The quick and forceful response given by Congress to the conflict of powers promoted by the PP in the Senate – thanks to its absolute majority – has further increased the institutional war between both Chambers. The Board of the Lower House, chaired by the PSOE, approved this Tuesday a report from its legal services in which the clash approved by the plenary session of the Upper House is described as “inadmissible” and in which the claims of the populars. Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party used this unprecedented parliamentary tool to attack the amnesty law from another side. But mainly to prolong the noise in the face of the grace measure in front of the gallery and to act as a parapet against Vox, which directly asked him to paralyze the processing of the norm. However, the PP leadership still does not clarify whether it will complete the process by denouncing the conflict before the Constitutional Court. The popular ones remain silent and instead once again accuse the president of Congress, Francina Armengol, of exercising “arbitrariness” in her functions. For their part, the socialists denounce the “delaying strategy” of the Popular Party and challenge them to take the case before the court of guarantees. All in the midst of an unprecedented struggle.
Congress had one month to respond to the conflict of powers approved by the full Senate last Wednesday, with 144 votes in favor (those of the PP, Vox and the Canarian Coalition). He could also remain silent. But the effective, and negative, response has come in the shortest possible time, during the routine meeting held by the Lower House Board on Tuesdays. In the report approved by the governing body, Congressional lawyers describe the conflict as “interference” and urge the PP to go to the Constitutional Court. Members of the Popular Party privately acknowledged last week the doubts about whether it was pertinent to denounce the Lower House before the court of guarantees, since there is fear of receiving a first blow from the Constitutional Court prior to an appeal of unconstitutionality against the amnesty law when is already in force.
In public, Feijóo's party apologized, claiming that it could not make that decision until it knew the specific response from the lower house. “Congress has a period of 30 days to respond. Let's see how he responds and how he argues his answer. When that time comes, we will announce the steps to be taken by the Popular Party,” said the PP spokesperson in the Senate, Alicia García. But the response is already a fact and the popular leadership continues to avoid commenting on the matter. “No news to report,” sources from Genoa indicated this Tuesday. Deputy Secretary Elías Bendodo also did not respond at a press conference to the specific question about whether or not the PP will go to the court of guarantees after the contrary report approved by the Lower House Board.
While maintaining uncertainty, popular parliamentary sources have denounced this Tuesday that the Congressional Board does not have “powers” to respond to the request made by the Senate. The PP and the president of the Upper House, the popular Pedro Rollán, interpret, based on article 31 of the Regulations, that only the plenary session of the Lower House has the power to respond, since the request was made by the plenary session of the Upper House and not for his Table. And they denounce that the deputies are “robbed” of their right to “debate” the issue in a new plenary session on the conflict of powers in Congress. Along with these complaints, they also do not clarify whether the parliamentary calendar continues on its course. The Senate has another month to denounce the Lower House before the Constitutional Court after receiving its response.
Along these lines, delaying the decision by the popular people to go to the end feeds the theory of the socialists. The PSOE maintains that the PP acted as a “bluff” by raising the institutional clash and challenges it to go to the court of guarantees now. “We invite you to do so because we are sure that everything we have done and everything that has been done by the Congress of Deputies is correct,” said this Tuesday the first vice president of the Congress Board, the socialist Alfonso Gómez de Celis, after the meeting of the governing body. Sources from the presidency of the Lower House also deny that they do not have “competence” to respond to the Senate. “It is evident that this cannot be raised to the plenary session because there is no regulatory channel for it. The Board has general jurisdiction for all those issues that are not entrusted to any other body by application of article 31.1.7 of the Regulations,” these sources indicate. Meanwhile, the amnesty law continues its processing in the Senate without brakes.
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