalonia, will end up thriving. This Thursday in the plenary there were 116 disaggregated votes, the Executive won 100 and lost 16. Junts voted 69 times with the progressive majority and 47 times differently. In the total medium-term budget there were 1,575 votes and the current majority won with 88% (1,379) and lost 196.
Nogueras had difficulty justifying Junts’ position, which in principle demands the continuity of the systems installed in Catalonia. First he assured that his abstention was “coherent” because they had voted for the same thing last week in the Senate, but then he argued that the content of the amendment was terrible, lacking rigor and that it had not been negotiated with them. He also stressed that the text talks about Almaraz and not Ascó and that there will now be time to address “the existing problem” of nuclear energy in Catalonia, which provides 60% of light and electricity. There he took the opportunity to attack the PSC, the socialist president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the mayors of the ERC of Tarragona, because that party voted against the popular amendment, and then he attacked practically everything.
Nogueras was very upset that the Government interpreted this vote as a great victory and insisted that Sánchez still does not understand, despite having asked him on Wednesday to turn up the volume on his earpiece during the debate, that what Junts demands is that he keep his broken promises and commitments. The deputy was asked about the possibility of the government continuing its work in Congress since Junts did not agree to vote on the censure motion with PP and Vox and then intervened: “I won’t go into this topic, but we have the electoral button.”
Nogueras defended Junts’ determination not to negotiate anything with the Government, stated that he will not support the spending cap nor the stability path that the Council of Ministers could discuss next Tuesday and established a parallel between this position and the one defended since his formation on January 30, 2024 when he initially opposed the amnesty law. Nogueras understands that that sit-in and the amendments then requested by Junts have allowed the Advocate General of the European Union to now approve the content of that law and Carles Puigdemont to be “closer” to returning to Spain. Puigdemont’s voice from Madrid concluded: “Standing up gives results and here they lost and ruined José María Aznar, his FAES, Vox and the Supreme Court. It’s a great day.”
