The PP approves the institutional conflict between the Senate and Congress over the Amnesty Law

Congress has until May 11 to respond to this request and the PP doubts whether to continue the procedure and take it to the TC

MADRID, 10 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Plenary Session of the Senate approved this Wednesday the initiative promoted by the PP in which a conflict between constitutional bodies in Congress arises for the first time in democracy over the proposed amnesty law, since they ask the Lower House to withdraw it understanding that it is a "disguised constitutional reform."

The 'popular' have asserted their absolute majority in this Chamber and have added the support of Vox to bring this institutional clash to Congress. On the other hand, the conflict of powers has been rejected by the PSOE and its parliamentary partners, while the UPN senator has been the only one to abstain.

Specifically, the PP accepts the report of the Senate lawyers in which it charges against the processing of the amnesty law in Congress and denounces that it is a "disguised reform of the Constitution." The 'popular' refer to this point to formally demand that Congress withdraw the rule.

Once approved by the Senate Plenary, this conflict of powers will reach Congress this Thursday, April 11 and the Lower House has a maximum response period of 30 days.

In this way, the institution chaired by Francina Armengol will have until May 11 to respond, one day before the Catalan elections. From there, it is up to the Senate to decide whether they finally go to the Constitutional Court or not.

From the PP led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo they have admitted that they have doubts about the moment in which they will go to the Constitutional Court with the amnesty and they are debating whether to do it before the norm is approved by Parliament - through this conflict - or Wait until it has been definitively approved.

"Perhaps due to political times we are interested in doing it later, when the law is approved," 'popular' sources have acknowledged on the same day that this conflict of powers with Congress was approved in the Senate.

During the debate, the PSOE senator for Lanzarote and fourth secretary of the Senate, Francisco Manuel Fajardo, compared this institutional conflict between the Upper House and Congress with the attempted coup d'état of 23F by stating that this clash is "almost a 'everybody quiet'".

The socialist senator has told the PP that this unprecedented institutional clash between the Senate and Congress is "a real nonsense." "It's almost 'everyone stay still'," added Fajardo, referring to the words that Colonel Antonio Tejero uttered in Congress during the attempted coup d'état on February 23rd.

In turn, the PSOE parliamentarian has accused the 'popular' of "clinging" to a paragraph of the Senate lawyers' report in which they talk about the institutional conflict between the Senate and Congress to finally end up raising it in the Chamber High.

Of course, the socialist senator has shown his "doubts" that the PP will finally go to the Constitutional Court (TC) once the Amnesty Law is approved, recalling that the PP also met with Junts to address the investiture of Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

In this context, Fajardo has added that the leader of Junts Carles Puigdemont threatened to reveal the conversations with the PP, something that has also been used by the senator of Junts María Teresa Pallarès in her speech: "Everything will be known."

For his part, the person in charge of defending the institutional conflict has been the PP senator Antonio Silván, who has reproached Fajardo for his words and has used during his speech the same arguments put forward by the 'popular' in their initiative to formally complain to Congress to withdraw the amnesty law proposal.

In this context, the PP senator has stressed that the amnesty is a "covert reform of the Constitution", as stated in the report of the Senate lawyers, recalling that this debate is not about whether the norm is constitutional or not. .

"The amnesty is not a matter of law, but of the Constitution. It does not belong to the Legislative Branch and does belong to the constituent power. Therefore, it can only be addressed through the constitutional reform procedure," proclaimed Antonio Silván.

Vox senator Ángel Pelayo wanted to respond to the socialist parliamentarian's words about 23F, ensuring that "the closest thing to 'everyone stay still'" that he has heard lately "was said by the government's coup partners in 2017."

For her part, the UPN senator, who usually coincides in voting with the PP, on this occasion has admitted her "legal doubts" with this institutional clash because, as she said, she does not see "the motivation for such a conflict."

The PNV spokesperson in the Senate, Estefanía Beltrán, has accused the 'popular' of "activating all the machinery" to prevent the processing of the amnesty.

In the case of ERC, its spokesperson, Sara Bailac, has attacked the "partisan use" that, in her opinion, the PP of the Senate is making, although she has warned that "they will not stop" the Amnesty Law. "But after so much instrumentalization, they will be left with a Senate and public institutions at the level of bitumen."