Junts announces it will vote in favor of the Spanish government's decree law with measures for the war

MadridJunts per Catalunya gives the Spanish government a breather and will save the decree which contains fiscal measures to mitigate the effects of the Iran-Iraq War. Among other things, it includes a reduction in VAT on fuel, electricity, and gas. This was announced by the Junts per Catalunya spokesperson in the Congress of Deputies, Miriam Nogueras, in an interview with TV3. She linked it to a gesture by the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) in favor of exempting self-employed workers with an annual turnover of less than €85,000 from VAT. How should this gesture take the form of a vote in favor of a point in a non-binding motion—a non-legislative initiative, known as a PNL, which is not legally binding—presented by Junts and scheduled for a vote on Thursday. "We expect them to vote yes to supporting the self-employed; therefore, they will have our vote in favor of the decree," said Nogueras, even though its approval would not have immediate effects unless the Spanish government takes any concrete action. "We know that they want to transpose this directive and that, indeed, small self-employed workers will have a little more breathing room," Nogueras stressed in this regard.

And the PSOE and the Spanish government support it. "There is a commitment to promote the point of the non-legislative proposal," sources at Moncloa Palace admit privately. The Socialist spokesperson in Congress, Patxi López, has said that they "perfectly" agree with the transposition of the European directive: "We agree so much that we had an amendment presented in a law with these same terms and direction," he emphasized. It is a amendment that the socialists presented within the framework of the parliamentary process of the reform of the general tax lawwhich has been stalled for more than four months. However, Junts maintains that the path to transposing the European directive will be different, with an ad hoc initiative to make it possible. That said, López has challenged the Junts members: he said that "it can't all be a permanent quid pro quo" and urged them to "state whether they agree or disagree" with the measures in the decree.

Although the Junts per Catalunya coalition had not yet revealed how they would vote, last week they boasted of having "forced" the inclusion of a series of measures in the decree and that the Spanish government "bought all the tax cuts" they had proposed, which was a "key condition for considering" their vote in favor. This led many to believe they would support the measure, even though Sumar managed at the last minute to include a tax on corporate profit margins. Thus, the legislation will receive the green light and remain in effect after Podemos announced on Monday that it would abstain because it believes the measure will be "ineffective" in lowering prices and "insufficient to protect people." Podemos continues to demand that the Moncloa Palace (the Prime Minister's office) set price caps on fuel, energy, and food.

The PP does not clarify its vote

Meanwhile, the People's Party (PP) continues to avoid any discussion about how it will vote. Early this morning, Alberto Núñez Feijóo urged the Spanish government to withdraw Thursday's vote and invited Pedro Sánchez to "reconsider." The PP leader's objective is to incorporate measures such as adjusting the income tax rate for inflation. "The Spanish government doesn't have to bring this to a vote on Thursday. It can be approved until April 20th; we don't need a vote on Thursday," he said in an interview with Antena 3. "We will do what we deem appropriate if we are forced to vote on Thursday," he added regarding the vote.

Likewise, the PP spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, stated that the decree is "clearly insufficient" and demanded that the Moncloa Palace issue a "new decree" with the measures requested by the PP. For its part, the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) confirmed that it will vote in favor because the decree includes "many" of the measures the PNV had requested from the Spanish government. The Basque nationalists also demanded, among other things, VAT exemption for self-employed workers earning less than €85,000.

The housing decree, doomed to failure

"I appeal to everyone's sense of responsibility. We want the unanimous support of the chamber," said Spanish government spokesperson Elma Saiz, who boasted about the benevolence of the measures (which are already in effect) for citizens' finances. At the same time, she assured that the Spanish government will fight to try to validate the other decree law that extends rental contracts, even though Junts has already stated it will vote against it. "We will not give up on the decree law; we will work for its validation to continue protecting vulnerable people in housing matters," she said. Núria Orriols Guiu reports.