Mr. Podemos called on the Coalition Executive to prevent the Chamber of Deputies from discussing and voting on our country’s nuclear extension this Thursday. Therefore, the formation of the purple color requires PSOE and Sumar to stop processing. … By exercising its veto power, the House of Representatives voted in favor of an amendment submitted by the Popular Party to the Sustainable Mobility Bill thanks to its absolute majority in the Senate, which, if passed, would remove the final stop date for the development of nuclear power plants in Almaras (Cáceres), Asco (Tarragona) and Cofurentes (Valencia).
In addition to “disturbing the ecological transition process,” extending the useful life of nuclear power plants would mean “an increase in public expenditures, since by extending the useful life of nuclear power plants, we will have to deal with more radioactive waste. Therefore, according to the Spanish Constitution, this amendment should not be submitted to the plenary session of Congress,” Pablo Fernández, Secretary of the Purple Organization, and Alianza Verde, Federal Coordinator of the Purple Organization, explained this Monday. Juancho López Uralde spoke during a joint press conference held this Monday at the national headquarters of Podemos.
Both Mr. Fernández and Mr. López Huralde expressed concern about government president Pedro Sánchez’s latest comments in an interview with El Pais this weekend that left the door open to a nuclear extension. For this reason, both parties do not rule out the possibility that the chief executive may implement the above-mentioned postponement hidden behind the PP proposal. “Maybe they wanted to use this amendment to justify themselves by saying they didn’t want to do it,” he charged.
Podemos and Alianza Verde leaders are therefore appealing, as they have done many times before, to Moncloa’s ability to use Article 134, Section 6 of the Constitution to block parliamentary processing of amendments and norms through the exercise of the veto, as long as Moncloa can justify that the initiative could mean both an increase in expenditures and a decrease in revenues in the Provincial General Fund (PGE). Without going any further, just last year the PSOE and the Sumar government vetoed 13 laws and seven opposition amendments.
The process is as follows. When the government presents a veto through a written statement of opposition to a law or amendment, it must first be certified by the parliamentary board. The PSOE and Smar warn that the law is inconsistent with constitutional principles in this respect, which can be done by majority vote. Each group (in this case the PP) then has the option of submitting a review document, which the group chaired by socialist Francina Armengol can reconsider and reject the law again. It will then be presented to the Press Secretary Committee, and after hearing the views of this other body, the Board will make a final resolution at its next meeting.
The executive branch has the power to block an initiative from proceeding in Congress on the grounds that it would increase spending or decrease state revenue.
However, as this newspaper has learned, the Coalition has no intention of using a parliamentary veto on the House of Commons table when it meets first thing Tuesday morning this week, because, according to sources, this would mean the executive bypassing the legislative branch. It’s the same argument minority partner Smar made publicly this Monday. The body, chaired by socialist Armengol, “cannot block or veto amendments coming from the House of Lords,” such as the Senate, Movimiento Smar co-coordinator Lara Hernández said in response to media questions, while also outright rejecting the PP’s proposal to extend the lifespan of nuclear power plants.
The amendment will likely be debated and voted on in the plenary session this week, leading to a mandatory photo session in each chamber next Thursday. It remains to be seen what the implications of Junz’s vote, which could join the PP and Vox in approving the amendments, threaten to effectively break with the government of Pedro Sánchez and come just a week after registering amendments to all parliamentary initiatives currently being processed in the Cortés General conference. It is also worth remembering that Parliament already took a position in February, through a non-legal proposal (PNL), in favor of extending the useful life of nuclear power plants, thanks to the “yes” of PP, VOX and UPN and the abstentions of Janz and ERC.
About The Author
