Three years after the constitution of the Cortes, the XV legislature faces its final stretch marked by legislative unproductivity epitomizing the deadlock of a lost mandate. Pedro Sánchez presides over a minority government, without a stable parliamentary majority and without the General State Budgets. The arithmetic that allowed his investiture has proven incapable not only of sustaining an ambitious legislative agenda but even a minimally consistent one, which has led this legislature to a permanent state of deadlock.
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The lack of a clear parliamentary majority, the break of Junts with the Government, the cross vetoes among the partners of the Frankenstein front and the blockade imposed by the Executive, with the help of the Congress Board, on initiatives coming from the Senate have made it impossible to get out of the deadlock. So much so that the legislature is practically considered concluded in Parliament. And the different groups, despite the insistence of the Executive, are radically skeptical about the possibility of reaching agreements.
As we report today, never before have so few laws been passed in the first three years of a legislature. The 32 highest-ranking norms that have been passed in this three-year period are fewer than those approved in the first three years of any legislature. Added to this is that Sánchez is the head of the Executive who most abuses decrees, far surpassing his predecessors. Since 2018 he has approved 168 decrees, compared to 107 by Mariano Rajoy, 108 by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, 127 by José María Aznar, or 130 by Felipe González in 14 years of mandate. The PSOE leader is also the president with the most decrees overturned. And not even processing decrees as draft laws, a procedure the Government uses to silence protests from groups for not participating in the drafting of norms, has guaranteed stability to Moncloa.
More than 30 bills sent by the Council of Ministers to the Chamber remain in the stage of committee or amendments. And the Congress is only processing one text coming from the Senate, in a clear veto to the chamber where the PP holds an absolute majority. In total, up to 170 norms remain pending. In this context, the presentation of the Budget project, even knowing it will not pass, constitutes a commitment that, if fulfilled, would further bog down the situation in the Lower House.
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These numbers reveal the gridlock of an exhausted mandate. A parliamentary democracy needs Parliament to legislate and oversee the Government. When there is no majority and the Executive cannot legislate at the pace the country requires, the normal functioning of the legislative power is impaired.
The collapse of this legislature already seems irreparable. Prolonging it will not only fail to resolve it but will make it more evident that the country needs to return the word to the citizens as soon as possible.
