The prime minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has boasted this Tuesday of having "broken the independence movement" during his mandate. He stated this in the meeting he held in the Congress of Deputies with the Socialist (PSOE) parliamentary group, to review the current situation and outstanding issues in the legislature, in which he also discussed the economic situation that the Spanish state is experiencing and the reform of the 'Only yes means yes' law.
Sánchez made a speech in which he sought to combat the current "apocalyptic" slogan of the opposition People's Party (PP), who assert that "Spain is breaking up" because of the PSOE-Podemos government. "Now it turns out that what has really broken up is the independence movement", the Spanish PM asserted, in addition to affirming that "today in Catalonia the situation is infinitely better" than in 2017 because the political conflict "has been approached through dialogue and opting for coexistence and not confrontation". "One thing that even people who don't vote for us can be clear about is that we manage crises better" than the PP, the Socialist leader asserted.
Pedro Sánchez: "The [PP's] next subject is the classic 'Spain is breaking up' but it turns out that what has broken up is the independence movement..."
"Now in Catalonia the Constitution is being obeyed as in the rest of Spain", said Sánchez during this meeting with his Socialist parliamentarians in the lower house. In addition, he regretted that the PP is treating the head of the executive as a "tyrant". "In Spain, the Constitution is obeyed from north to south and from east to west, with the exception of the PP", added Sánchez. Likewise, he reiterated that several opinion polls highlight that the territorial conflict is no longer a problem that particularly concerns Spaniards. It should be remembered that Sánchez recently stated that, in his opinion, the Catalan independence process had come to an end, but recognizing that the independence movement remains alive.
Sánchez: "The 'Only yes means yes' law has caused unwanted effects, to put it mildly"
The Spanish prime minister could not avoid mentioning the law that is currently playing a starring role in Spanish political affairs: that of 'Only yes means yes'. According to the PSOE leader, it is "a good law that arises from a feminist assertion" and that "puts an end to blaming the victims" who have suffered sexual assault; but he acknowledged that "after just a few months" it has been shown that the law "has had unwanted effects". "And in that, I am putting mildly", added Sánchez, to reiterate that the emblematic legislation pushed through by the Podemos-led equality ministry must be corrected immediately.
Likewise, the Socialist leader asserted that none of the MPs who voted in favour of this law wanted the penalties for sex offenders to be reduced. He demanded that "dialogue" be employed to "respond to the problem" of reduced sentences for those convicted of sexual assault. "What is right is to defend the great advance that this law represents and to protect its future, because we know that the feminist agenda must be part of our road map," added the Spanish PM.