The investiture block borders the most controversial articles of the 'gag law' to advance its reform

Amnesty International demonstration held in Madrid in February 2022 to request the repeal of the 'gag law'.OSCAR DEL POZO (AFP)

The parliamentary negotiation for the reform of the citizen security law, known as the

, has arrived this Tuesday at the shore of its particular Rubicón river that prevents them from closing an agreement.

The six parties that have been negotiating in the shadows for nearly a year ―PSOE, Unidas Podemos, PNV, ERC, EH Bildu and Junts― have held a new meeting, this time electronically, to close the changes in fifteen articles of the controversial law that the PP approved with its absolute majority in 2015, but they have avoided addressing the six points that cause the greatest discrepancies, according to detailing parliamentary sources familiar with the development of the meeting.

They are the last ones in which there is no agreement and, therefore, the final stumbling block to close an agreement.

Despite these differences, for PSOE, Unidas Podemos and PNV, the progress achieved so far is "sufficient" to carry out the reform.

ERC, EH Bildu and Junts believe, however,

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The discrepancies in six articles slow down the final stretch of the reform of the 'gag law'

This Tuesday, the most significant case of this attempt to avoid controversial points to advance in the negotiation has been article 37, which details which infractions are classified as minor.

The representatives of the six parties have agreed to changes in five of its sections, including the one that puts an end to the obligation to notify any demonstration in advance.

However, they have avoided addressing the fourth point, which sets the sanctions for disrespect to the agents, one of the most used by the Security Forces to sanction.

Until now, the Socialists have shown themselves to be intransigent on this point and have rejected the two proposals put forward to reform it.

One, that of United We Can, which wants to limit these sanctions to "insults or injuries",

as he already included in the amendments that he presented alone when the debate began.

The other, that of the PNV, proposes punishing "expressions or behaviors" that discredit the exercise of the function of the agents.

Nor have they addressed the sections that include the use by the Police of riot gear and, specifically, of rubber bullets to deal with street riots (article 23);

the one that endorses rejections at the border, known as

of migrants at the land borders of Ceuta and Melilla (tenth additional provision);

the one that sanctions “disobedience or resistance to authority or its agents”, which was massively used by the police to punish those who broke confinement during the pandemic (article 36.6);

the one that determines the subsidiary responsibility of the conveners of a demonstration for the incidents that may occur during the same (article 30.3), and the one that allows the Security Forces to install controls in public places to identify and search people, and register vehicles (article 17.2).

However, the same sources detail that on this last point there is an agreement in principle that the six parties will try to close in the coming days.

In the rest of the articles discussed this Tuesday ―and that the six parties will take to the meeting of the parliamentary report that will be held next Thursday with the presence of PP, Vox and Ciudadanos, who oppose the reform―, some stand out that They cause misgivings among the unions and associations of the National Police and the Civil Guard, which took to the streets in November 2021 to protest the reform and have recently shown their willingness to repeat the mobilizations.

Thus, the six parties have agreed to include the requirement that both the statements of the agents and the texts of their minutes and attestations "be coherent, logical and reasonable" so that they preserve the presumption of veracity that until now the law gave them without any conditioning.

Another agreed point has been the reduction of the amount of the fines for minor and serious infractions, and the modification of the lower amount of the very serious ones.

Thus, the mild ones would be, if the reform is approved, between 100 and 500 euros (now they reach 600) and the serious ones, between 501 and 25,000 euros (they are between 600 and 30,000 euros).

Finally, the very serious ones would range from 25,001 to 600,000 (currently they move in the range between 30,001 and 600,000 euros).

Also, it contemplates the possibility of avoiding in some cases the payment of the same by repairing the damage caused, as well as replacing them with "re-education activities" in certain infractions, including those imposed for consuming drugs on the street.

Where there is still some pending fringe is in the drafting of the new article 53 bis of the law, on the division or suspension of sanctions based on the economic capacity of the offender.

The PSOE, which together with Unidas Podemos had proposed the modification of this point, has now asked to wait for a report from the Ministry of Finance to close it, several sources consulted agree in pointing out.

At the meeting it was also agreed to incorporate an additional provision into the text, based on an amendment by EH Bildu, to include in the training programs of the State Security Forces, "new training modules on mediation and use of appropriate methods such as alternative means of dispute resolution.

According to the text, mediation should be the "working standard [of the police] before the public."

An exception for the burundanga

The six parties in favor of the reform of the

are studying how to prevent some of the modifications that they intend to include in the articles from having undesired effects, as has happened, for example, in the so-called law of

Sources familiar with the negotiation indicate that they are looking for formulas so that the planned reduction in fines for drug use on public roads does not benefit the possession of substances such as burundanga, scopalomina, ketamine or GBL, not used for self-consumption but for the so-called chemical submission that accompanies some cases of sexual violence.

To this end, the parties in favor of changing the norm are considering including a specific mention of them in the articles so that their possession continues to be punished as up to now, without reductions.

The agreement, which will take place at the meeting of the parliamentary report scheduled for this Thursday, intends to counter the recent criticism launched by the PP, contrary to the reform of the

and that he assured that the changes that the investiture block intended to introduce would prevent the police from punishing those who use these drugs.

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