The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, and the Secretary of State for Relations with the Courts, Rafael Simancas, meet with representatives of CERMI.CERMI
The pre-agreement between PSOE and PP to replace the term “disabled” with “persons with disabilities” in Article 49 of the Constitution was almost finalized and negotiations have resumed, but the matter appears to have stalled again despite the political commitments made the highest level with the Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities (Cermi). The PSOE and PP negotiators, Minister Félix Bolaños, and the General Secretary of the People’s Party, Cuca Gamarra, met on Wednesday next week to remove some obstacles and both express their theoretical readiness for the pact. But the PP maintains some political and legal concerns because it does not trust that some parties might try to seize the opportunity to “sneak in” other Magna Carta reforms related to the independence movement and the unresolved allegations raised. from the State Council. .
The government sources consulted admit that an agreement has still not been reached with the PP, but they believe that Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s party is finding it “very difficult” to continue its opposition to constitutional reform on such a sensitive issue, and call unanimously this social institutions and Cermi, which represents the majority of the sector. The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, addressed the PP on Monday with the aim of resuming and promoting talks and converging positions in order to agree on this constitutional reform. Bolaños will meet Gamarra next Wednesday in Congress and also with representatives of other parties. The commitment made to the Cermi leadership in previous appointments of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and opposition leader Feijóo is that the matter will be resolved shortly in order to implement the constitutional amendment before the end of the legislature. Time no longer spares.
“It is the government’s will to amend Article 49 of the Constitution to give people with disabilities more dignity and more rights. Our will and what we ask of the rest of the parliamentary forces, and in particular the main opposition party, is that we walk the talk,” declared Bolaños after his appointment to the CERMI Board. “I think it’s important that we tackle reform in the coming months and that we do it because these kinds of changes to Magna Carta have to be made: with consensus, with assent and with a desire to make our country better becomes land every day,” abounded.
On May 11, 2021, the government adopted the draft reform of Article 49 of the Basic Law to delete the term “disabled” and replace it with “people with disabilities”. Since then, the parliamentary process of the first social reform, which was enshrined in the constitution and unanimously demanded by the social authorities, has been stuck, also because several elections have crossed its path.
Sánchez included this reform in the 11 Pacts that he proposed to Feijóo on April 7 at their first meeting in La Moncloa, with the aim of “considering the different dimensions of the protection of persons with disabilities and directing their content towards an approach which guarantees their dignity and autonomy. The project has just finished its deadline to submit amendments to the Constitutional Commission of Congress from June 2021 due to a lack of agreement with the PP. Vox also expressed its disapproval.
The PP still does not trust either the government, the PSOE, or the intentions of other parties. PNV, JuntsCAT and even Ciudadanos have registered changes (which neither ERC nor EH Bildu have done) and do not confine themselves to supporting the literary change of Article 49 as requested by the PP. The two nationalist parties propose other variants related to increasing the autonomy capacity of their territories and Cs, on the contrary, strengthening state powers. An association of Valencian lawyers has called for another change related to the reform, which has strong support in their community, including from the PSOE and the PP, to restore aspects of their civil law and a historic marital economic regime in which they share joint custody and prioritize the separation assets after divorce. Gamarra will demand from Bolaño’s “guarantees” that all these other debates will not be allowed. The PP also uses some of the allegations and disadvantages raised in a 29-page report by the State Council, less about substituting the term than about “improving and perfecting” the constitutional reform being consulted to provide more protection for people with disabilities.
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Cermi officials assessed Wednesday’s meeting with Bolaños very positively and appreciated the government’s interest in meeting with all parties next week to achieve a claim that they have been pursuing for so many years.
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