The PP rescued the Government yesterday in the vote on the reform of the National Security Law, with which the government guarantees control of strategic resources in crisis situations and grants the president of the executive some specific powers.
The Congress voted the amendments to the totality of the project that will now be debated in commission, and the Basque and Catalan nationalist groups were in favor of its return to the Government. The critical vote of the PP –which does not share some of the statements of the law– allowed the norm to continue being debated in the Lower House.
In fact, yesterday was not a good day for the Government in Congress, in which the lack of support from its usual allies in various votes was made evident. In particular, ERC and JxCat who opposed four of the bills that reached the plenary.
The support of the PP, in the form of rejection of the ERC and JxCat amendments that requested the return of the text to the Government, was not the product of any agreement or dialogue, but a position reflected by the PP, with which it wants to demonstrate, again, which is a state party.
But that support to save the first process of the law in Congress does not mean a blank check, they stressed in the PP, because they have already shown their discrepancies with some issues.
The PP does not differ with the Government on the same points as the Catalan separatists and will present amendments to change the text.
The main reticence of the independentistas is the attributions that the State arrogates in moments of crisis, with which they consider that the competences of the autonomous communities are not respected. An assessment in which the PNV agrees and in which United We Can also participate, which despite voting against the amendments did ask that instead of an imposition of the State there be a collaboration between both administrations.
In the end, the fact that the PP joined the socialists and United We Can meant that the initiative of the Government of Pedro Sánchez was not jeopardized, with a vote against the amendments of ERC and JxCat, which was also joined by Ciudadanos and Vox.
The text was defended by the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, who explained that the seven new articles of the law are about regulating the contribution of resources in the event of a crisis and creating a strategic reserve that allows the State to deal with emergencies. like that of covid. “It’s not about having an instrument in case another crisis comes,” he said.
In addition, he anticipated criticism for invasion of powers, arguing that the law provides for the participation of the autonomous communities in all processes, thus reinforcing their powers.
But neither ERC nor JxCat was convinced. “It is one more law that strikes down competitions”, criticized the Junts spokesperson, Miriam Nogueras, who accused the PSOE of “paving the way” so that a future government of PP and Vox can “finish what remains standing of freedoms and rights fundamental”.
Montse Bassa, from ERC, for her part, described the government’s project as “repressive”, with which in her opinion “it buys the ideological framework” from PP and Vox, and instead of “repealing the PP’s National Security law , they legitimize it and give it one more twist”. The ERC deputy believes that this law insists on a concept of security “based on a police and repressive state.”
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