Under normal circumstances, in a parliamentary democracy like Spain, the legislature would have been considered finished today.<\/p>\n
Junts announces it will block all government laws<\/big><\/p>\n This morning, the Catalan separatists of Junts announced a veto against all laws presented by Pedro S\u00e1nchez's government<\/a>. Parliamentary spokesperson Miriam Nogueras confirmed that the national budget will be one of the blocked laws<\/strong>. The coalition government, formed by the Socialists of the PSOE and the Communists of Sumar, needs Junts' support for any initiative and has thus far been willing to pay a huge price for it<\/strong> \u2014or rather, has made all Spaniards pay it.<\/p>\n This break between Junts and S\u00e1nchez is due to the rivalry between Puigdemont's party and Alian\u00e7a Catalana<\/a>, another separatist party that has decided to strongly advocate for an anti-immigration discourse<\/strong>, both for immigration from the rest of Spain and for immigration from abroad, and rejecting all support for the PSOE. According to the polls, Alian\u00e7a could go from 2 to 14 seats in the Parliament of Catalonia<\/a>, taking up to 11 seats that currently belong to Junts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Legislature blocked and early election?<\/big><\/p>\n Some media outlets and analysts have raised the possibility today that the legislature is over, given the deadlock, and that early general elections will be called<\/strong>. That is what would happen in any other parliamentary democracy where the government lost the support of a key coalition partner. But Spain is not a parliamentary democracy like the others.<\/strong><\/p>\n S\u00e1nchez has already expressed his desire to govern without the legislative power<\/big><\/p>\n Some seem not to have realized yet that Pedro S\u00e1nchez is capable of doing anything to stay in power<\/strong>, as he has demonstrated so far by trampling on the rule of law, degrading democratic institutions, attacking the judiciary and media outlets critical of the government, and even refusing to condemn acts of violence against a journalist and political rivals<\/strong>, as we saw last week with the attack in Pamplona<\/a> and as we saw before with the attacks on Vox members<\/a> (S\u00e1nchez has not condemned any).<\/p>\n We must remember that a year ago S\u00e1nchez already expressed his desire to govern without legislative power<\/a>, that is, ignoring any block that the Congress and the Senate may place on the actions of his government. So far, S\u00e1nchez's government is, by far, the Spanish government that has approved the most decrees<\/a> in the almost half-century of democracy in Spain, constantly resorting to a mechanism limited by Article 86 of the Constitution to cases of \"extraordinary and urgent need\"<\/strong>, but which S\u00e1nchez uses for anything.<\/p>\n S\u00e1nchez is governing by decree and ignoring the Parliament<\/big><\/p>\n In fact, as La Raz\u00f3n pointed out a month ago, S\u00e1nchez has approved 53% of his laws through the decree-law procedure<\/a>, ignoring the rejection by Congress and the Senate<\/strong>. No other Spanish government has resorted to this procedure so often. We are witnessing the beginnings of a dictatorship<\/strong>, which is the best word to describe a government that believes it has no limits.<\/p>\n A government even willing to encourage violence in the streets<\/big><\/p>\n This shows that the Socialist leader doesn't care about having lost his parliamentary majority: S\u00e1nchez is in power and knows it will be difficult to remove him from it<\/strong>, because it is unlikely that parties as disparate as the PP, Junts, and Vox will agree to present a motion of no confidence. S\u00e1nchez will not call elections unless he knows he will win<\/strong>, and to reverse the poor results the polls are giving his party (and to cover up the corruption scandals affecting his government) he has already shown himself willing to encourage violence in the streets<\/a>, applying the recipe confessed by the socialist Jos\u00e9 Luis Rodr\u00edguez Zapatero in 2008: \"It suits us that there is tension.\"<\/a><\/p>\n ---<\/p>\n
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