The Congress faces the new political cycle: Industry Law, energy and housing, the priorities of the agenda

With the month of March already in the rearview mirror and Easter Week over, the different parliamentary groups take stock in Demócrata of what has been the first quarter of the year and of the pending issues, which have been many, since the war in Iran and its impact have taken up a good part of the activity, although laws such as the reform of multi-offending or that of Social Economy have also been definitively approved. Specifically, the partners are pushing for the new Industry Law, social protection measures, safeguarding of labor rights, the reform of the so-called 'Gag Law', the Official Secrets Law, and measures regarding housing and energy.

A Government, two visions

The parliamentary groups of the parties that inhabit Moncloa, namely, the Socialist Group and the Plurinational Group of Sumar, share some elements, such as the anti-crisis plan deployed to alleviate the economic effects of the conflict in the Middle East and the frontal rejection of Donald Trump. However, the magentas are much less complacent.

In statements to Demócrata, the PSOE highlights that “the ‘No to war’ resonates in the consciences of everyone” thanks to the position led by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez. “We are the vanguard of European dignity,” they add; also emphasizing the articulated response to “protect citizens with a Royal Decree-Law that mobilizes 5,000 million euros and contains more than 80 measures”.

In this regard, they welcome the tax cuts, the reduced VAT for electricity, gas and fuel, the prohibition of cutting off supply to vulnerable families, the extension of the electricity and thermal social bonus and the commitment to accelerate renewables.

They also recall that, apart from the anti-crisis plan, the Executive approved a 2.7% increase in pensions, aid to the victims of the railway accidents in Adamuz and Gelida, others to those affected by the storms in Andalusia and Extremadura, and the extension of public transport aid.

Finally, from the PSOE they celebrate that two initiatives have been definitively approved. Firstly, the Social Economy Law, promoted by the Executive as a bill and which concluded its parliamentary processing the last week of March. On the other hand, the bill on multi-recidivism registered by Junts and unblocked by the PSOE as a nod to recover harmony. “This law will apply effective and proportionate measures against criminal reiteration,” they assure from the PSOE to Demócrata, and specify that it was “a demand from mayors and mayoresses that does not tackle the problem solely in a punitive way.”

Sumar, or how much there is left to do

The Plurinational Parliamentary Group of Sumar informs Demócrata that the Government has concentrated its efforts on “strengthening social protection” in a context “of international uncertainty and economic pressure”. “With the impulse of Sumar, we have consolidated a roadmap focused on dignity, the families' pockets, and the expansion of rights,” they conclude.

Standing out, as it could not be otherwise, are the two royal decrees of the anti-crisis plan to alleviate the consequences of Trump and Netanyahu's “illegal war” in Lebanon in Iran; with special emphasis on the containment of energy and fuel prices, linked to “a control of business margins”, as well as the direct support to affected sectors.

“To this is added the reinforcement of the social bonus and the extension of protection against supply cuts for vulnerable households”, they say, in line with their Government partner. Also, they welcome the shielding in labor matters, since companies that receive aid due to the crisis of the war in Iran will not be able to lay off workers.

And, of course, they highlight the extension of rental contracts and the limitation of increases through a royal decree-law to which tenants will be able to avail themselves before it expires -as expected- in the validation vote in the Plenary Session of Congress (pending date setting). This initiative was prompted by a sit-in by the Sumar ministers, who refused to enter the Council of Ministers if it was not included.

In other news, they positively value that the Government regains the pulse of the protection of minors in digital environments (although the bill remains stalled, pending the constitution of a committee); and the draft bill of the dependency system.

The revaluation of pensions according to the CPI, the rise of the SMI to 1,221 euros or the regularization of migrants are other aspects they celebrate. However, there are many other issues that require a response sooner rather than later.

Sumar is committed to deepening the transformation agenda and consolidating pending labor rights

“Looking ahead to the coming months, Sumar's objective is to deepen the transformation agenda and consolidate pending labor and civil rights,” they assure from the parliamentary group. Thus, they list four fronts on which they intend to strike:

• Approval of the Trainee Statute, which, as Demócrata exclusively advanced, the Council of Ministers has already approved and sent to Congress for its processing.
• Validation of the royal decree with urgent measures on housing. They are optimistic although the numbers, for now, do not add up, “but we will not stop, we will continue advancing in mechanisms to guarantee housing as a right.”
• Control of the time registration, “an essential key to combat precariousness and unpaid overtime” and which has opened a clash between the ministries of Labor and Economy.
• Constitutional reform to shield abortion in the Magna Carta.

With Valencian flavor

Integrated into Sumar, the Compromís deputy Alberto Ibáñez, while also celebrating the extension of rents, the regularization of migrants or Spain's position in the international context, urges to materialize regional financing and debt forgiveness, advance in the prohibition of speculative housing purchases and more energy measures such as the suppression of short flights.

A “bittersweet” quarter for the Basque groups

EH Bildu, one of the main partners of the Government, considers that “Sánchez has made brave decisions that have been a spearhead in Europe”. “We positively value his position of ‘No to war’ against Trump's attacks in Iran or Venezuela and his denunciation of the genocide in Palestine,” they insist.

The abertzale left celebrates the recovery of some of the lapsed social shield measures such as the prohibition of supply cuts and the extension of the electricity social bonus. However, they criticize that “too much has been conceded to the requests of right-wing forces and that generalized tax cuts have been opted for, which are not shared and are totally ineffective,” they argue in statements to Demócrata.

EH Bildu: "Too much has been conceded to the demands of the right, with generalized tax cuts that we do not share"

As pending issues, they point out that “we miss that the Government has not recovered the tax on energy companies to balance the consequences of the war and that it is not the popular classes who pay for them again out of their own pocket”. In addition, EH Bildu urges to process once and for all the reform of the Gag Law and unblock the Cinema Law, “which should be completed before the end of the legislature”; as it also asks to “repeal the Francoist Official Secrets law and declassify documents beyond 23F”.

On its side, the Basque Group EAJ-PNV focuses on “some things relevant to us” such as the Congress has accepted to process its proposal to repeal the prior appeal of unconstitutionality against the Statutes of Autonomy, “a fundamental step so that when a new statute is agreed upon in Euskadi and a majority also supports it in the Cortes, a political minority cannot veto it. “It is an important initiative to strengthen self-government and legal certainty,” they state.

Similarly, “we have achieved that a legal modification be approved to guarantee that the CUME benefit (Care for Minors affected by Cancer or another serious Illness) adequately reaches families with seriously ill minors, correcting situations of lack of protection that had been occurring”.

The PNV also positively values the amendments they managed to incorporate into the multi-offender law and having seen several of its demands satisfied in the anti-crisis decree. “To this, is added a PNL to strengthen the competitiveness and resilience of the steel and electro-intensive industry, where the Government is urged to adopt additional measures in a particularly demanding context for these sectors due to the consequences of the Iran war.”

However, “we can say that it has been a bittersweet quarter for two reasons,” they clarify. On the one hand, due to the “difficulties implied by the Government's inability to achieve broad consensuses,” with the impossibility of passing the social shield decree being a good example of this. The PNV negotiated with the Government to shield small landlords, but the approval of the hemicycle was not achieved due to the rejection of PP, Vox and Junts.

And on the other hand, they demand progress in the declassification of documents related to the massacre of March 3, 1976, in Vitoria-Gasteiz, among other relevant episodes of democratic memory. “It is a repeated demand from our group that continues without response despite having the commitment from the Sánchez Government that a new Official Secrets Law would be processed. This inaction clashes with recent decisions such as the declassification of documents linked to the 23F Coup d'état, which shows that mechanisms exist to do so when there is political will,” lament the Basque Group EAJ-PNV.

Housing, Industry and Catalonia

The Republican Parliamentary Group urges the Executive to unblock with the greatest possible speed the Bill promoted by ERC itself, together with EH Bildu, Sumar, BNG and Podemos, on affordable housing rental.

The initiative passed the consideration, it is in the limbo of the extension of the amendment period and ERC recalls that it is “signed by the entire left”, so there is consensus among a good part of the partners, although its approval remains subject to the designs of Junts.

ERC sources consulted by this media outlet do not believe that the Government, “with what is happening,” has not accelerated the entrenched Industry and Strategic Autonomy Bill, which sleeps the sleep of the just amidst systematic extensions of the amendment period since February 2025.

The industry law would update the current one, with more than 30 years in force (dating from 1992), to accompany the reindustrialization process with mechanisms to favor investments and greater governance from the Administration. Among them, stand out economic and regulatory advantages foreseen for the so-called strategic projects based on the volume of investment mobilized, the type of promoting company or the objective set.

ERC does not understand that the Industry Law is not accelerated in the current context

ERC also asks that the measures that lapsed from the social shield be rescued, which contemplated, among other things, tax incentives for electric mobility and electrification; suspension of evictions and foreclosures for vulnerable families without housing alternatives, supply guarantee and electric social bonus and fiscal measures. Some of these issues were rescued within the framework of the anti-crisis plan, but not all.

In addition, they expect to process their Bill for the constitution of an investment consortium between the General State Administration and the Government of Catalonia (agreed between the Executive and ERC); and the extension of the Democratic Memory Law until 1985 to recognize the victims of the Board of Protection for Women.

A journey through the Mixed Group: lights and shadows

Both Podemos and BNG, both assigned to the Mixed Group, consider that the quarter has had “lights and shadows” and there is much to do for the coming months.

“As a positive note, without a doubt, we highlight the agreement for the regularization of migrants,” Podemos sources tell this outlet, specifying that it is the result of the “pressure from social groups” and consider it “one of the key measures of the legislature, both in a social justice key and in an anti-fascist key.”

On the other side of the coin, “as a pending structural issue, we are concerned about housing and its impact on the purchasing power of working classes.” In the opinion of the purple party, “the Government continues to adopt no measure that lowers the price of rents, a matter on which we have presented numerous initiatives.” Furthermore, “we are concerned that the Government is not willing to cap prices of basic products and only opts for tax cuts that, in the absence of caps, will translate into more profits for large companies.”

Finally, the party led by Ione Belarra celebrates Moncloa's ‘No to war’, but argues for the need to “go further” and “translate it into concrete actions”, such as the “abandonment of increased military spending, withdrawal from NATO or the closure of the Rota and Morón bases”.

For its part, the BNG, with deputy Néstor Rego at the helm, conveys to Demócrata that “this has been a quarter of lights and shadows”: “Lights, few -they clarify-, because measures that go in the right direction have been achieved”, but “we continue to see a clear lack of ambition on the part of the Government to face the current economic and social situation with the necessary depth”.

The Galician formation looks favorably upon some measures of the anti-crisis decree, but “the war in Iran demands a much more forceful, structural, and brave response, as patches and temporary measures are not enough”. In this sense, “we miss price control measures in energy and basic foodstuffs, an intervention in strategic sectors and a real reinforcement of public services”; in addition to a “fairer fiscal policy”.

Likewise, they demand compliance with the acquired commitments, streamlining the development of the investiture agreement and promoting the Axenda Galega, which includes matters related to infrastructures, financing, and reindustrialization. "Looking ahead to the coming months, we believe it is fundamental to establish a clear roadmap that allows for ambitious progress and provides a real response to the needs of the working classes," they state.

The opposition: PP exhibits muscle and Vox raises the tone

The Popular Parliamentary Group claims an active role in the Lower House, emphasizing its capacity for initiative and the support obtained for many of its proposals. According to its balance, so far this legislature they have achieved the approval of 440 initiatives in Congress, fundamentally non-legislative proposals and motions resulting from urgent interpellations.

Only since January 2026, they underline, 39 initiatives promoted by the GPP have gone forward, which they interpret as a sign of their parliamentary influence despite not being part of the Executive.

Likewise, the Popular Party highlights the lack of cohesion of the investiture bloc as one of the defining elements of the period, asserting that the Executive's partners have diverged in at least 68 votes related to PP initiatives since September 2025.

The formation led by Santiago Abascal, has put the focus on migratory policies, harshly questioning the regularization processes promoted by the Executive and defending legislative reforms to toughen the conditions of permanence for foreigners in Spain, including the expulsion of those who commit crimes.

In parallel, and in light of the aforementioned, Vox assures that they have defended the healthcare system “raising the tone with initiatives that are frontally opposed to the new norm that makes the money of Spaniards also be dedicated to making Spain the hospital of half the world”; in reference to the royal decree approved by the Council of Ministers to guarantee the universality of Public Healthcare.

"Regarding the primary and industrial sector, Vox's voice has been heard once again in defense of agricultural workers," they say, and add that they have defended "our producers with firm opposition to the agreement between the EU-MERCOSUR, undoubtedly detrimental to national competitiveness and the profitability of those who feed all Spaniards."

From the far-right formation they affirm to have insisted on the “access to decent housing through an approach based on increasing construction, strengthening the legal security of owners and reducing the tax burden for Spaniards”. A crisis “aggravated”, they clarify, by the growing demand: “Therefore, we have also linked the solution to the need for a remigration process, as part of a strategy aimed at facilitating Spaniards' access to housing”.

And they conclude: “Faced with a Government whose corruption and incompetence kills, we have promoted debates on the management of railway infrastructures and demanded the assumption of all corresponding political and judicial responsibilities.”

Ultimately, the first quarter leaves a complex and multifaceted picture of the legislature: while the Government claims its capacity for response in the face of an adverse international context, its partners insist that the advances are still insufficient and demand greater ambition, especially in housing, industry or social rights. At the same time, the opposition forces maintain a markedly critical discourse that anticipates a climate of sustained confrontation.

Nevertheless, the start of the year confirms the parliamentary fragility of the investiture bloc and the coming weeks are deemed vital to evaluate its cohesion and the capacity of the Executive to land its agenda.