Spain is not a country of six million unemployed where illegal squatting is protected and homeowners are left to their fate. Not even the central government has allowed the death of 20,000 old people from covid in residences due to the mismanagement of a vice president who lacked powers on the matter. Nor has there been a tax increase of 80,000 million euros in one year; Nor have EHB members been released from prison in exchange for EH Bildu's support for the General State Budgets. These are just some of the lies that have crept into the debates of the Congress of Deputies this year when the legislature reaches its halfway point.

The Lower House has held 74 plenary sessions in 2021, of which THE COUNTRY has analyzed 23: those that included control sessions. About 45 hours of debate with 343 questions to the Government. The review yields an unflattering result: almost half of the questions (166, according to EL PAÍS calculations) contain falsehoods, exaggerations, accusations without evidence or inappropriate comments that distort the public debate and devalue the oversight function of Parliament. This behavior has been led by the majority opposition parties, PP and Vox. The deputies have the right and the obligation to constantly and incisively examine the actions of the president and his government, but management control must focus on what is done and what is said, fulfilling the commitment to supervision. And it has not always been this way.

What follows is a chronological summary of some of the episodes in which deputies resorted to false premises or manipulations to attack the adversary.

February, of the supposed cut of pensions to the mothers.

The opposition shook the government for, among other things, an alleged cut in mothers' pensions.

- Santiago Abascal (Vox): "You attack the general interest, Mr. Sánchez, when you applaud the censorship of the digital oligarchies against this political group for denouncing the insecurity and criminality that illegal immigration brings and

."

While the number of unaccompanied foreign minors increased from 2019 to 2020, from 2,873 to 3,307, according to the Prosecutor's Office, the number of investigated criminal offenses related to foreign minors (the ministry's registry does not distinguish whether they are accompanied or not) decreased from 4,673 to 3,992 .

- Pablo Casado (PP): "... And what is more serious, [Pablo Iglesias] has been saying for weeks that Spain is a dictatorship in which they can even poison you."

What Iglesias actually said was: "There is no situation of full political and democratic normality in Spain when the political leaders of the two parties that govern Catalonia, one is in jail and the other is in Brussels."

Days later he made another similar statement, but in no case did he come close to the terms expressed by Casado.

- Iván Espinosa de los Monteros (Vox): "Tomorrow they bring here a law to reduce pensions to mothers with children, a law without any scruples."

With the change in the maternity supplement (Article 60 of the Social Security Law), the calculation per child, up to a total of four, begins in the first, instead of in the second, as was the case with the previous regulations. The Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security estimates that this extends the benefit to some 30,000 women. In addition, it replaces the calculation formula based on percentages on the pension itself (5% for two children, 10% for three, 15% for four), for a fixed amount of 378 euros per year distributed in 14 monthly payments for each child. The department estimated that the average pension would increase by 6% and the minimum by 8% in the case of two children. As a whole, the ministry estimates that 75% of women with children who will become pensioners from now on will receive a higher amount than under the previous regulations.

- Macarena Olona (Vox). “... Our democracy is in solfa from the moment in which the Communist Party is in the Government; a corrupt communist party, charged with illegal funding from drug dictatorships ”.

The cases against Podemos - which Olona identifies as a communist party - for illegal financing from Venezuela have so far been proven false.

Some even collected evidence manufactured by the Spanish police.

As for the accusation for the so-called

, whose name comes from the consulting firm of Mexican origin that Podemos recruited for its last electoral campaign, in case it is finally proven that it did not carry out the work for which it was hired and would have been the party's channel to collect black commissions, the money would come from the Spanish State itself;

in no case of a foreign one.

- Ignacio Gil Lázaro (Vox).

"[The Government] massively uses the gang's prisoners, granting them prison benefits, releasing them."

Releases, both for serving the sentence and for the enjoyment of probation, depend solely and exclusively on the prison surveillance judge: the Ministry of the Interior does not intervene.

In the case of the so-called penitentiary benefits, such as the progression of degrees, although they are granted by Penitentiary Institutions in accordance with the Prison regulations, in case of appeal by the Prosecutor's Office or the interested party, it is also the judge who has the last word.

- Diego Gago Bugarín (PP).

“If we continue along the path that you set for us [Teresa Ribera, third vice president], probably the closure of companies will be even greater.

Already last year 70,000 companies literally went to the close ”.

According to the Labor Yearbook, the number of companies registered with Social Security in 2019 was 2,919,407.

In 2020, the figure dropped to 2,897,425, leaving a negative balance of 12,982.

Pablo Iglesias in the Executive Control session on May 13, Ballesteros (EFE)

March, from Basque prisons to squatting.

The opposition denounced the alleged maneuvers of the Government to favor ETA prisoners.

- Teresa Jiménez-Becerril (PP): "In a few days the competence of prisons will be handed over to the Basque Government so that the ETA members and the terrorists take to the streets." The transfer, provided for in articles 10.14 and 12.1 of the 1979 Basque Statute of Autonomy, only covers the management of prisons, that is, the execution of the legislation on penitentiary matters is the responsibility of the Government and the release of prisoners depends on the judges .

- Ana María Zurita (PP). “They have two decrees where, with the pretext of prohibiting evictions [...], they legalize squatting and the free disposition of properties that are not theirs. Squats and expropriates, attacks private property with impunity ”. The royal decrees of March 31 and December 22 suspended, without canceling and "with an extraordinary and temporary nature" due to the state of alarm, evictions in certain cases. Among other conditions, it was established that the tenant was in a situation of vulnerability accredited by social services and did not have a housing alternative - the Administration was ordered to find it, in which case the suspension would be lifted and the eviction would be resumed - and that the owner of the home was the owner of more than 10 addresses.It would not apply in any case in properties whose owner had less than 10 homes, neither in cases of accredited first or second residences, regardless of the number of properties of the owner, and neither if the entry or stay in the property was a consequence of the commission. of a crime. In the second decree, this last point was replaced by the assumption that “intimidation or violence” had taken place at the entrance or to remain in the home. In any case, the power of the judge to carry out a “weighted and proportional assessment of the specific case” was recognized. In the plenary session on March 24, the popular Miguel Ángel Castellón once again maintained that the decree "protects illegal squatting" and "prevents judges from returning the use of a squatted property to its owners."

- Ana María Zurita (PP). "We have a Spain with 5.5 million unemployed and, instead of 20,000 homes built, we have 15,000 squatters." In February, according to the SEPE, the number of unemployed was 4,008,789. Convictions for trespassing in 2020 (in which type of squatting falls to individuals) was 185, according to the INE. Convictions for usurpation (where the squatting of empty bank houses would fall) was 3,157. To find a figure similar to 15,000 squats, you would have to go to the complaints, but without taking into account their outcome. They amounted to 14,675 in 2020, without distinction between one type and the other.

- Pablo Casado (PP).

“More than 30,000 elderly people have died in residence and 55,000 have died awaiting their dependency benefit.

That is the only legacy of Mr. Iglesias ”.

Nursing homes are regional competence, so it is not appropriate to attribute responsibility for deaths to Iglesias.

- Cuca Gamarra (PP).

"The almost six million Spaniards who want to work and cannot [...] are not the priority of their Government."

Unemployment in February amounted to 4,008,789 people.

If ERTE workers were included as part of those who "want to work and cannot", we would have to add 858,785.

In total, 4,867,574, still far from the six million.

In the plenary session of March 24, Casado spoke again of "six million unemployed."

- Edmundo Bal (Citizens). "You have promised the social shield, and more than 80% of Spanish households are still waiting for entry." According to the data available at that time from the Ministry of Social Security, as of December 16, 2020, of the 1,079,422 valid applications for minimum vital income (IMV), 626,355 had been resolved, that is, 58%. 42% remain to be solved.

- Pablo Casado (PP). "The Government has hidden cases of extortion and abuse of minors in Valencia and the Balearic Islands." The cases to which it refers were not hidden but were investigated and, in the case of Valencia, punished. The Consell Insular de Mallorca, governed by the PSOE, Més per Mallorca and Unidas Podemos, created a commission of experts that in September presented a report with recommendations to avoid new cases. The Balearic Prosecutor's Office for Minors closed the investigation into an alleged organized network dedicated to sexual exploitation after nine months of investigation.

- Rosa María Romero (PP).

"We are in the tail of Europe in vaccination!".

As of March 23, 2021, in Spain there were 2.16 million people fully vaccinated, which placed it in fourth place in the EU, behind Germany, Italy and France.

In percentage, that represented 4.61% of its population, which placed it in ninth place.

April, the violence against Vox

.

The unemployment figures served another month as an arsenal of the opposition against the Government.

- Ignacio Gil Lázaro (Vox).

“The street violence against Vox in Vallecas was personally summoned by Pablo Iglesias.

And, finally, last week the President of the Government himself endorsed it from that rostrum ”.

The accusation against Iglesias lacked evidence and the claim about Pedro Sánchez was false.

What he said the week before was: “We condemn the violence, even what you have suffered.

We do not believe in conflict, we also disqualify and condemn any type of violence that you or your formation have suffered ”.

May, back with taxation.

The debate on the government's supposed intention to raise taxes broke out in Congress.

- Pablo Casado (PP). "How can you say you want to use European funds to hand out 70,000 million euros in exchange for raising 80,000 million euros in taxes to the middle and working classes?" The Government has not raised 80,000 million in taxes during 2021. The Executive affirms that it wants, over the next 30 years, to close the gap of seven points between the level of taxation of the country and the EU. If this gap can be closed, it is estimated that the annual collection could increase by 80,000 million euros. Estimates at the end of 2021 indicated that the collection would exceed by 4,500 million that initially foreseen in the Budgets.

- Iván Espinosa de los Monteros (Vox). “Every Friday the prisoners convicted of terrorism are brought closer to those of Bildu, and they only have one last Friday of blood left so that they are all under the tutelage of the PNV and that they can release the prison authorities, to which you have transferred the competition for that purpose ”. As explained above, the Government did not transfer prison policy, but rather the management of the prisons. Ignacio Gil Lázaro will falsely repeat later that "the final fate of the Basque prisoners will be placed in the exclusive hands of Urkullu and Otegi", and that "with the handover of the prisons", "releases and serving sentences in freedom will be seen" .

- Yolanda Díaz (Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, United We Can): “Do you know how many freelancers we lost with the management of the PP financial crisis? They were 551,000 ″. If you look at the numbers of affiliation to the Social Security of the Self-Employed Regime, during the Governments of Mariano Rajoy they also increased gradually. In November 2011 they were 2,875,415.47 and at the end of June 2018 they were 3,084,641.90.

- Macarena Montesinos (PP). “During the pandemic, you forced the self-employed to pay the quota when they had no income, add to it the hack of personal income tax, the increase in diesel, the registration tax, the insurance premiums, the tolls of the highways ... ". The same March 2020, the Government approved an extraordinary benefit for the self-employed who had been forced to stop their activity or had suffered a 75% decrease in their income. The measure included the exemption from paying the Social Security fee. In addition, it did not raise the diesel tax and waived tolls.

- Pablo Casado (PP). “In order to grant a pardon, you should remember that you must first ask for it, then have the court report and then repent and commit yourself not to repeat offenses. None of this is fulfilled by its partners, quite the opposite ”. Article 21 of the law that regulates the granting of pardons establishes that the Government can open the file without a request from the convicted person. It does not require a commitment not to repeat offenses, it only establishes that repeat offenders may not be pardoned (article 2.3). That is, it speaks of acts already produced, not of the possibility that they will occur in the future. Repentance is part of the aspects to be pondered by the sentencing court, but it is not a requirement for the convicted person (Article 25).

- Inés Arrimadas (Citizens).

"And what does the Government of Sánchez do?

Eliminate the child benefit.

If you really want to help the families, get the child benefit back ”.

The Government did not eliminate the child benefit, it integrated it into the minimum vital income (IMV).

As of December 31, 2020, all those who met the requirements to receive this benefit became IMV beneficiaries.

Pedro Sánchez and Nadia Calviño in Congress, December 28 Eduardo Parra - Europa Press (Europa Press)

June, the illegality of pardons.

The pardons to the prisoners of the

, approved on June 22 in the Council of Ministers, became a weapon thrown in Congress.

- Iván Espinosa de los Monteros (Vox).

"If they are pardoning the most dangerous murderers in the history of Spain, how can they not pardon the coup plotters and corrupt now?"

The government has not pardoned any murderer.

- Pablo Casado (PP).

"If you already accept the referendum that you [Sánchez] promised in the campaign to classify as a crime!"

The Prime Minister has never accepted the holding of a self-determination referendum in Catalonia.

- Santiago Abascal (Vox).

"This pardon places you no longer in illegitimacy, because you arrived riding on lies, but directly in illegality."

The power of the Government to grant pardons is included in the Law since 1870.

Fernando Grande Marlaska spoke in Congress on May 20. Kiko Huesca (EFE)

October, the Lardero crime and prison policy.

The murder of Álex, a nine-year-old boy, in Lardero (La Rioja), at the end of October, caused a serious parliamentary altercation.

The opposition blamed the Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, for what happened.

- Javier Merino (PP).

"What responsibility are you going to assume for the granting of the third degree to the murderer of the child of Lardero, with the criteria against the board of treatment of the prison?"

- Ignacio Gil Lázaro (Vox).

"Do you consider yourself politically responsible for a decision made by your ministry granting the third degree to the one who later turned out to be the murderer of Lardero?

You are politically responsible, Mr. Minister of the Interior, because you made an inappropriate decision, you made a frivolous decision, you made a dangerous decision ”.

The murderer of Álex, during the enjoyment of the third degree, the most restrictive, could only leave the penitentiary "with controls and means of guardianship" to make arrangements.

This was not appealed by the Prosecutor's Office and, during that time, the prisoner did not commit any crime.

A judge ordered his probation and a year later he committed the crime.

December, 'gag law'.

With demonstrations by the police unions against the reform of the gag law, Congress gathered more debates on this initiative.

- Ana Belén Vázquez (PP).

“You want a law of impunity for criminals;

you want a law capable of attacking the police and attacking society.

If three years ago this was the thin line that defended safety [he shows a photo and holds a tiny table tennis ball with his hand], are you going to tell me now that they will be able to do it playing ping-pong, Mr. Marlaska?

The government proposal does not cut back on ordinary riot gear, such as rubber balls. It only indicates the obligation to develop specific protocols in accordance with international standards to use the least harmful means and avoiding those that cause irreparable injuries. Nor does it suppress the presumption of veracity of the police officers, it only urges them to prepare an account of the events that is “coherent, logical and reasonable, as suggested by the deputy.

- Teodoro García Egea (PP). “Since you [Yolanda Díaz] are vice president, electricity has gone up 500%. Is it going to break its promise to pay the same price for electricity as in 2018? ”. The general secretary of the PP mixes the increase in the wholesale price of electricity with the price on the bill to consumers, and directs his question to a minister without powers in the matter, since it falls to the Department of Ecological Transition commanded by Teresa Ribera .

- Iván Espinosa de los Monteros (Vox). "What [the first vice president, Nadia Calviño] told me was: 'The government is not going to raise taxes on either the middle class or the working class." That's what you said, but then they haven't left a tax behind. They raised personal income tax, corporate tax, they invented the Google rate ... ”. None of the changes in those taxes affect the middle and working classes. Personal income tax has risen three points to capital income from 200,000 euros and two points to income from work above 300,000, less than 0.2% of taxpayers. Corporation tax only affects 0.7% of large companies, those integrated into groups or that invoice more than 20 million per year. The

It taxes at 3% the operations of online advertising, digital intermediation and sale of user data by companies that invoice at least 750 million euros in the world and a minimum of three of them in Spain.

Ana Belén Vázquez in the hemicycle, on December 1.

"Indecent, immoral, fascist ..."

Treachery, unscrupulousness, indecency, immorality, sadism ... The Congress of Deputies has heard throughout the year, and mainly in the control sessions to the Government, thick words, personal attacks and excessive comparisons that equate the adversary with an enemy to kill with all kinds of accusations, however unfounded they may be.

This parliamentary dynamic often displaces the substantive debates and adds noise to the public conversation, perverting the sense of the political exchange of ideas. These are just a few parliamentary episodes collected in EL PAÍS's analysis of the 23 government control sessions held in 2021.

Santiago Abascal (Vox): “The Government betrays the King, the Supreme Court and the whole of Spaniards.

“They have turned this House into a kind of black market in which national sovereignty is trafficked and handed over to the most advantageous bidder (...) You have betrayed all your oaths to constitutional order; you have betrayed the King; you have betrayed the Supreme Court and Justice; you have betrayed all the honest Spaniards who comply with the laws, especially the Catalans who suffered the coup of 2017 [in reference to the illegal referendum and the declaration of independence]. This pardon places you no longer in illegitimacy, because you arrived riding on lies, but directly in illegality ”.

Edmundo Bal (Citizens): "Unscrupulous cynics who trample the rule of law."

“They have no scruples to stay in power.

You are cynics.

If it were necessary to stay in power to put them back in jail, they would do it, because they have no morals.

The problem is that they trample on the rule of law in order to make [Oriol] Junqueras happy. "

Montse Bassa (ERC): "Only fascists have freedom of expression."

"In his Spain, only the fascists, those who want to shoot half the state and those who insult Jews and Muslims, have the right to freedom of expression guaranteed."

Cuca Gamarra (PP): "Between betrayal and loyalty, they always choose betrayal."

"We know that their word has little value, but what is really serious is that they are betraying the Spanish.

When you have to choose between betrayal and loyalty, you always choose betrayal. "

Andrés Lorite (PP): “Bottomless bag of indecency, the embodiment of lies, immorality made flesh”.

"You are a bottomless bag of indecency, you are the incarnation of lies, Mr. Ábalos [José Luis, former Minister of Transportation] you are immorality made flesh, the executor of the miseries of Sánchez and of the Chavista rampages of Shoemaker".

Míriam Nogueras (Junts per Catalunya): “Robed coup d'etat”.

What is the most progressive government in history doing in the face of this robed coup?

Take advantage of it, surrender to that fascist power and collaborate with it when it has been convenient for them ”.

Ignacio Gil Lázaro (Vox): “Mafia and gang member government”.

"You know that you only have Vox to defend yourself from the harassment of this useless, lying and sectarian government, a government now also with a gang vocation, a mafia government."

José Ignacio Echániz (PP): “Sacrifice women and children to save Sánchez”.

"If Pedro Sánchez had been on the

, he would have sacrificed the women and children to save himself."

Pablo Casado (PP): "A sadistic government that singles out journalists and puts pressure on judges."

“The sadism of your government is that, it is pointing out journalists, it is putting pressure on judges and it is blocking Parliament, but you are still in your campaign helicopter saying that the pandemic generates transformative projects.

But the most serious thing is that, to hide this trilero game, you destroy all the institutional counterweights ”.

Ignacio Gil Lázaro (Vox): “Ministers who cheer on street terrorism”

.

"Those communist ministers [those of United We Can] with a portfolio in the Council who systematically dare to cheer on any form of street terrorism;

to a violent mob that exists and is there and that continues to pretend to be able to burn a policeman alive one day ”.

Pablo Casado and Cuca Gamarra, during the plenary session held on December 14, Javier Lizón (EFE)