Spain’s progressive government led by the Socialist Party on Tuesday (3 October), reached an agreement with the Basque separatist far-left formation EH Bildu, and other left-wing forces, to reform a controversial law on the security of citizens, the changes to the current regulation and updating of text, is expected to be approved in the coming months.
The Spanish coalition executive of the PSOE (S&D) and the left-wing platform Sumar (The Left), reached an agreement with its parliamentary partners from the pro-independence Basque party EH Bildu to eliminate the most controversial aspects of the current Citizen Security Law and approve a new, watered-down text, Euractiv’s partner EFE reported.
EH Bildu parliamentary spokesperson, Mertxe Aizpurua, and Jon Iñarritu deputy of the same Basque separatist formation, appeared on Thursday in the Spanish parliament, to announce some details of the pact, which they described as a historic step.
“With this agreement, we have unblocked the situation and managed to ensure that the great pending issue -one of the main priorities of the Basque party and the forces of the left- will become a reality,” stated Aizpurúa.
The agreement, she added, “puts an end” to the current law (of 2015) and creates a new less harmful regulation.
Among the most controversial parts to be amended in the new rules are the use of rubber bullets by riot police, the elimination of sanctions for “lack of respect for authority,” and a reduction in infractions for disobedience.
“The use of rubber bullets is ended, replacing them with less harmful means,” reads the new text, seen by EFE.
The new norm puts an end “to unjustified sanctions or sanctions based on subjective interpretations, protects freedom of expression and establishes its cancellation in the event that the accused person retracts,” the text adds.
In addition to PSOE and Sumar, the agreement on the reform was also supported by the other major Basque nationalist party, PNV, and the pro-independence Galician BNG. The radical left Podemos, a former ally of Sumar, said the agreement felt short in its ambition and range and did not support it.
The secretary of Podemos, Pablo Fernández, harshly criticised the agreement, saying the new text is a mere “cosmetic touch-up”, especially because it does not include an “explicit” ban on the use of rubber bullets by police forces.
The EH Bildu party, often described as the political successor of the defunct terrorist group ETA, holds six out of 350 seats in the Spanish parliament. It is aligned with the Spanish People’s Party, the main opposition, while the far-right VOX party is the third-largest force in parliament. In the 9 June European elections, EH Bildu also secured four seats in the European Parliament.
The stability of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government depends directly on the parliamentary support of the EH Bildu, the PNV, and the two big Catalan separatist parties, JxCat, of the controversial former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, and its left-wing separatist rival, the ERC party.
[Edited by Rajnish Singh]
Source: euractiv.com
