The socialist militants have presented more than 6,000 amendments to the political presentation that the PSOE will approve in its 41st Federal Congress, proposals that will be debated this Saturday and that call for everything from “rectifying the historical turn” with the Sahara to moving towards the abolition of the Monarchy .
In addition to the classic themes of socialist conclaves, in this edition there are also numerous amendments proposed by prominent federations to reform the regional financing system and nullify the agreement closed between the PSC and ERC, although it is expected to reach a consensus around this matter.
The free self-determination of the Sahrawi people
The decision of the Government of Pedro Sánchez to change Spanish policy towards the Sahara and support the autonomy proposal presented by Morocco for the former colony has not pleased many socialists, who ask to respect international legality and seek a solution that allows the Sahrawi people to exercise the right to free self-determination.
Socialists from numerous provinces signed amendments in this regard, such as Madrid, Zaragoza, La Rioja, Mallorca, Ciudad Real, or Jaén.
Bizkaia expressly asks to rectify “the historical turn in the Sahara”, Cantabria proposes “condemning the actions of the Moroccan dictatorship” and Madrid and Castellón even propose formally recognizing the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
In search of consensus on regional financing
The political presentation supports a “fairer and more sustainable” regional financing system that increases the available resources of all communities, avoids downward tax competition between autonomous communities and allows for alleviating the public debt of the communities, making multilaterality and bilaterality compatible. .
Faced with this model, the Aragonese socialists show their concern for territorial cohesion and ask to reject “new special regional financing regimes, beyond those already contemplated in the Constitution.”
The delegations of León and Teruel affirm that the agreement with ERC to provide Catalonia with unique financing may compromise the principle of solidarity and the financial autonomy of the central government.
Various groups flatly reject a bilateral negotiation, while Castilla-La Mancha proposals, without opposing it, support an “adequate, not privileged” treatment of singularities, so that they do not lead to inequalities for citizens.
Limit privileges of the Catholic Church
In the framework presentation, the PSOE advocates repealing the 1979 agreement on educational and cultural matters with the Holy See, but in various amendments the militants ask to go further.
Albacete asks that religious services in public services disappear, from hospitals to barracks; Madrid, Valencia or Seville demand to take religion out of schools and put an end to concerts; and Mallorca advocates ending public financing of the Church and its tax exemptions.
Murcia and Granada propose not to remain in the educational field and to review or repeal the rest of the agreements with the Holy See.
Rejection of “queer”
If in the previous Federal Congress one of the great debates was the trans law, in this numerous amendments show their opposition to the Q+ of the LGTBIQ+ acronym, to the term ‘queer’ as an umbrella that covers sexual orientations or gender identities beyond lesbians, gays and transsexuals.
Militants from Cáceres, Mallorca, Pontevedra and Coruña reject it, they explain, because of “its misogynistic, ultra-liberal and anti-feminist meaning.”
Numerous amendments also call for replacing the word “gender” with “sex” in the document and deleting references to “gender identity”, a concept questioned by the feminist movement.
Monarchy or Republic?
A classic of the PSOE congresses returns to Seville, where various delegations advocate calling a referendum so that citizens can choose the model of State they want: whether to maintain the current parliamentary monarchy, or establish a new federal republic.
From Badajoz there is a direct commitment to “republic, federalism and secularism”, considering that “monarchy is simply incompatible with democracy.”
The Asturian delegation and Socialist Youth also ask for a constitutional reform to eliminate the preference of men over women in the line of succession.
From surrogates to NATO
The activists’ amendments touch all sections of the presentation and raise issues such as surrogacy.
Several delegations ask to put an end to any legal or administrative loophole that allows the prohibition of surrogacy, which is already included in Spanish legislation, to be circumvented.
There are also numerous amendments related to Defense policy, but only one, promoted by Ourense, clearly supports the programmed and progressive abandonment of NATO in the face of the evolution of the common European defense.