Congress experienced another bizarre Committee session this Wednesday when voting on a law. It did not reach an early morning vote, as was the case for validating the tax reform, but the situation was reminiscent of then. After a delay of almost three hours compared to the scheduled time, the Labor Committee decided, at the initiative of PSOE and Sumar, to suspend the vote on the reform to facilitate an access path to RETA (Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers) for alternative mutualists.
The reason? Initially, the last-minute negotiation of transactional amendments brought by hand by the groups to the Committee, scheduled to conclude this Wednesday's Plenary Session. Afterwards, due to PSOE's attempt to stop amendments that it would not be able to stop in the votes.
PP and Junts allied to present joint amendments that expanded the conversion of contributions into an advantageous 1-to-1 situation, among other issues. But Carles Puigdemont's party arrived at the Committee with several proposals of a tax nature, unrelated to the content of the law.
For example, to prevent a company or a self-employed person from being obliged to pay VAT in a situation of defaults. Or changes in tax deductions for investments in R&D&i. Proposals unrelated to the content of the norm, something that is also not new in the Chamber, but which the PSOE did not want to vote on.
Nor was it in agreement with amendments brought by its minority partner. Sumar promoted proposals together with Esquerra Republicana and Bildu that did not convince it.
Finally, PSOE and Sumar agreed to give the groups two options. To accept that the Bureau, in which they enjoy a majority, would admit or not admit the proposals for processing, or to wait for the Government's communication. The groups rely on the constitutional power of article 134.6 which stipulates that any legislative initiative that has a budgetary impact with greater expenditure or lower revenue must have the Executive's approval.
This issue has been the subject of several appeals before the Constitutional Court, also by the PSOE itself against decisions of 'popular' governments. The PP alleges that constitutional doctrine allows these vetoes as long as they affect current fiscal years, something that does not occur in this case.
Given the opposition's rejection to grant this capacity to the Bureau, the president of the Committee, Aina Vidal, of Sumar, decided to postpone the Committee until next Tuesday.