Why is the PSOE asking for Congress to be closed for the National Day?
The Socialists say they want to facilitate the participation of Catalan deputies, while the PP and Vox denounce that it is the day Begoña Gómez declares.
BarcelonaThis year, Catalonia's National Day falls on a Thursday, during a week in which there is a plenary session in Congress. This situation already occurred last year, causing Junts deputies to leave the lower house en masse to attend the September 11 demonstration. At a time when the Spanish government is juggling to secure parliamentary majorities, the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) has already anticipated potential scares: it has requested a reorganisation of the calendar and freed up Thursday the 11th, arguing that Catalan politicians who wish to attend will be able to attend the Diada. However, September 11th is also the day that Pedro Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez, will testify before Judge Peinado regarding the case opened against her for alleged embezzlement. The PP and Vox have supported the theory that the Socialist proposal responds precisely to this reason.
The PSOE initiative is expected to be discussed next week at the spokespersons' meeting, the first of the new session. Socialist sources have explained that they are proposing that the plenary session, the first after the holidays, be held over two days instead of three. The decision would facilitate the attendance at the Diada events of the seven Junts deputies and the seven Esquerra deputies, but also of the 19 PSC deputies and the seven Comunes deputies. The PP has six Catalan deputies, although the Popular Party already abandoned the Generalitat last year and did not send anyone to official events. arguing that they were of a "separatist" nature. It's the same thing Vox is advocating, which has two Catalan MPs who won't be running either.
The PP sees it as unprecedented.
The proposal has taken the PP by surprise, which has questioned the PSOE's motives for proposing such a change. The PP spokesperson in Congress, Esther Muñoz, has asserted that "in 47 years" of democracy, it has never been changed for this reason. It was not done either on October 9, Valencian Community Day, or on February 28, Andalusia Day, when control sessions were held with appearances by Pedro Sánchez. Nor was it suspended on April 23, the date on which Castilla y León celebrates its holiday, recalled Muñoz, who is from León. "I don't know if they are doing it because they don't want a plenary session on the same day that the president's wife must appear before a judge," she suggested in statements to the media. Vox spokesperson in Congress, Pepa Millán, said the same in a message to X. Muñoz added that perhaps the Spanish government is "paralyzed" and lacks legislative material to take to the lower house.
However, Socialist sources consulted by ARA contradict the PP and assert that this is not the first time that adjustments have been made to the calendar to facilitate attendance at the Diada. Last year, September 11th coincided with a control session, but Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was absent because he was on an official trip to China. The departure of the Junts deputies left the PP free to defend a motion against the one-off funding, which, however, failed because Vox ended up boycotting it. The ERC deputies remained for the votes, and some later left to participate in the Diada demonstration or in events in their municipalities. Others stayed to participate in the committees held in the afternoon. In 2023, the plenary session of Congress had not yet been activated because the elections had been held in July.
The PSC government welcomes the PSOE's initiative and considers the change to be "positive," according to a statement made Tuesday by the government spokesperson and minister, Silvia Paneque. In any case, the government is not considering inviting Spanish President Pedro Sánchez to participate in official events, just as Isla has attended the Constitution Day and Hispanic Heritage Day celebrations. The invitation the Spanish president has already received is to the PSC's Rose Festival on September 21. As every year, the Catalan socialists have already asked him to participate in their annual festival, and are awaiting confirmation.
What to vote for?
The proposed change to the calendar comes at a critical time for the Spanish government, which is entering the new political year with the shadow of the Cerdán case still looming and a new crisis over the handling of the wildfires. Sánchez intends to seek agreements with the investiture partners to pass a budget, but both Junts and ERC are already warning that they will not make it easy. Especially if the pending agreements are not met: Left, with the singular financing, and Together with Catalan in Europe and the immigration transfer. In that scenario, any parliamentary defeat (or opposition victory) could send an image of weakness that the Socialists might want to avoid.
It is not known, however, what issues will be submitted to this September plenary session; the matter will be decided by the board of spokespersons next week. There is a pending validation. the decree law extending birth permits and childcare, but also the entire debate on reducing the working week to 37.5 hours, which Junts still vetoes. In fact, the Spanish government decided not to bring this issue to the plenary session on July 22 because it lacked the support of Carles Puigdemont's party. Thursday is usually the day on which debates are held in which the Spanish government intervenes to present decree laws, or in which amendments are made to the entire debate.
