The PP and Vox will try this Tuesday for the Plenary Session of Congress to halt the processing of a reform of the Penal Code promoted by Sumar, which seeks to eliminate so-called "opinion crimes" from the criminal sphere, including insults to the Crown, offenses against religious feelings, and outrages against national symbols.
This is the first bill that Yolanda Díaz's party brought to the Plenary Session this legislative term. The initiative had been chaining extensions of the amendment period since December 2023, until last June when PSOE and Sumar agreed to speed up its processing and requested July to begin debating the content of the reform.
In contrast, PP and Vox have presented separate total amendments with alternative text, with which they intend to keep the Penal Code of 1995 intact, preserving the criminal offenses that PSOE and Sumar wish to repeal.
"The legislator drafted all the criminal offenses contained in said norm with 'special caution' and giving special emphasis' to the protection of fundamental rights'. All of this makes the modification of the mentioned crimes unnecessary, let alone their suppression," the PP maintains in its amendment, as reported by Europa Press.
Vox toughens its stance on national symbols
Vox uses its alternative proposal to advocate for a toughening of penalties for offenses against national symbols. Among other measures, it proposes the disqualification of authorities who do not display the Spanish flag and the withdrawal of public subsidies from their parties. It also proposes adding an accessory penalty of withdrawal of Spanish nationality for those who commit these crimes after having been naturalized.
Both parties also reject Sumar's intention to eliminate the crime of glorifying terrorism, a point that the PSOE also does not share, having left it out of the agreement reached with its government partner.
Until the extraordinary Plenary Session this Tuesday votes on the total amendments registered by PP and Vox, the rest of the parliamentary groups will not be able to present their partial amendments to the articles of the bill.
The next step will be the convening of the committee, where amendments will be debated, and subsequently the meeting of the Justice Commission. In that body, PSOE and Sumar have agreed to promote joint changes to decriminalize so-called "crimes of opinion." As it is a reform of the Penal Code, an organic law, its final approval in the Plenary Session will require an absolute majority.