The figures of the convulsive 2022 in the Cortes: Calviño, the most asked; UP and Cs, the groups with the most proposals; and inflation, the star theme

Debates and angry sessions without decibel limits, laws approved by the minimum and even votes pending the decision of the Constitutional Court.

The political confrontation and polarization, amplified after two years of slowdown due to the pandemic, have marked a 2022 in which Congress has experienced intense parliamentary activity led by the different forces of the parliamentary arc.

It has also been a prolific year in terms of laws: the Government had to materialize the promises that were put on hold by the covid-19 and aspired to start the new year with the homework done in the face of the eternal electoral campaign ahead of the regional and municipal elections. of May.

In total, 377 questions have been registered in the control sessions,

92 bills have been presented and 74 legislative initiatives have been carried out by the Council of Ministers, according to the count carried out by EL PAÍS with official data extracted from the Cortes.

All the numbers are higher than the 2021 numbers.

The year 2022 has been marked, among other issues, by the economic consequences derived from the war in Ukraine.

Therefore, the derivatives that the Russian offensive has left in Spain —inflation and the escalation of energy prices— have been precisely two of the issues that were most discussed in Congress the year just ended.

Despite the internal disagreements within the coalition government and the harsh political rows with the opposition in the lower house, an overview of the questions formulated by the opposition to the legislative initiatives and bills shows that the debates that Parliamentary representatives maintain that they are not so far removed from the concerns of the citizenry.

Nevertheless,

the shipment of arms to Ukraine and the change in the government's position on Western Sahara.

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Government control sessions

In total, 377 questions addressed to members of the Government have been registered during the control sessions, while in 2021 there were 371. By parties, the PP has formulated 138;

Vox, 68;

ERC, 28 and Ciudadanos, 23, while the PSOE has launched five and United We Can, none.

It is in these parliamentary debates that the influence of the issues mentioned has been most noticeable.

Issues such as the government's parliamentary alliances with the pro-independence parties and the democratic regeneration of institutions have also been addressed.

For all of the above, the two ministers most asked questions, both by the opposition and by members of the Executive, were Nadia Calviño —head of Economy, who has received 65 questions—, and of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera —who has been questioned 28 times.

In the list of members of the Executive branch most questioned, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, is in second place, with 51 questions received.

The political party that addressed the Minister of Economy the most times was Vox, especially through the mouth of its parliamentary spokesman, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros.

The deputy from the ultra party was, on the other hand, the one who registered the most questions during the control sessions, a total of 22 of the 68 questions from his party.

The economic situation in Spain as a consequence of the war in Ukraine, the rise in inflation and the deficit data have been the main issues addressed by Vox with this parliamentary tool.

For his part, Sánchez received more questions from the PP spokesperson in Congress, Cuca Gamarra, who put 15 questions to the Prime Minister.

Gamarra has censured throughout the year the economic measures of the Executive, which he has accused of impoverishing citizens.

On the other hand, the tax cut, the star measure of the PP since the arrival of Alberto Núñez Feijóo to the presidency of the party in April 2022, has been the most recurring argument of the popular leader in the control sessions.

Although, on many occasions, the parties pose generic questions that they use to attack the Government on other matters.

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The regulations of the Congress establish that in the current legislature the maximum number of questions asked to the Executive in a Control Session is 26, provided that the Board of Spokespersons does not agree otherwise.

Each parliamentary group is designated a maximum number of questions that it can formulate: the PSOE can make up to 9, the PP 6, Vox 3, UP 2, and the rest of the forces have 1 for each parliamentary group.

In this sense, the 15 questions from the PP spokesperson to Sánchez contrast with the low activity of the Vox leader, Santiago Abascal, who questioned the president on only six occasions.

In a year marked by the energy crisis, Abascal's main concern was to question the Government's environmental policy and blame the rise in gas prices on the climate change law approved in 2021,

Among the rest of the members of the Government questioned on many occasions, there is also the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz (19 times), questioned about her labor reform approved at the beginning of 2022;

and that of the Treasury, María Jesús Montero (22 times), especially attacked by the PP and Vox.

Félix Bolaños (25 times), in charge of Relations with the Courts and Sánchez's strong man in the Government, also monopolized several questions.

Bolaños's clashes with the opposition were, above all, due to the situation of the members of the CGPJ, who have had their mandate expired for more than four years.

Also about the democratic quality of the country and the erosion of institutions.

Joan Subirats, in charge of the Universities portfolio, was the only minister who did not receive any questions in 2022, despite having promoted since his arrival at the ministry, in 2021, the approval of the law to reform and modernize Spanish universities.

Law proposals and urgent interpellations

The bills, those legislative initiatives presented by the parliamentary groups, added a total of 92 texts presented, 20 more than in 2021. Unidas Podemos and Ciudadanos registered 16 each;

Vox, 16;

the PP, 13;

the PSOE, seven;

ERC and PNV, five, respectively, and the Plural Group (Más País, Compromís, BNG, Junts, PDeCAT), 15. Of the 92 bills presented, only seven were approved, all of them presented by the parties that make up the Government , PSOE and UP, since it is usually difficult for the rest to get ahead due to not having a sufficient number of deputies and, furthermore, the difficulty in reaching agreements between opposing forces.

Tax cuts, illegal immigration, the illegal occupation of homes or the election reforms of the CGPJ were the main issues that PP, Vox and Ciudadanos put on the table.

While PSOE and Unidas Podemos had an impact on social aid, formulas to tax great fortunes and the reform to unblock the appointment of the magistrates of the Constitutional Court.

As for urgent questions —those issues that parliamentarians bring up for debate in the chamber—, 64 were formulated. The PP raised 23;

Vox, 21;

Ciudadanos, 11 and ERC, 9. The concerns of the opposition parties were, above all, the economic situation, the illegal occupation of houses, national unity and illegal immigration.

ERC, for its part, was concerned about the difficulties of young people to emancipate themselves, about the democratic health of Spain and about budgetary compliance in Catalonia.

Legislative initiatives

The coalition government overcame another year of tensions and internal discrepancies.

Even so, the Executive presented and approved last year 74 legislative initiatives, of which 39 were ordinary laws, 15 organic and 20 royal decrees.

He also managed to endorse some important texts presented in other years, such as the labor reform and the

.

In the legislative activity of the coalition, the law of the General State Budgets, the third parties of the Government, stands out above all.

Also other texts such as the Democratic Memory or the Law to Guarantee Sexual Freedom, which has led to the reduction in the sentences of more than 130 prisoners and the release of another twenty after its application.

In 2021, the projects presented were 65.

The legislative activity of the Council of Ministers in 2022 not only exceeded that of 2021, but was also the most prolific in the last five years.

In 2017, for example, when Mariano Rajoy governed alone with a simple majority, the number of projects was 34.

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