The Government has reached a critical point on Tuesday and a difficult return with which it has definitively consolidated its fracture. The two coalition partners, PSOE and Unidas Podemos, have voted separately the reform of the Law of only yes is yeswhose consideration has gone ahead in the Congress of Deputies by 231 votes in favor, 56 against and 58 abstentions.
Along with the PSOE, who have voted yes to their proposed law, the deputies of the PP, PNV, Ciudadanos, PDeCAT, among others, have also positioned themselves. They have thus defeated Unidas Podemos, which has opted for no and has been seconded by ERC, EH Bildu and BNG. Más País and Compromís have abstained. Vox has ultimately abstained as well.
the vice president Yolanda Diaz has finally voted no, despite the fact that it had distanced itself from the position held by United We Can. In fact, minutes before the vote, she had a meeting with Irene Montero and Enrique Santiago. Although no details have been released, from the looks of both it was seen that she had been tense.
Who has not voted has been Pedro Sanchezneither in person nor electronically. According to socialist sources, the president does not usually vote when he has an agenda and the vote is not at risk.
Regardless of the details, the situation generated this Tuesday has two significant readings for the coalition. The first, which has been broken most investiture and it has done so for a priority issue for the Government: feminism. In addition, it has happened a few hours before the start of 8-M, International Women’s Day.
[Podemos pide defender en la calle la ley del ‘sólo sí es sí’ frente a los “fascistas” que quieren reformarla]
The second is that the Socialists have disavowed the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, the political mother of this norm, initiating the parliamentary process of the reform together with the parties of the right. The tension has moved to the plenary session, with harsh reproaches exchanged between the two government parties.
“The law is not working properly and it must be modified. We must be consistent, we must be responsible,” the PSOE Secretary for Equality, Andrea Fernández, said from the rostrum of Congress.
Although he has defended the norm, Fernández has recognized the pernicious effects and has said that his party “assumes the responsibility of modifying this law”. He has called on the coalition partners to “stop the hyperbole and talk about their proposals.”
Congress gives the green light to reform the ‘yes is yes’: PSOE and PP ‘defeat’ Podemos, ERC and Bildu
This is how the president of Congress has carried out the recount of votes pic.twitter.com/7xWJo1oSUp
— THE SPANISH (@elespanolcom) March 7, 2023
For her part, Lucía Muñoz, from Unidas Podemos, has directly questioned the feminism of the socialists. “There is no feminism possible agreeing with those who appealed to the Constitutional Court for abortion, with the extreme right that denies sexist violence, those who repeal trans laws or who consider that LGTBI people are a Netflix fad”, he said, while accusing them of “going back to the Penal Code of ‘La Manada'”.
Subsequently, in the halls of Congress, the Socialists have lashed out hard against the words of the purple ones. The PSOE spokesman, Patxi López, described the speech as being “out of reality” and has accused United We Can of doing something “unpresentable”.
This lack of unity has become evident throughout the plenary session with the loneliness of Irene Montero on the blue bench. Ione Belarra has been his only companion. No one else from the Executive, not even Yolanda Díaz, has attended the plenary session either to support the minister or to show some unity in the Executive.
[Yolanda Díaz y los ministros socialistas dejan solas a Montero y Belarra en el debate del ‘sí es sí’]
Cuca Gamarra, spokesman for the PP, has underlined this detail and has accused Pedro Sánchez of “hiding behind the women of his government and his party”. “Where are you today? Pedro Sanchez? Where is the part of the socialist government that is not here showing its face? Where is the Minister of Justice?”, She has asked herself.
The confrontation between the two branches of the Government has also fed up the usual partners of the Executive, who have censored its forms. Pilar Vallugera, from ERC, has rebuked the “supposed left-wing government that has a ministry that has a law and another ministry that attacks that law, instead of reaching an agreement.”
“It looks disappointing and unprofessional. Women don’t deserve it. We’ve been trying for three months to get them to sit down, please, and get them to agree. Women don’t deserve it,” he stressed, with a visibly moved Irene Montero listening to her words.
The PSOE has been trying to the end to convince its partners in ERC and EH Bildu. Although the Basque party announced in plenary session that it was going to vote no, the Catalan separatists left the door open until the end.
Now begins the parliamentary process for the reform of the Yes is yes and the socialists hope that the other groups participate by contributing amendments. If they reach an agreement, the groups could support the final ruling and thus the photo that took place this Tuesday will not be repeated. They will continue battling so that it is not left that they modified the law with the right.
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