The reduction of the working day confronts ERC and Junts al Congrés

MadridThe first plenary session of Congress in the new political year will be marked by a significant parliamentary defeat for the Spanish government: the People's Party (PP), Vox, and Junts will reject the proposal to reduce the working day, promoted by Second Vice President Yolanda Díaz. Pedro Sánchez will once again be in the minority due to the position of Carles Puigdemont's party, which will once again vote alongside the Spanish right, arguing that legally establishing a 37.5-hour workweek harms small and medium-sized businesses in Catalonia. This issue once again sparked a confrontation between the two Catalan pro-independence parties in Madrid, and ERC spokesperson Gabriel Rufián described the position of the judiciary members as "shameful and incomprehensible."

"The same people who pay the PP and Vox to vote against are the ones who pay Junts. Whoever pays calls the shots," Rufián denounced in statements to the media, surprised – "well, not surprised," he explained to himself – "that a party that calls itself Catalan patriotic is acting against it. Rufián denounced the "whitewashing" of Junts voting with the PP and Vox, which the spokesperson for the Catalan government, Míriam Nogueras, sees as an "excuse from those who have no arguments." "When they lump us together, it's because they have no arguments to debate," she insisted in an interview on La Sexta. The leader of Sumar and promoter of the reduction of the working day, Yolanda Díaz, also lamented that "the three right-wing parties are slapping workers in the face" with their vote against.

Tonight's vote in Congress will once again confirm the fragility of Spanish government, which intends to approve a budget for 2026 despite the adverse climate. In response to Rufián, Sánchez pledged to "fulfill the investiture agreements," that is, with the specific financing for Catalonia that ERC is demanding as a necessary condition to begin negotiating the accounts. The Spanish president has promised that the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, will put a new proposal for regional financing on the table and has demanded theApproval of debt forgiveness by the Council of Ministers.

The face to face with Feijóo

The one who has put his finger on the weakness of the Spanish executive is the leader of the People's Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The control session was once again a tense face-to-face between the head of the State's executive and the leader of the opposition, in which Feijóo recalled the spiral of corruption surrounding Sánchez, and he retorted that his is a "clean" government. "Corruption hasn't gone away because you're here," said the PP leader. "You're only driven by fear. Fear of the judges for what they know, of the media for what they publish, that your partners will let you down, that people will speak at the polls, or that you yourself will appear in court," he added.

Sánchez has dodged the attacks – this Wednesday his wife, Begoña Gómez, testified in court– and he criticized Feijóo for standing up to the king on Friday at the opening ceremony of the judicial year. "He used a private and false conversation with the head of state to excuse himself," he criticized, referring to Feijóo's revelation that Felipe VI had allegedly told him that he "understood" why he would not attend the event. The head of the Spanish executive also tried to divert the debate towards government initiatives, such as the proposal for a state pact against the climate emergency or the tougher measures against Israel – "Repeat after me: 'It's genocide,'" he told Feijóo – shortly before the Strasbourg meeting. He moved closer to the Spanish theses, hardening his position against Benjamin Netanyahu..