Podemos keeps the pulse of the PSOE in its demand for the 'law of only yes is yes'

The pulse between the government partners is maintained, without anyone clarifying if it will give in at the last minute and to what extent.

The senior staff of Podemos has closed ranks this Sunday with the

and the work of the Ministry of Equality, which leads the

of the party, Irene Montero.

In an act convened in Madrid expressly to vindicate the norm and put pressure on the PSOE in full negotiations on the legal reform, the minister has maintained a certain ambiguity: "We are willing to reform the law, to accept the conditions that the majority partner of the Government needs, to come out united in the face of this right-wing offensive”, she said, to then add: “There is only one thing on which we are not going to give in: consent is not touched”.

In the discourse of Podemos, that the legal model is based on "consent" means that the crime of sexual assault continues to be one, that it is not subdivided based on whether or not there has been violence or intimidation;

just what the PSOE proposes to introduce into the law in order to legally justify an increase in penalties.

This will not end the sentence reductions for convicted persons that are already taking place: these are irreversible.

However, the Socialists want to make the reform to, at least, convey to the population the idea that something is being done about it, and to avoid that, in future sentences, the sentences are lower than they were with the legislation prior to that of the

.

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The Government and the 'only yes is yes': “It is very serious, Irene, the law must be adjusted”.

"It's well done, Pilar, but I listen to proposals"

“We are not going to give up”, also challenged the general secretary of Podemos and Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, during her speech at the Círculo de Bellas Artes.

The event, attended by some 300 people, takes place just two days after the deadline set by the Socialists to reach an agreement or present the reform separately.

Both Montero and Belarra have charged against the PP as instigator of the "offensive" and have avoided direct criticism of the PSOE.

Since the Law of Sexual Freedom (popularly known as the

) entered into force in October, there have been almost 400 sentence reductions and twenty releases of sexual offenders convicted in the past and who benefit from the new range of sentences of the law.

After a week of crisis in the coalition due to the Ministry of Justice's proposal to modify the norm, the talks have remained open on Saturday and this Sunday, but they remain aground.

Justice wants to raise the sentences again, distinguishing whether or not there is violence or intimidation.

Equality accepts the increase, but rejects that this is the way to do it because it considers that it means putting the focus back on whether or not there is violence in sexual assault.

In reality, with the current law, the existence of violence can also lead to an increase in the penalty:

"These are very difficult days, because there is a lot of pressure to return to the previous model proposed by the PP," Montero denounced.

“We have been working non-stop from the first minute, proposing this urgent plan of comprehensive measures so that there is judicial specialization, more psychologists, more specialized lawyers, more police officers protecting women victims of sexual violence.

And, furthermore, analyzing together with our government partner what was happening with those minority judicial decisions, but which have generated a lot of concern”, Montero said.

The minister sees in this decalogue of Equality measures a similar response to the one given in 2004 by the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero when the law on gender violence came into force and almost 200 judges asked the Constitutional Court if it endorsed it.

So,

.

"Although possibly no penal reform is going to avoid these judicial decisions to lower sentences for sexual offenders, we are willing to reform the law, to accept the conditions that the majority partner needs to come out together as a Government to face this offensive against

against the coalition government and against the progressive, multinational and feminist majority", Montero conceded, before qualifying: "There is only one thing we are not going to give in to, […] consent is not touch itself".

Until now, his ministry has not explained the details of any of his proposals to increase the sentences, as the PSOE wants to avoid lower sentences in the future.

Without directly mentioning the Ministry of Justice, a gesture also to try to preserve the negotiations underway, the head of Equality has accused the PP of "articulate the offensive" in the political sphere against the law and of "offering their votes" to “who wants to listen”.

“That party that leaves budgets shivering against sexist violence, a party that made [Alberto Ruiz] Gallardón our minister, that feminists had to throw him out on the street because he dared to question our right to voluntary termination of pregnancy ”, he questioned.

"Again, Mr. Feijóo:

and not a step back," Montero insisted.

The minister called, at the end of her speech, to continue waging the battle: "To defend the law, to stop this reactionary offensive and to win, as we have done on other occasions throughout this legislature", she said, in a clear reference to the pulse with the PSOE and between the applause of the assistants.

Belarra has also had an impact on that idea of ​​not taking a step back.

“The goal of these attacks and this operation is for us to surrender.

The easiest thing is to give up, give up, get tired and give up.

This act is to tell everyone who wants us to get tired that we are not going to give up, that we are going to continue fighting to defend the feminist and social advances of this Government ”, she cried.

The general secretary of Podemos has charged in the same way against the PP, pointing out that the proposal to reduce the penalties is only "an excuse" to return to the previous model.

The Minister of Social Rights has accused the right of having "an undemocratic DNA."

"They do not accept the rules of the game and that is why the attacks are going to intensify," she warned.

“Defending the

is to defend popular sovereignty, it is also to defend ourselves from judicial blows.

It is to remember that in a democratic system, Congress and parliamentary majorities make the laws and the judges apply them, they do not twist them," criticized the minister, in a tone even harsher than Montero's.

At a time of complicated relations within Unidas Podemos, members of the IU leadership were present at the event this Sunday, such as the person in charge of Organization, Ismael González, the Equality advisor Carlos Sánchez Mato and the communication director of the ministry Clara Alonso.

The controversy also comes at a particularly sensitive time for the party.

Podemos is at stake in the May elections to revalidate its presence in up to six regional governments and also its municipal implementation, after some downward results in 2019. The elections take place with the space to the left of the PSOE in full reconfiguration facing the general ones and the negotiations with Sumar, the project led by Vice President Yolanda Díaz, still very open.

The resolution of this crisis threatens to take its toll at the polls in a decisive year for the coalition.

"When you earn 9,000 million euros in a year, you are not an entrepreneur, you are a usurer"

The general secretary of Podemos, who just 15 days ago called the executive director of Mercadona, Juan Roig, a "ruthless capitalist", has lashed out again this Sunday against the big businessmen of the banks, whom she described as "loan sharks", "greedy" and "greedy" in the same week in which the benefits of the main financial entities have been known.

"There are many people who are insisting that the rich in Spain cannot be named," Belarra pointed out.

"We have said many times that poverty and inequality have names and surnames, but wealth in Spain also has names and surnames and we are going to continue naming them because no matter how much they say they are businessmen, when you earn 6,000 million euros , 9. 

Belarra has once again requested the limitation of variable-rate mortgages, a demand that has been raised since the last quarter of 2022 by the minority partner of the Government and on which United Podemos has insisted (including the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz) in the last days, after knowing these gains.

"It is indecent that they are raising the quota by 100, 200, 300 euros a month while they continue to make gold," the minister continued in her offensive, whose party has decided to fight on this issue, distancing itself from the PSOE.

"So while Ana Patricia Botín [president of Santander] or Mr. [Carlos] Torres, [from BBVA] are swimming in 500-euro bills when our people have a hard time, we are going to continue naming them and we are going to call them what are: greedy and avaricious",