The Senate Justice Committee has given this Tuesday green light to the opinion of the reform of the Penal Code promoted by Junts to toughen the response against multi-offending. In the process, adjustments proposed by PP and Vox linked to the regularization of migrant people have been incorporated, as well as an amendment from the PSOE aimed at aggravating penalties in 'indoor' marijuana crops.
With this vote, the multi-offender law promoted by Junts continues its parliamentary journey in the Upper House and it will now be the Plenary of the Senate that will rule on the amendments that have been rejected in the Committee.
Having already introduced variations in the text during its passage through the Senate, the initiative must subsequently return to the Congress of Deputies, which will have to ratify or overturn the modifications approved in the Upper House.
In this context, the 'populars' have taken advantage of their absolute majority in the Senate to push through an amendment that aims to prevent migrants with police records from being able to benefit from the massive regularization recently approved by the Government.
Modification of the Immigration Law
One of the PP's amendments that has been incorporated into the articles reforms Organic Law 4/2000, of January 11, on the rights and freedoms of foreigners in Spain and their social integration, known as Foreigners Law, adding a new precept “with the aim of strengthening 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”.
Therefore, the proposal establishes that any residence authorization will require that the applicant lacks a criminal record and is not involved in sufficient pending criminal proceedings in Spain or in the countries where they have previously resided for crimes typified in Spanish legislation.
Furthermore, the 'popular' party proposes that the stay or residence application be rejected when the interested party has been convicted by final judgment as a repeat offender. To assess whether there is a possible threat to public order or citizen security, the Administration must gather reports from the Security Forces and Bodies.
The text also adds that sanctioning procedures with a proposal for expulsion or return initiated for any of the foreseen causes will not be suspended in any case by the submission of an application for stay or residence.
The contributions of Vox
Vox was defending a modification of the regime of substitution of penalties by expulsion applicable to foreign citizens, but this amendment has finally been rejected in the Justice Committee and will be discussed again in the Senate Plenary.
What has been incorporated into the opinion is an amendment by Vox that establishes that, within six months from the entry into force of the law, the Government “will sign multilateral and bilateral agreements with other States, and will promote the approval of appropriate norms within the scope of the European Union, to the effect that the expulsion of repeat offenders from Spanish territory and their surrender to foreign jurisdictions entails the fulfillment in said jurisdictions of the sentences to which Spanish courts have condemned them”.
The PSOE toughens the punishment for 'illegal tapping' and electricity fraud
During the processing in Congress, PP, PNV and Junts agreed on an 'in voce' amendment that establishes a prison sentence of one to five years for the so-called 'petaqueo', considering that provides logistical support to narco-boats. It thus sanctions “the acquisition, possession, deposit, storage, transport, or supply, with manifest recklessness, of any form of liquid fuels” contrary to laws or other general provisions.
The PP has added another amendment related to this phenomenon, in addition to a proposal to strengthen the public prosecutor's staff. Parallelly, the PSOE has introduced a modification to create an aggravated subtype of electricity fraud, with the aim of increasing penalties in cases of fraud linked to crimes of 'indoor' marijuana cultivation, where illegal connection to the electricity grid is a common practice.
On the other hand, Coalición Canaria (CC) had registered an amendment taking advantage of this reform to expand the powers of the Canary Police Corps, but the Senate Bureau has finally decided to reject it.