The Government justifies repealing sedition for "coexistence" in Catalonia and the PP talks about "convenience": Payday

Vox accuses PSOE and Podemos of drafting the proposal "in exchange" for the PGE, while Cs makes it ugly that they give "a blow to the CP"

MADRID, 25 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The PSOE and Unidas Podemos (UP) have justified this Thursday their proposal to repeal the crime of sedition in the need to promote "coexistence" in Catalonia, to which the PP has reacted by warning that it is actually "convenience" , to approve the General State Budget (PGE) with the support of the Catalan separatists and Bildu.

The socialist deputy Francisco Aranda has been in charge of defending the position of the PSOE, something that the PP spokesperson in the Congress of Deputies, Cuca Gamarra, has reproached him for, recriminating the fact that the president of the Government has been absent from this parliamentary debate , which the head of the Lower House, Meritxell Batet, has had to stop on several occasions before the shouting of their lordships.

"My party can be wrong, but my party is never going to hide. We socialists face problems head-on and do politics to find solutions through dialogue and the search for understanding between different people, which is the only thing that builds the country and society", said Aranda, to accuse the PP of "sitting in an armchair to smoke a cigar" in the face of the events that led to the illegal referendum on 1-O.

Aranda has confronted the situation in Catalonia in 2017 and in 2022. Thus, he has stated that "there were never more independentistas than with (Mariano) Rajoy", stressing that then there was "together for the yes" and "illegal resolutions" were approved in Parliament , while "today the law is complied with and coexistence is recovered", to which he added that "now there is a broken and aimless Government".

"Ladies and gentlemen of the PP, five years later it is obvious that the government's policy has an effect and bothers them", he asserted, to frame the resistance to this penal reform in a larger "political pack" that would have begun with the motion of no confidence against Rajoy and whose objective would be to delegitimize the Government.

At this point, he has accused the PP that "they are buying Vox's offer to the Spanish, which is hate, lies and manipulation", and has warned him that with this "remote-controlled policy" and "lip service" they will not achieve their objectives: "What they have left with Pedro Sánchez".

Aranda has also argued that the penal reform proposed by the PSOE and UP is necessary to harmonize Spanish law with the countries of our European environment and to "update" a penal precept of "nineteenth-century wording".

Along the same lines, the 'purple' deputy Jaume Asens, who has put five arguments on the table, has expressed himself, emphasizing that "it does not conform to the standards of our environment, it is a European requirement", and that "it is an important step to take the conflict out of court in Catalonia".

He has also argued that sedition is a Francoist vestige, so it would also be "a democratic demand" and that "it is a threat to the right to protest and demonstrate."

In addition, he has charged Junts by saying that "they are lying to the people" for conveying the idea that "this is an act of resignation, surrender and betrayal of Catalonia". "In their eagerness to disconnect from Spain they are disconnecting from reality", he has warned them.

He has also addressed the PP to accuse him that "they are a true factory of pro-independence" who "turn to hatred to confront territories and peoples." "Fiscal secessionism, the independence movement of the rich, of Mrs. (Isabel Díaz) Ayuso, that is the real threat" to Spain, he has maintained.

For his part, Gamarra has replied that "the repeal of sedition is not a social demand but a payment from the Government to the Catalan independence movement" in exchange for their support to carry out the PGE. "Here we are not talking about coexistence, what we are talking about is convenience, which is a very different thing. The PGE have been approved and their partners demand cash payments and today is collection day," he illustrated.

Along these lines, he has challenged the PSOE to clarify whether it will end up reforming the crime of embezzlement - for which the leaders of the 'procés' were also convicted -. "It would be interesting if they responded," he stated, to then ironize that here socialists and independentistas would have "common interests", alluding to those convicted by the ERE of Andalusia.

Gamarra has rejected the arguments of socialists and 'purples', denying that there is a need to standardize the Spanish Penal Code with other European ones. In this regard, he has mentioned the Italian, German, French and Portuguese codes and, "without leaving Spain, the unfavorable report of the Supreme Court (TS) in relation to pardons."

However, he has accused the PSOE and the socialist deputies individually of "deceiving" the Spanish, acting as "defense lawyers" for those convicted of the 'procés' and rewriting the Supreme Court sentence, warning that the final objective would be "the amnesty and self-determination". "155 is not enough, criminal charges are necessary and not impunity", he concluded.

Vox deputy Javier Ortega Smith has also accused the PSOE and Unidas Podemos of acting with "collusion and complicity" to "receive the benefit of the Budgets in exchange."

The leader has accused both formations of granting an "amnesty" to the coup leaders with a "deviation of power" that -- according to what he has said -- "seeks to delegitimize" all those who confronted the independentistas, referring to his party , the prosecutors and the TS.

"Vox will again punish the crimes that you are going to repeal," said Ortega Smith, after insisting that Spain is neither "merchandise" owned by the Government nor is it "for sale."

For her part, the leader of Ciudadanos, Inés Arrimadas, has stated that the proposal represents "a blow to the CP from the Government of Spain itself" and "a true crime against Spanish democracy." In her opinion, "the next coup attempt will be sponsored by Mr. Pedro Sánchez."

"This is insane. It is as if they want to negotiate the anti-fire regulations with arsonists who are saying that they want to burn the forest again", he stressed to warn that the parties that make up the Executive "are not content with sedition", rather, they try to change embezzlement "through the back door."

From Bildu they have assured that the repeal of sedition is "positive" for the "dejudicialization of the political conflict in Catalonia." "You only have to see the reactions of the right to see how bad it is not," said deputy Jon Iñarritu.

Iñarritu has also criticized PSOE leaders such as Patxi López and Nadia Calviño for some of their "incomprehensible" statements. "This measure cannot be focused on arresting or handing over anyone," he said, referring to former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont.

For the PNV, the deputy Mikel Legarda has defended that the suppression of sedition is a "response" to the "political crisis" in Catalonia", adding that this crime is "a kind of legal platypus" that "suffers considerable structural uncertainty". .

The deputy of the BNG Néstor Rego has stressed that the proposal "is not only about Catalonia", but about "democracy", because "it is necessary to advance", but he has announced amendments because the crime of public disorder that is being proposed supposes a "even deeper violation of freedoms and rights".

Ana Oramas, of the Canary Islands Coalition, has advanced that they will not support this reform "nor of course the embezzlement", while José María Mazón, of the Regionalist Party of Cantabria, has also shown his opposition. And, from the Union of the Navarro People, Carlos García Adanero has warned the Government about its pro-independence partners: "They are pimping them."