This Thursday, José Luis Abalos not only risks that a Supreme Court judge will change the precautionary measures imposed so far and put him in prison, but also, if that happens, he could jeopardize the compensation that Congress provides to representatives when they stop working as representatives, to facilitate their return to working life. This compensation, which is not offered as a pension, in Abalos’ case will amount to more than 100 thousand euros because it represents a maximum of 18 payments to those who have exceeded more than four terms in office and the former Socialist minister was in the Chamber of Deputies for seven years.
If Judge Leopoldo Puente, of the Supreme Court, orders the imprisonment of the former Secretary of the Socialist Workers Party, José Luis Ábalos’ life will become more complicated. Financially as well, which was indeed one of his frequent complaints. The House of Congress will then act ex officio, after receiving the communication from the Supreme Court, and suspend him from exercising his duties. Article 21 of the Congressional Regulations stipulates in its second point that representatives are suspended from exercising their parliamentary rights and duties when they “become in a position of pretrial detention, for the duration of that period, after granting authorization based on a request by the Council and signing the indictment.” From that moment on, he could no longer vote or participate in parliamentary activity, nor belong to a group in the House of Representatives, as is the case now when he joined the Mixed Council after being expelled from the Socialist Workers’ Party, nor would he receive financial compensation. That is, his salary and the rest of the benefits that the Supreme Court can use to offset potential fines or other items will be forfeited. He will also not be entitled to the assistance that Congress has provided him in recent months.
In this scenario, Abalos would also have many possibilities to be left without the compensation that Congress provides to representatives who cease their positions as representatives or who give up this status for various reasons, according to closely related parliamentary sources. Representatives are not entitled to a pension but rather assistance to facilitate their return to normal active life when they cease being Representatives depending on the number of terms they have remained in Congress, with a maximum of 18 for those who have been in Congress for more than four. At the rate of one monthly salary per year in Congress.
The former minister was a representative in Congress for seven terms, from the ninth to this. The compensation in your case may reach 100,000 euros.
The parliamentary sources consulted understand that if Abalos were to enter prison, even preventively until trial due to the risk of flight, assistance to return to his former life would be meaningless. The same sources indicate that this danger will remain in the future if he is convicted or even acquitted in that trial and if the current progressive majority in the House of Congress changes towards another controlled by the People’s Party and Fox, because they will be less sensitive to his situation. It is the table that will have the final say.
Former PSOE Secretary Santos Cerdán, who had been in the Soto del Real prison for nearly six months, did not have this problem because he immediately resigned his membership as deputy last June and the Council granted him that aid, which in his case was 19,200 euros, because he had only been in the chamber for six years, since 2019. This dismissal is inconsistent with the job. Something similar happened with the case of Somar’s former spokesperson, Iñigo Errejón, who also requested and received a sum of about 25 thousand euros for the eight years he spent in the chamber because he left his record and had no conviction.
Congress is also preparing, though not yet officially, for the case in which the Supreme Court decides Abalos should go to prison. This will be the first time in this democratic stage that a current representative has reached this point. Lawyers for the House and the various parties have studied various precedents on whether this situation could change and reduce the absolute majority in the House of Representatives, which now stands at 176 seats out of a total of 350 seats. In principle, according to the sources consulted, they are choosing to do nothing, but in such a fragmented Congress, every vote is decisive in determining the majority.