The coalition partners may divide again in military politics and, on this occasion, induced by the PP. A bill promoted by the Popular Party that is debated this Tuesday by the plenary session of Congress so that it is the Lower House that authorizes new Defense missions abroad and the shipment of weapons will test for the umpteenth time the cohesion between PSOE and Sumar. While the socialists plan to position themselves against it, the party led by the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, is negotiating with the PP to support the admission of the initiative for processing. Defense policy has already caused several confrontations within the Government and in 2022 it unleashed a deep crisis in the coalition over the delivery of military material to Ukraine. That matter broke PSOE and Unidas Podemos, but also opened a gap into the space on the left of the socialists, who this morning also had an intense debate about the meaning of their vote.
PSOE sources argue that an identical initiative is already being processed in the Defense Commission and that exactly the same was approved in the Senate on September 24. “The PP makes a little trick. It brings a recycling of something that has already been approved in the Senate and that will reach Congress. But we do not shy away from debate (…) There are things that do not sound bad to us, they sound good to us. The underlying issue, which is that there is more parliamentary control for sending troops and arms control, does not sound bad to us,” insisted Sumar’s parliamentary spokesperson, Íñigo Errejón, at a press conference. Sources from the group add that Díaz’s party is holding talks with the PP this Tuesday so that, in exchange for abstention, they support the reform presented by Sumar this afternoon to be able to claim abusive clauses from the bank in the repayment of the mortgage.
The organic law proposal to reform the National Defense Law for the sending of military aid abroad, the PP proposes that Congress be the one that has the last word on the authorization to order operations abroad that “are not directly related to the defense of Spain or the national interest”, and that this have a validity of five years. It also demands that in order to deliver military material to a war zone, the Government must first request authorization from the plenary session of Congress. Said authorization will be on an annual basis, establishes the text. Renewals of this agreement may be requested in the corresponding parliamentary committee.
Among other aspects, the text also requires that in the request for authorization of a military mission abroad, the Government determines the maximum number of troops necessary and the approximate material to carry it out. “Troop increases above that maximum must be approved prior to being sent by the Defense Commission,” he adds, also leaving any modification of resources in the hands of Congress. In their statement of reasons, the Popular Party criticizes that the Government has “abused its prerogatives” and has “avoided any debate on the increases in troops on military missions, the nature of them or the shipments of military aid that it has made to areas of war.”
While waiting for what the rest of the investiture partners decide, Podemos sources announced this Tuesday that they are moving between yes and abstention. Ione Belarra’s party has presented an amendment so that the authorization of the missions is, instead of five, for two years, and that its renewal be done annually. Furthermore, Podemos asks that the PP include in the text that it is no longer allowed to sell war material to countries that commit genocide and violate human rights.
The military issue has caused several disagreements in the coalition. In addition to criticizing the shipment of weapons to Ukraine — Belarra’s group rejected it while Díaz and IU showed support at the time for Pedro Sánchez — Unidas Podemos distanced itself in the last legislature from the NATO summit held in Madrid and complained , as Sumar does nowof the successive increases in Defense spending approved by the Council of Ministers. In the summer of 2022, when one of these items was approved without UP knowing about it, the vice president even asked to convene the table for follow-up of the coalition pact.
