The Senate culminates the correction of the 'only yes is yes' law and the PP proclaims: "Today the repeal of sanchismo begins"

The Senate has completed the correction of the only yes is yes law with the opposition of the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, and Unidas Podemos after a thousand sentence reductions for sexual offenders and a hundred releases. Violence and intimidation are recovered as a criminal subtype to establish higher penalties. This reform goes ahead with the votes of the PSOE and the PP, who have approached their unusual alliance in this matter in a different way.

The Socialists have wanted to shelve six months of controversy in which they recognize that the victims have felt “humiliation”, “regret” and pain “for the downward revisions, while the popular ones have taken advantage of the change in one of the laws star of the legislature to proclaim: “Today here begins the repeal of sanchismo”.

The plenary session of the Upper House has definitively approved the reform with 231 votes in favor of PSOE, PP, PNV, Ciudadanos, Unión del Pueblo Navarro and former CS Ruh Goñi; the abstention of Junts; and the 19 votes against from ERC, Bildu, Más Madrid and Mes per Mallorca. Vox, as it already did in Congress, has decided not to vote. After knowing the result, the popular senators have celebrated it by getting up to applaud their president, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who has remained seated in his seat. As there are no changes with respect to the text that came out of Congress, the rule will enter into force one day after its publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE).

The vote has once again made visible the photo from last week in Congress: PSOE and PP joining together to defeat the majority of partners who led to the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. From that image, only the fracture of the partners of the Government changes. Because as Unidas Podemos it does not have senators, it has not even been able to participate in the debate.

However, the Minister for Equality has sent from Congress the message that the change in the Law to Guarantee Sexual Freedom is indeed “a setback in the rights of women in criminal matters” which makes it even more urgent deploy standard measures such as the opening of care centers for victims by the autonomous communities.

Meanwhile, in the debate in the Senate, the PP has once again shown itself to be much more enthusiastic than the PSOE, as it already demonstrated with that standing applause in Congress. Thus, he celebrated that “finally” the day has come to correct “the most scandalous legislative error of all democracy”. An error, Patricia Rodríguez has emphasized, which leaves “shocking figures” of benefited sexual offenders and “irreparable and irreversible” consequences.

The popular senator has described that there have been six months of “pain”, “fear”, “revictimization” and “helplessness” for the victims. A time in which Rodríguez has criticized that Podemos has been in the “insult” to the judges and in the “arrogance” and in the “refusal” when it comes to rectifying the law. “But hold on tight to the Ministry's chair,” he concluded, without assuming “a bit of self-criticism” and “zero political responsibility.”

Despite the agreement between the two major parties, the PP has pointed to Sánchez as the “guilty” of the “nonsense” and has criticized his “unforgivable” attitude of not appearing in Congress to vote on the reform in contrast to Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who Yes, he will do it. “History will remember Sánchez as the author of the greatest setback in the fight for equality and against gender violence,” Rodríguez stated.

For its part, the PSOE has tried to reduce the disavowal made to Equality by framing the change to just a “very specific” aspect of a “great law” and has criticized that the PP wants to “take advantage of this circumstance to bring the ember to its sardine “.

Senator José María Oleaga has justified that the victims had felt “humiliated” and that for that reason alone it was necessary to “correct it”. Likewise, he has defended that the socialist text is the only “viable” proposal that has been presented. And that in it the consent “is not touched” and “continues in the heart of the law”. Two theses against what Irene Montero maintains.

Faced with criticism from ERC for agreeing with the PP, the socialist senator has defended that they have only agreed with him on issues of a “technical nature”. And he has returned the dart to the Republicans: “If, as we agree with the PP, we are now an anti-feminist party, then how are you going to agree with Vox, how would you rate yourselves?”

The passage of the change of the law of the only yes is yes by the Senate leaves no news, after the PSOE has rejected all the amendments presented. Therefore, the reform remains as it came out of Congress, when it was approved to create an aggravated subtype in the Penal Code within the crime of sexual assault when there is violence and intimidation. So those penalties are higher.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *