PSOE and Sumar assumed from the beginning of the legislature that parliamentary arithmetic would force them to work hard to push through any initiative. The parties located to the right of the chamber add up to a potential majority —137 seats for the PP, 33 for Vox, and seven for Junts, to which the five from the PNV could be added— which complicates every vote. The scenario became even more complicated with the announced rupture by Carles Puigdemont. The investiture bloc lost a key member. The Government as a whole faces serious difficulties in deploying its legislative agenda, but it is Sumar who especially feels the wear and tear. The minority partner not only deals with the fragmentation of Congress and the need to weave variable majorities, but also with the internal brakes of the PSOE itself, which keeps some of its proposals in the drawer due to disagreements that, to a large extent, they prefer not to air publicly.
The Government as a whole finds serious difficulties in deploying its legislative agenda, but it is Sumar who especially shows the wear and tear
Work, the ‘luck’ of Yolanda Díaz
Still on the exit ramp because she does not foresee running again in the next general elections, Yolanda Díaz captains the Government's action of Sumar. The second vice-president and Minister of Labor has the luck that some of the matters promoted from her portfolio do not have to pass through the Cortes. A fortune, however, relative, since social dialogue is not an easy path. The employers' association usually distances itself.
On the department's near horizon is the labor registry reform, which it plans to articulate through regulatory development. And although it will not have to undergo parliamentary processing, it clashes with both the PSOE and the Council of State.
Both the Ministry of Economy of Carlos Cuerpo, and that of Digital Transformation and Public Function, of Óscar López, both socialists, have expressed reservations about Díaz's proposal. The discussion between partners is common in a coalition, but in this case, the magentas consider it a disloyalty and a violation of the coalition agreement itself.
Labor will continue with its roadmap and assures that it will not modify its two key points: that the record be digital to guarantee that it is an objective and non-manipulable method to control the workday, and that this be accessible by the Labor Inspectorate for its verification.
Given this situation, Díaz's ministry opts not to venture a potential approval calendar in the Council of Ministers.
The other pending issue on which Labor will focus efforts in the coming months will indeed have to pass the Congress's examination. It is about the Trainee Statute, whose bill was approved by the Council of Ministers on March 3 and is already in Congress resting in the warmth of the famous “Extension of amendments”. Hopes for its success are few, starting with the PSOE itself, which does not quite look favorably upon the content. It would not be the first time that the Socialist Group blocks a Sumar bill even if it comes out of the Council of Ministers, which is a collegiate body, as we will see below in each and every one of the ministries led by magentas.
Healthcare, much ado about nothing
The Ministry of Health, with Mónica García at the helm, is one of the portfolios with the most open initiatives, a will overflowing with optimism that, however, does not translate into new developments in the BOE.
The trio of health laws in which García sliced up the so-called Darias Law, Anti-privatizations, Equity and Universality, is blocked. The draft laws on Equity and Universality sleep the sleep of the just in the warmth of systematic extensions of the amendment period and nothing bodes that it will be unblocked. And in such a case, the nationalist parties are especially sensitive with respect to autonomous competencies and cooperation will have to be polished a lot for there to be any possibility of raising a sufficient majority.
Health is one of the portfolios with more open initiatives, a will overflowing with optimism that, however, does not translate into new developments in the BOE
In the case of the Anti-privatization law, the Council of Ministers approved the Draft Bill on Public Management and Integrity of the National Health System (NHS) in its first reading in February of this year. It will still have to receive a second approval before beginning parliamentary processing. While it is true that the main point of friction between the PSOE and Sumar has been smoothed out, which was the limitation of the exceptions that would allow privatizations and the consequent repeal of Law 15/1997, its parliamentary processing seems more than complicated.
The other initiative that is paralyzed in Congress is the Bill for the prevention of alcohol consumption and its effects on persons under age. The text was sent to Congress and, despite the minister intending a relatively agile processing, to this day not only have there been no changes, but there are voices that point to possible discrepancies with the majority partner, the PSOE.
The Health Commission has become a kind of pit in which, law that arrives, law that runs aground. The only exception, the State Public Health Agency.
Sumar is working on other initiatives that it hopes to soon bring to the Council of Ministers, such as the reform of the Medicines Law, whose draft was revealed exclusively by Demócrata. It was approved in the first round in April 2025 and the Ministry is evaluating the allegations received from the sector, but there is no tentative calendar on the table.
In the same situation is the Anti-Tobacco Bill Draft, approved in first reading last September, with the aim of addressing the “innumerable quantity of allegations”.
Culture, clapperboard without action
The Ministry of Culture of Ernest Urtasun has two bills stalled in Congress. The most relevant, the famous Cinema Bill. From Sumar they insist that the unblocking “is close”, but nothing has changed and nothing guarantees a satisfactory outcome.
All actors involved in the conversation have the will to reach an agreement. The first, the Ministry of Culture. The spokesperson for Sumar in the Culture Commission, Nahuel González, met last week with Urtasun to try to accelerate a process that is absolutely paralyzed.
In statements to Demócrata, Nahuel González defended the need to “go with courage” and “advance in laws, even if votes are lost”. What is holding back the Cinema Bill is, precisely, the Ministry's fear that its meager parliamentary bulk will not be able to stop amendments that distort the nature of the text, giving rise to a law that is not the desired one.
It also has the will for Junts to go ahead. Carles Puigdemont's formation listed five initiatives in which the Executive could count on its support after the breakup, and the Cinema one was one of them. But not at any price.
The Government's plan was to first get on track the Bill for the creation of the Copyright and Related Rights Office, for which they did not expect to find obstacles, and then, the Cinema one.
This initiative is more advanced than the Cinema one, since there are already designated speakers and the Culture Commission awaits the report from the presentation since last October 31. In recent weeks, conversations have become so entrenched that, now, accelerating the Cinema Law first is being considered. The problem with the Copyright text lies in that Junts wants to incorporate an amendment to incorporate deductions for the performing arts.
Ultimately, in the coming weeks Sumar will have to face the dichotomy of unblocking the initiatives and exposing themselves to that either they do not prosper or the result is not satisfactory to them due to possible amendments; or continuing to delay the process sine die.
Bustinduy is not the exception
The Minister of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030, Pablo Bustinduy, also has two bills in processing in the Lower House. One of them is the already forgotten Families Bill, in Congress since February 2024. It remains within the amendment period and nothing indicates that it will be brought to an end to move to the next stage. The Executive, in fact, has rescued the permits included in the text through other channels, such as the anti-crisis decree with the social shield.
Another pending issue is the reform of the rules of Dependency and Disability. In their case, there are already partial amendments and the Social Rights and Consumer Commission has to constitute a working group and prepare the report, a task they have had since last February 26.
It is true that Bustinduy's ministry is now focused on other matters. One of its flagships is the Draft Law on Sustainable Consumption, which was withdrawn from TRIS without having concluded the period of the statu quo. Sources from the Ministry of Social Rights, Agenda 2030 and Consumer Affairs indicate that this is because they plan to include “some improvements” that will be revealed “soon”.
On the other hand, as this media exclusively published, a Royal Decree is being worked on by which the accessible labeling of consumer products is regulated, whose purpose is to guarantee information in braille and other formats in cosmetics, detergents and cleaners and food products.
This portfolio is a perfect example of how parliamentary procedures ruin key initiatives for Sumar. With one stroke and without much noise, the Congress of Deputies scrapped the entire proposal for the regulation of the Gaming sector. Bustinduy tried to consummate his proposal through an amendment to the Customer Service Bill, but the absolute majority of the Popular Party in the Senate suppressed it and, upon the text's return to the Lower House, the Plenary did not rescue it.
Sira Rego and one of Sánchez's priorities
And if Consumer Affairs perfectly personifies how the Cortes can trick -and do trick- Sumar's regulatory agenda, the Ministry of Youth and Children of Sira Rego embodies the struggle with its partner, the PSOE.
Youth and Childhood policies are transversal to any initiative. In an interview with Demócrata, the minister herself put it in value. Her portfolio participates in many of the draft laws, some as relevant and important for president Pedro Sánchez as the one of protection of minors in digital environments.
The norm is processed from Justice and is in the relevant Commission, but Rego is very involved in it, especially when one of its main points is the veto on social media for minors under 16.
Sánchez announced that a transactional amendment would be promoted so that the text explicitly included the prohibition; a measure that from Sumar accept with nuances.
In their opinion, the wording already contemplated it in a sufficiently guaranteeing way. Furthermore, they consider that the debate should not revolve around prohibition, but should focus on making the network a safe environment so that minors can browse without risk. In fact, they raise the possibility of promoting a public social network, not controlled by “technological warlords” with “algorithms harmful to our children”.
Much work, little hope?
Sumar faces a constant paradox: it deploys intense political and legislative activity, but recurrently clashes with an arithmetic that does not accompany it and that threatens to denaturalize its own proposals. The fear that initiatives will end up colonized by external amendments —that alter their content until making them unrecognizable— hovers over each procedure, fueling the doubt between advancing or holding back. To this is added an additional factor that in the magenta space they recognize with less and less dissimulation: the PSOE does not always act as a containment dike, but rather on occasion participates in that same dynamic, either by cooling projects, introducing nuances or directly blocking their progress.