Batet rejects the request of PP, Vox and Ciudadanos to suspend the Plenary Session of Congress until the decision of the TC

The president defends "the autonomy" of Congress and its "legislative power", while those of Abascal leave the chamber

MADRID, 15 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of Congress, the socialist Meritxell Batet, has rejected this Thursday the claim of the PP, Vox and Ciudadanos to suspend the plenary session on the penal reform of sedition until the Constitutional Court decides on the challenged amendments. As the session continues, the Vox deputies have left the chamber.

Shortly after 3:15 p.m. this Thursday, Batet opened the plenary session convened expressly to approve the law that suppresses the crime of sedition, reforms that of embezzlement and changes the majorities of the General Council of the Judiciary to appoint magistrates of the Constitutional Court, and it has done so without the guarantee court ruling on the appeal filed by the PP to prevent the amendments intended to unblock the renewal of this constitutional body from being voted on.

The Constitutional magistrates met at one in the afternoon to decide whether to admit the appeal of the PP that asks to paralyze in a very precautionary manner the parliamentary processing of the aforementioned amendments, by which the election system is modified and the arrival at the TC of the two candidates nominated by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), and of the two that corresponds to appoint the Government.

Before beginning the debate on the law, the spokespersons for Vox, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros; from Ciudadanos, Inés Arrimadas, and from the PP, Cuca Gamarra, have taken the floor from their seat to request that the plenary session be suspended until next week to give time for the TC to be resolved, but the president has refused, defending autonomy of the Legislative Power.

The first to intervene was Espinosa de los Monteros, who denounced that the amendments questioned by the PP and also by his group hide a "spurious reform of article 159 of the Constitution", which regulates the election of members of the Constitutional Court.

Next, the president of Ciudadanos, Inés Arrimadas, spoke to record the various "irregularities" in which, in her opinion, the processing of this bill has been incurred and to complain that the Congress Table has not yet ruled on the appeals filed by its parliamentary group.

"The least I could do is gather the Board, decide on those writings and not hold the Plenary until the TC resolves. I say the same thing to Mrs. (Carme) Forcadell in 2017: Mrs. Batet, do not allow this, " he said, recalling the speech he gave at the time in the Catalan Parliament during the debate on the so-called 'disconnection laws'.

And also the 'popular' spokesperson, Cuca Gamarra, has denounced that the organs of Congress have not resolved the amparo appeals presented by the PP during the parliamentary process. "The debate should not begin when the previous procedures have not been exhausted and some issues that affect the fundamental rights of the deputies still have to be resolved," she argued.

After listening to all the requests, Batet has begun by clarifying that he did not intend to answer the "personal comparisons" made by Arrimadas. "We cannot make this a personal matter," she warned.

He then explained that Congress "has not been formally informed of the filing of any appeal" or "any resolution taken by the Constitutional Court in this regard." "Therefore, there is no reason or obstacle to continue with the planned legislative procedure," she explained.

Regarding the writs of amparo and reconsideration whose non-resolution Gamarra and Arrimadas have complained about, Batet recalled that "the presentation of reconsiderations does not have a suspensive nature of the legislative procedure."

For this reason, it has decided not to attend to the requests of PP, Vox and Ciudadanos and to continue with the plenary session "regulatory convened" and has made it clear that it made that decision, "in defense of parliamentary autonomy", of "the legislative power" of the Chamber and parliamentary procedure and debate.

In this context, the president of Congress has emphasized that it is the legislature that is constitutionally assigned the legislative function as appropriate in a "deliberative democracy."

Thus, the debate has begun by giving the floor to the leader of Ciudadanos. And meanwhile, the 52 Vox deputies were marching towards the exit, leaving the chamber in protest of what had happened.