Podemos Secretary General Ione Belarra surrounded by other members of the executive branch at the last Civic Council on December 17. Fernando Sanchez (Europa Press)
Without the presence or questions of journalists, the Secretary General of Podemos, Ione Belarra, gave her own assessment of the year this Thursday. Two days after President Pedro Sánchez’s appearance, the head of Social Rights posted a video on social media in which he boasted about United We Can’s achievements in the executive branch, calling his party an engine of transformation and calling again for legislative reform , which reduces the majorities required for the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), which has been in office for four years. In a very harsh tone against the PP, which he accuses of “hijacking” the institutions to “protect their corrupt ones,” Belarra has urged renewing the governing body of judges because otherwise, he warns, “means bow your head and accept that the CGPJ has dealt a blow to Spanish democracy without consequences”.
Among the achievements of the year, the minister mentions the last anti-crisis decree, adopted this week, the Trans Law, the gas price cap, the increase in the minimum wage or the norm giving nationals the right to unemployment Workers, but obviously (along with some social rights initiatives) the main action promoted by Vice President Yolanda Díaz’s department: labor reform.
An important part of Belarra’s speech focused on the crisis triggered by the paralysis of the Constitutional Court’s processing of the government-sponsored reform last week, over the method of selecting the members of the Guarantee Body and their appointment by the CGPJ was finally activated last Monday. The Secretary-General of Podemos has pointed to the existence of a “small but very privileged elite” in Spain who “live with their backs to what the people vote for” and who “wants to continue demonstrating that they rule more than the President, Government and Parliament.” “We have a duty as democrats to stop our feet and tell them very clearly that in Spain nobody can be above the law and above democracy,” he said.
We welcome the year 2023 and I take this opportunity to review what has been achieved in 2022 and wish everyone happy holidays.
My Christmas message 👇 pic.twitter.com/xmuTwTgOUT
—Ione Belarra (@ionebarra) December 29, 2022
For the minister, the renewal of the constitution was necessary to prevent the PP from “using” it to stop laws like abortion or the yes-is-yes law – it’s the only time she mentions a rule, which caused a major controversy in November over reducing sentences for some sex offenders once it comes into force – but he believes the institutional crisis “remains open” and “will escalate”, prompting him to call for a renewal of the judiciary too. “I think if you don’t do this, bow your head and accept that the CGPJ has dealt a blow to Spanish democracy without consequences,” Belarra accused before cracking down on Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s party. “It is important that we put an end to the hijacking of institutions by the PP, which is only trying to protect its corrupt and achieve through its judicial arm what it failed to achieve in the elections. We must design a model for the renewal of the Council that adapts to Spain’s new political reality, leaving behind a system tailor-made for bipartisanship, ”the Podemos secretary-general has once again demanded. In the face of the popular blockade, Belarra’s party has long campaigned to reduce the necessary majorities in parliament for the renewal of the CGPJ, from the current three-fifths to an absolute majority and 50% support from the parliamentary groups in the chamber (which at the time is not in the support of the PP should count).
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In addition to the advances in the recent regulation against the crisis, such as the freeze on rental prices for six months in those contracts that must be renewed from now until June, the free commuter and medium-distance subscriptions or the 50% reduction in urban transport , the minister has also stopped at one of the star decrees of the Ministry of Equality headed by Irene Montero. “The trans law has become a symbol. Few laws are better than these and represent Podemos’ contribution within the coalition government. We are the force that transforms, the one that puts people’s rights and needs above all else,” Belarra asserted. Among the milestones of the Executive, the Secretary-General of Podemos does not count several measures promoted by her department (such as the residency agreement, investments dependent or family law) or the labor reform, of which Díaz itself took stock 24 hours before a year after its approval by the Council of Ministers. The norm, which has achieved a decline in temporality to historic lows, received no support from other investiture majority groups (such as PNV, ERC or EH Bildu) in its day, and Podemos has always been timid in its defence.
“It is not reasonable that we go into the last year of the legislature without a housing law or the repeal of the gag law,” Belarra admitted critically. There was also room in the speech for a commitment to diplomacy as the end of the war in Ukraine, but the UP election results were overlooked – with separate setbacks in Castilla y León and Andalusia – or the political cycle beginning in 2023 and its first station at the municipal and regional in May.