Junts usually represents a real headache for Pedro Sánchez’s Government, but sometimes it becomes a lifeline. At least for the socialist wing of the Executive. The same thing happened yesterday when the spokesperson for the independence party, Miriam Noguerasannounced that his party will vote in favor of the decree with measures to alleviate the crisis derived from the war in the Middle East.
The vote will take place this Thursday and will mean temporary relief for Sánchez, since Podemos announced its abstention and everything depended on the PP and Junts. But yesterday, just at the same time that the popular people asked the Government to withdraw the decree and paved the way to vote against it, Junts confirmed its vote in favor. With the yes of the independentistas, what the PP does now has less weight.
However, Junts continues to position itself against the second decree approved in the Council of Ministers last Friday, the one promoted by Sumar with housing measures. This will be voted on within a maximum period of one month and, right now, it does not have the support to be validated.
Míriam Nogueras announced yesterday the meaning of her vote for the first decree in an interview on TV3 and linked it to the fact that the Government has committed to transposing the European directive that establishes that Those self-employed who invoice less than 85,000 euros do not have to pay VAT.
In fact, Congress yesterday debated a non-law proposal (PNL) from Junts in which the same thing is requested and which will also be voted on Thursday, shortly before the decree. Although the PSOE does not agree with the entire PNL, you can vote by points and the socialists have committed to pressing the green button in that measure that affects the self-employed.
Although the non-law proposal is not binding, Junts understands that the PSOE’s vote in favor of this parliamentary initiative reflects its commitment to effectively transpose the European directive. “We are counting on the PSOE to vote in favor of being able to take care of the self-employed, so they can count on our vote for the decree of measures,” Nogueras said in the interview.
However, in the PSOE they continue to be somewhat cautious because Junts is not an excessively reliable partner and, officially, the independentistas remain distanced from the Government of Pedro Sánchez.
Aside from these nuances, what seems like it will not be saved is the housing decree. Those of Carles Puigdemont They already announced last weekend that they will vote against the measure and in Sumar, which has sponsored the decree, they are doing everything possible to agitate and pressure for its approval.
Space Sources led by Yolanda Diaz They privately state that they hope that the PSOE will get involved and sit down to negotiate with Junts to try to save the decree that includes, among others, the extension of rents. “We aspire for the PSOE to get involved,” they insist, and assure that this role should correspond to the Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodriguez.
“We don’t know what the minister is involved in,” they point out from space. Sumar is very critical of Rodríguez because they believe that he did not fight hard enough last Friday for the housing measures to be approved. In fact, they were the ones who delayed the Council of Ministers to pressure the approval of the decree in the face of the refusal of the socialist wing of the Government. Now, they would like the minister to get involved in the negotiation with Junts.
The sources clarify that there has not yet been time for these negotiations to begin, since a few days have passed since the decree was approved and there is a month to validate it, and they assure that they will have no problem negotiating with Junts. Yes indeed, The negotiation is weaker if the PSOE, which is the one that truly has the capacity to make concessions, does not enter into it..
In parallel to the request for negotiations, Sumar has also opted to increase pressure on the independence party, defending the story that the extension of rents is a measure that benefits citizens, also in Catalonia, and that it would be difficult to explain voting against.
“I understand that what Junts has to worry about is the Catalan people. They think for and for Catalonia, and I respect that,” Sumar’s parliamentary spokesperson, Verónica Martínez, said this Tuesday in the press conference room of the Congress of Deputies. “That they respect the people who live in Catalonia, who are those for whom they say they are doing things. This vote in the royal decree is for or against the people, there are no half measures,” he added.