The PP plans to take advantage this Tuesday of its absolute majority in the Senate to push through in the Justice Committee several amendments to the penal reform promoted by Junts, with the intention of increasing penalties for repeat offenses and preventing migrants with police records from being able to benefit from the mass regularization recently approved by the Government.
The deadline to register amendments concluded last week and, although Junts' initiative received in Congress the support of PSOE, PP, Vox and PNV, finally the socialists, the 'populars', Coalición Canaria and Santiago Abascal's party presented changes to the text.
In this framework, the Senate Justice Committee will meet this Tuesday to debate the different proposals and approve the opinion that will later be sent to the Plenary of the Upper House.
The PP has an absolute majority in the Senate, so it is taken for granted that it will manage to approve its five amendments and send them to Congress for the Lower House to rule. It remains to be determined what position the Popular Group will adopt regarding the two amendments from the PSOE, the four from Vox and the one registered by Coalición Canaria.
The PP proposes changes in the Immigration Law
One of the PP's amendments aims to amend Organic Law 4/2000, of January 11, on the rights and freedoms of foreigners in Spain and their social integration –known as the Immigration Law–, incorporating a new precept “with the objective of reinforcing guarantees against impunity and security in Spain”.
The PP maintains that “multi-offending cannot be effectively combated if the legal system allows people with relevant criminal records, obtained in other States or not properly verified, to access or maintain residence permits without effective control”.
Consequently, the 'popular ones' propose that all residence permits require that the applicant lacks a criminal record and that they are not subject to a sufficient criminal pndencia in Spain or in the countries where they have previously resided for crimes typified in Spanish legislation.
Furthermore, they propose that the granting of stay or residence be rejected when the applicant has been definitively convicted as a repeat offender, and that, to assess whether there is a threat to public order or citizen security, the Administration gather reports from the Security Forces and Bodies.
The text also adds that the sanctioning procedures with a proposal for expulsion or return initiated for any of the previous causes will not be suspended in any case by the presentation of a request for stay or residence.
The proposals of Vox and of the PSOE
Vox boasts of going “further” than the PP with its amendments and defends modifying the regime of substitution of penalties for expulsion applicable to foreign citizens.
The two Vox senators propose that “when a foreign citizen has previously been convicted by final judgment for any crime provided for in the Penal Code and reoffends -regardless of the nature of the new penalty imposed, whether it be a fine, imprisonment or another different one-, the corresponding penalty shall in all cases be replaced by expulsion from national territory.
Likewise, Vox's amendments "suppress the possibility of invoking the so-called rootedness as an impediment to expulsion." "And the appeal to rootedness has already shown that, despite being an exceptional matter, it has been used extensively," Vox denounces.
Debate on the petaqueo and other penal reforms
During the processing in Congress, PP, PNV and Junts agreed on an 'in voce' amendment that sets a prison sentence of one to five years for the so-called 'petaqueo', by pursuing “the acquisition, possession, deposit, storage, transport, or supply, with manifest recklessness, of any form of liquid fuels” contrary to laws or general provisions, understanding that it provides logistical support to drug boats.
The PP has registered another specific amendment on this matter, in addition to a proposal to reinforce the prosecutor's staff. In turn, the PSOE proposes to introduce an aggravated subtype of electricity fraud that raises the penalties when the fraud is linked to crimes of 'indoor' marijuana cultivation, in which the irregular use of electricity supply is common.
On the other hand, Canarian Coalition (CC) has taken advantage of the processing of this penal reform to present an amendment that seeks to expand the powers of the Canarian Police Force.