New obstacle to the immigration pact: doubts in the Sumar parliamentary group

MadridThe four Podemos deputies are not the only ones who endanger approval in Congress of the immigration pact between the PSOE and Junts. Compromís, which has two parliamentarians integrated within the Sumar parliamentary group, does not guarantee its vote in favour at this time either. While the spokesperson for the Valencians in the Lower House, Águeda Micó, two days ago expressed herself in favour of delegating powers, the other representative of Compromís, Alberto Ibáñez, expressed himself against the agreement, which he believes implies allowing oneself to be dragged into the cultural framework of the extreme right. In statements to The Confidential, Ibáñez has gone beyond simple criticism and has expressed his intention to oppose it.

Compromís sources consulted by ARA explain that they will have a debate within the party to decide the direction of the vote and that everything is still open, even though Ibáñez is already marking his position. They also point out the possibility that they will present amendments to the agreement. However, they assure that if they decide to position themselves against it, they could end up distancing themselves from Sumar if the leadership of the parliamentary group opts for yes. The second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, defended the pact as soon as it was made public by the socialists and the junteros, and Sumar sources reduce it to an internal discussion within Compromís, which has different opinions.

However, as the hours have passed, the voices against the agreement within Sumar have been proliferating. Even the party's communications secretary, Elizabeth Duval, a member of Díaz's core group, said yesterday that the statement of reasons, publicly defended by the socialist part of the coalition, is problematic because it "buys", albeit partially, the "nativist" framework of the Catalan Alliance. However, Duval did not oppose the delegation of powers as such. The meaning of Sumar's vote, she said in an interview on The Sixth, will be seen when the debate is addressed in the plenary session of Congress. The same sources from Díaz's party emphasize that in Sumar there is a fairly clear majority in favor.

Another party in the parliamentary group that has avoided guaranteeing its yes is Más Madrid, which has two deputies in Congress. In statements over the last two days, the party's spokesperson in the Madrid Assembly, Manuela Bergerot, was critical of the agreement. On Tuesday she called it a "bad idea" and a "bad precedent." "It may lead to a competition between the autonomous communities for who applies more xenophobic policies," she warned. Bergerot insisted yesterday at the doors of the lower house that she saw "worrying" about a pact with Junts, a party that, she said, "mobilizes the vote by generating an anti-immigration sentiment." Along the same lines as Podemos, she said that the urgent thing is to approve the ILP for the regularization of undocumented foreigners living in Spain.

The Catalan requirement

Meanwhile, Junts has insisted on proposing that Catalan be a requirement to obtain papers, despite the fact that the law says that the Generalitat must apply state legislation, in which this condition does not exist. "Language is not a requirement to deny a permit, expel a person or prohibit entry into our country," said the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration on Thursday. The Commons, which on Tuesday encouraged the rest of the partners of the plurinational majority to support the delegation of powers, warned yesterday that Carles Puigdemont is "overstepping" with his "self-serving interpretation" of the agreement. "This delegation is not directed to Junts, but to the Parliament and the Generalitat," warned Aina Vidal, deputy spokesperson for Sumar and leader of the Commons.

Despite maintaining that it is a "positive" agreement, Vidal affirmed that the fine print must be carefully looked at in case modifications need to be made if the junteros ever govern. The leader of the United Left, Antonio Maíllo, warned PSOE and Junts on Thursday that the agreement does not bind them and that if they want the support of their five deputies, from the Sumar group, they will have to agree to introduce changes through amendments. Maíllo expressed "technical, legal and ideological" doubts, although he was in favour of decentralisation, and criticised the "delirious story" that Junts has made about the text in a "classist, right-wing and reactionary" way when it talks about border or language control.