Demonstration of police and civil guards against the reform of the 'gag law', on November 27 in Madrid. JUAN BARBOSA
The situation is often repeated for the Government: it presents a measure that arouses a furious rejection from the right and when it takes it to Congress it finds that its parliamentary allies consider it insufficient. It has happened with the democratic memory bill — frozen while waiting to open new negotiations —, it is happening with the labor reform and it will happen with the reform of the
gag law
, whose work began this Wednesday in the paper created for its preparation in Congress. In this case, the disagreements seem to be minor. The ERC spokesman, Gabriel Rufián, admitted the "good predisposition" of the PSOE to negotiate the requests of his group, while lashing out at the Government for the labor reform.
The mere announcement of the
gag law
reform led thousands of police officers, supported by leaders of PP, Vox and Ciudadanos, to demonstrate on November 27. The police unions and the right coincide in denouncing that members of the security forces will be left unprotected. The basic points of this reform, agreed by the PSOE and United We Can to unblock an issue that had been bogged down in Congress for more than three years, must now be negotiated with the parliamentary groups. And the allies of the Government on the left ask for more in-depth modifications
The ERC amendment package, the largest group of potential Executive backers, calls for greater controls over police actions. They ask, for example, the prohibition of shooting rubber balls, compared to the text agreed by PSOE and United We Can, which is limited to recommending the use of "less harmful means". They intend to toughen the penalties for police officers who exceed their limits and make it easier for the Prosecutor's Office to control the actions of security agents.
These issues are the focus of the ERC's demands, according to Rufián, without going into more detail so as not to harm, he alleged, the negotiations already underway.
There are other Esquerra amendments that are likely to cause friction between the two government parties, such as the one that asks to suppress the provision that legalizes the hot returns of immigrants.
United We Can share that claim, although, given the lack of agreement with the PSOE, both agreed to refer the matter to a future reform of the immigration law.
The basic text on which the groups work is a bill presented by the PNV four years ago and that, between the political discrepancies and the successive dissolutions of Congress, never came to fruition. The initiative of the Basque nationalists already included some of the points now agreed by the two government parties, such as withdrawing the sanctions on those who demonstrate "spontaneously" after a specific event or lifting the restrictions on taking images of police actions.
The other Basque ally, EH Bildu, maintains that, as in the case of the labor reform, the Government has failed to fulfill its promise to “repeal” the PP law.
The nationalist left
coincides
with the ERC in several of its claims, such as the ban on rubber balls, and adds others, including withdrawing the status of law enforcement officers from prison officials.
More information
The PSOE looks to the right after the ERC slammed the labor reform
The position of the Government was established in a series of joint amendments by the PSOE and United We Can to the basic text of the PNV.
The Executive parties advocate reducing the retention time of a person who has not been identified from six to two hours.
More rigorous requirements are established for searches, sanctions for “spontaneous” protests and most limitations on taking images of police actions are withdrawn.
The agents will continue to have a presumption of veracity, although for this they must offer a "coherent, logical and reasonable" story.
In addition to the joint amendments, each group has presented its own particular ones.
Those of United We Can do not alter the basic points agreed with the PSOE, nor do they enter into the issues that most divide both formations.
They focus on points such as reducing the use or possession of drugs on public roads to a minor offense.