As he does every six months, Pedro Sánchez presented today the report ‘Cumpliendo’ [Fulfilling], an account of his government's actions. He also made his six-monthly appearance at La Moncloa palace, where he boasted that 42.7% of the commitments made have been honoured. When asked about the pardons granted half a year ago to the Catalan pro-independence movement leaders, the Spanish prime minister compared Catalonia’s current situation with that of four years ago. However, when the details of the Catalan political conflict are analysed, it is clear there is no reason for such triumphalism, as data from La Moncloa itself shows. For example, the reform of the sedition law, which would benefit the exiles, is still on standby.
Specifically, it is the Spanish Government’s commitment number 1218, made by Sánchez himself in an interview in September 2020: "Reform the Criminal Code to modify the provisions on sedition". In the latest report, made public today, the reform’s is "ongoing, but not progressing". The earlier update was in June this year, when according to the report "a partial reform of the Criminal Code was being prepared" that would encompass many other things, from the crimes of rebellion and sedition to crimes against slavery, animal rights or the reform of crimes related to freedom of expression, which have led to the prosecution of singers like Valtònyc or Pablo Hasèl. A promise that is unfulfilled.
Today, Pedro Sánchez was also asked about the "dialogue table, the negotiations and agreements between the Spanish State and the Catalan Generalitat", the only agreement signed with ERC for his investiture two years ago. In this case, the balance made by La Moncloa is that it is "in progress". Regarding initiatives carried out during the second quarter of 2021, there is only one: "The dialogue table has met once". The next meeting, which the Spanish Prime Minister has postponed, using the progress of the Omicron variant as an excuse, has yet to be scheduled.
Also "ongoing, but not progressing" is the commitment of the Spanish government program to "transfer the powers already recognised in the Statute of Catalonia" when an agreement is reached. As a milestone, the central executive highlights that a meeting was held between the two governments, at the bilateral commission, which reached "five important agreements: reduction of institutional conflict, the transfer of roles and services in the field of scholarships and study grants, a working group to analyse more transfers, the reactivation of the mixed commission on economic and fiscal matters and the reactivation of the commission on investments in infrastructures".
The overall balance
Before the last press conference of the year, Pedro Sánchez presented the half-yearly accountability report ‘Cumpliendo’. According to the data provided by the Spanish Prime Minister himself, the Spanish Government has made a total of 1,481 commitments to date, 42.7% of which have been honoured at the halfway point of the legislature. Specifically, 632 are considered to be "fulfilled", 805 are considered to be "developing" and 34 "not started". Sánchez boasted about different initiatives, from labour market reform to the euthanasia law, as well as the fight against covid and vaccination. The Spanish Prime Minister argued that the pandemic has not stopped the initiatives, rather it has accelerated them: "Either we move forward or we move backwards, and the government is clearly committed to progress in rights and freedoms", he defended. And this, he concluded, is only possible with stability, with "four-year legislatures".