The Government takes for granted the validation of the decree that contains the energy saving measures in the plenary session of the Congress of Deputies this Thursday. “We have sufficient support to validate the decree”, the third vice president of the Executive, Teresa Ribera, assured this Wednesday, who, however, has avoided specifying what those supports are and has indicated, in statements to La Sexta, that it will predictably be tomorrow when those groups make their support public.
The Government is open to incorporating “improvements” from the rest of the political groups in the energy saving decree
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Just a few minutes before, the PSOE spokesman in the Congress of Deputies, Patxi López, had avoided confirming that the government forces had closed the support to be able to validate the savings decree, although at a press conference he assured that the socialists They are “confident that the majority of the chamber, starting with the majority of the investiture”, will give the green light to the text that also includes new scholarships for young people.
López has stated that he is “absolutely convinced” that the decree will be validated. “He is in the reasonable channels for him to come out. We have no concern at this time,” he added. However, it has recognized that this type of negotiations with the groups usually take place “until the last moment” and that, as a result of them, the Government has approved in this legislature more than 150 legislative initiatives in Congress with the support of other matches.
The exlehendakari has also had harsh words against the PP for its refusal to support the text. “Unfortunately, when there are problems, the progressive government puts solutions on the table and when there are solutions, the PP puts problems on the table”, he remarked. López recalled that the measures contained in the decree are already “demonstrating their usefulness” and recalled that, thanks to these restrictions -such as the limit on air conditioning and heating, or the lighting hours of buildings and shop windows-, in the In recent weeks, since the text came into force, energy consumption has been reduced by 9.5%.
Patxi López: “Frivolity is what the PP practices”
“The Government is proposing answers and the PP again says no”, lamented the socialist spokesman, who recalled that the same measures that the main opposition party now calls “frivolity” were proposed by the leader of the popular, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, at the end of July. “The true frivolity is the one practiced by the PP by denying everything”, he has emphasized. López has also pointed out that in the context of the war in Ukraine “saving energy is an unavoidable imperative”. “If not, it will lead us to drastic cuts”, he has warned.
He has also said that what is contained in the decree “is a European commitment.” “And the PP says no. The question is what does he say yes to? Does anyone know of any PP proposal that allows saving? ”, He asked. “This decree is Europe, it is the commitment to European partners, it is European solidarity and it is a small effort that prevents greater evils. It is efficiency because it is proving its usefulness, and it is common sense”, he stressed.
The popular, on the other hand, “vote against Europe, the European partners and the Spain that needs solidarity. Against carriers and students. They will vote against the Spaniards again. They don’t even defend their voters”, he lamented.
This very morning the Government had opened at the last moment to the fact that the aforementioned decree could be processed as a bill in Congress, which gives rise to the incorporation of changes by the rest of the political groups.
Ribera has shown his total confidence that the package of measures will go ahead this Thursday in Parliament, despite the announced rejection of the main opposition group, the PP. “Yes, completely”, the third vice president responded to a question about it on Telecinco. “We believe that it is capital that [los decretos] go ahead. We think they deserve the support of the Chamber unanimously”, she has maintained.
Open to process it as a bill
To do this, the third vice president has added that the Executive is willing to process the urgent decree as a bill. “We are open to improvements or additional measures. Our intention is not to introduce many more mandatory measures, but rather recommendations, relaxations”, she explained. “If your honors want it to be processed as a bill”, Ribera pointed out, “we will be very happy to receive specific proposals and initiatives”.
In the same sense, the Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, also shared in another interview the possibility that the norm included changes in Parliament. “It is not that this Government is open, it is that this possibility exists in the parliamentary process,” Raquel Sánchez stated in La Mañana de la 1, on TVE.
“If the sum of political parties is given, we have no problem, but it is formulating a hypothesis that we will have to see tomorrow,” he added. The Minister of Transport has recalled that the measures of the energy decree are already in force, so it is necessary to “give certainty” to the public and “validate a decree law that is of immediate application”.
Sánchez also recalled that the president of the European Commission, the conservative Ursula von der Leyen, has applauded the energy saving measures implemented in Spain for contributing to the objectives set for the European Union as a whole.
Turning off the Christmas lights is not on the table
Apart from the Royal Decree and its processing, the Government has on the table the preparation of the contingency plan to guarantee not only gas savings, but also the energy supply in a winter where Putin plays with the option of cutting off Russian gas that send to Europe.
For this plan, the Executive has asked the autonomous communities to send proposals, for which they have until August 31. In this “context”, Teresa Ribera assured in the aforementioned interview, “the contingency plan is the most important document” because the measures put in place in August “are urgent” to eliminate “redundant consumption, such as lighting when there is no needs to”. The objective, she has stressed, is “to preserve that the industry can continue producing”, as well as “comfort in homes and help European partners” that are in a worse energy situation, such as Germany.
In that contingency plan, at the moment there are no Christmas lights. “I think the debate on ornamental lighting has not been raised,” the minister assured. “I am not aware of having received a proposal in this regard. If it arrives we will study it”. In this sense, she assumes that “there will be mayors” who “will think of using less light, that they propose it, but it is not part of the large-scale structural saving measures.”
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