The Presidency’s request to ministries for proposed initiatives that do not require a parliamentary vote, but arouse citizen interest and a media debate, provoked a tense meeting at Moncloa. The meeting took place at the beginning of November, due to the blockade of the Cortes imposed by the government.
The meeting turned sour when the different ministries proposed initiatives without punch political nor the capacity to generate a media debate, such as the commemoration of the bicentenary of Goya’s death.
It’s been 15 months now Pedro Sanchez He admitted to the Federal Committee of the PSOE that he would have great difficulty in gathering majorities in Congress that would allow him to govern. That day, the president of the government and socialist leader announced that he was ready to govern “without the help of Parliament”.
Since then, this situation of lack of stable support has worsened and Sánchez has had to resort to parliamentary resources such as freezing bills in the Cortes after announcing them with great fanfare or not presenting them at all in Parliament.
This is what he did, for example, with the General state budgets the entire legislature.
Justice reform rules, the anti-corruption plan announced by Sánchez and media regulation were suspended. AND it is impossible to execute fiscal policy decisions such as the one referring to the diesel tax that was promised to the EU as a condition for receiving European funds.
Today, members of the Government are still working to prevent limit decisions as much as possible which must be put to a vote. It is even difficult to approve decrees because they must then be validated by the majority of Congress and this becomes more and more “expensive”.
The government insists that it will present to the Cortes in the first quarter the draft of the state accounts for 2026. This objective coincides with that expressed by Sánchez himself on January 6, 2024 when he announced during the Constitution Day reception of the Congress that he would present the budgets in the first half of 2025. did not respect this announcement.
Instead, the president wants to present and announce initiatives that do not have the status of law and, therefore, are not in danger of being overturned by Congress.
And he urges the ministries to make proposals, particularly social ones, which, even if in certain cases do not succeed, serve to lead the agenda and represent whoever votes against.
This unusual path to democracy has faced setbacks in the form of lost votes and rarely revealed internal tensions.
For example, at the beginning of November a meeting was held at Moncloa that several participants described as “sour” and with the anger of Diego Rubiochief of staff of the president of the government, to some participants.
Rubio brought together the chiefs of staff of all ministries to ask them for proposals for initiatives which do not require a vote in Congress.
The senior manager explained to them that it is a matter of finding proposals which “media interest”which spark debate and set the agenda for the week.
According to Moncloa, it was a question of encouraging this type of political initiatives in times of parliamentary difficulties. Thus, moreover, could be “calendarized”“All of them, that is, by coordinating them to find the best times to make them public and within a specific framework. With the possibility that the president himself does it to have a political agenda.
In turn, the heads of cabinet of the ministers spoke, with proposals which, for the most part, They didn’t even come close to what Rubio asked them. For example, Culture proposed, as an initiative of this type, the commemoration of the anniversary of Francis de Goya.
This proposal had several disadvantages: it does not generate no debate or political interest. And above all, it is only celebrated in 2028 and also refers to the year of the great painter’s death, and not to his birth.
Like many other proposals resulting from this meeting, that of Goya I went straight to the trashwith notable anger from Rubio.
A multitude of initiatives from different ministries were also dismissed on the grounds that they were too technical and with difficult entry for citizens.
Sánchez’s chief of staff repeatedly gave them an announcement that the president of the government had made a few days before as an example to follow in the proposals: rejecting the time change.
Sánchez did so by releasing a surprise video in which he announced that he would ask the EU to end twice-yearly time changes. Rubio explained to them that they had succeeded maintain the debate and the agenda for a week with this case, and that’s what it was about.
Of course, in Moncloa it is understood that the 50th anniversary of Franco’s deathconverted somewhat forcefully during the 50 years of freedom.
The tone of the meeting, according to Moncloa, was “sour” and caused unease among certain representatives of the ministries present.
Since that day, a channel of proposal and coordination has been established which, according to Moncloa, is beginning to be effective and a multitude of initiatives of this type are already accumulating. It will serve to mark the Government’s action in the coming months.
During the meeting, the PSOE ministries as well as those of Sumar were present. Indeed, in Moncloa, the proposals of the department of Pablo Bustinduyespecially those that refer to consumption and the daily affairs of citizens. Also the ideas raised by Health, the Ministry of Monique Garcia.
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