Congress leaves the PSOE alone and rejects its proposal against Spain's pimp trade

Since the formation of the coalition government, the PSOE has never felt so alone in Congress. This Tuesday, socialists on the left and right – especially the left – came under the heaviest criticism for their bill to tighten penalties for pimping. If the PSOE wanted to raise a feminist flag on the eve of the electionsAs everyone else blamed him, he discovered that they were unwilling to give him a victory three weeks before the European elections.

The barrage of criticism did not only come from the groups that had already opposed the initiative during the previous legislative term. Sumar voted against, despite the fact that Unidas Podemos had abstained at the time, except for the commons, who had already rejected it by then. And the PP, which had supported it, took a radical turn and went even further than Vox: it signed for the no vote while the ultras abstained. Of the groups that supported the inauguration of Pedro Sánchez, only the sole deputies of the BNG and the Canary Coalition remained loyal. The result allowed no discussion: 122 votes in favor, 184 votes against and 36 abstentions. For the first time in almost six years of the Sánchez government, Congress is preventing the PSOE from processing a legislative initiative.

The harshness of the accusations was condensed at the end of the intervention of the representative speaking on behalf of Sumar, the government's minority partner. Gala Pin dedicated her last words to the “indignant whores” of Barcelona's Raval district, solemnly promising: “We will not allow a party that feels hegemonic to do electoralism with their bodies and their lives.” An unusual atmosphere of hostility among Sánchez's allies, which was also reflected in the fiery intervention of Pilar Vallugera of ERC, who even preferred to speak Spanish in order, as she said, to reach her interlocutors more directly. “They want to destroy lives with the Criminal Code,” exclaimed Vallugera, after uttering another grim sentence: “When you sit here on these fantastic chairs, it is very easy to say that these women are perverse, evil and unworthy are…”

The ERC deputy recalled with a gesture of boredom that it was the fifth time the issue had been discussed, despite having proven that it “absolutely breaks the investiture majority.” The last one was two years ago and thanks to the support of the PP, it moved forward, even though no progress was ever made in drafting the law. As then, the initiative proposed reforming two articles of the Criminal Code to tighten prison sentences for pimping, to also punish the transfer of premises to engage in prostitution with a prison sentence and to prosecute those who hire sexual services with fines or even imprisonment if it concerns minors or vulnerable people. .

That the initiative's fate was up in the air became clear when Socialist Andrea Fernández opened the debate with a speech in her defense, boasting of an attitude that was “firmly against pressure and with her head held high.” Fernández claimed that “freely chosen prostitution does not exist” and that it is an act of “violence against women.” He tried to convince the House that the initiative would represent “enormous social progress” to put an end to a “criminal industry” with multinational connections. “I am deeply proud that my group is punitive,” she declared, before asking PP and Sumar for “loyalty” to their previous positions. As he left the stage, the representative hugged Equality Minister Ana Redondo, who was sitting alone on the blue bench.

After Fernández, a short mirage. Cristina Valido, deputy of the Canarian Coalition, took the stand and the PSOE heard genuine support for her proposal. The only. From that moment on came the big downpour: Podemos, PNV, EH Bildu, Junts, ERC, Sumar, Vox, PP… All against the party leading the government. And with one main argument: punishing pimps, without being accompanied by other measures, will drive prostitutes underground and make them more insecure. In the interventions of some spokespersons of the left, such as those mentioned by Sumar and ERC, or Bel Pozueta, by EH Bildu, the historical divisions in feminism over the proposals to ban prostitution became clear.

This division had taken place in the defunct Unidas Podemos between the abolitionism of Irene Montero and ordinary Catalans, supporters of regularization. This latter position is defended by two other groups now in Sumar, Más Madrid and Compromís, and that eventually led Yolanda Díaz's group to join the front of rejection. Podemos abstained from voting after its deputy Martina Velarde asked the Socialists: “Do you really believe that this can be solved by applying the criminal code?”

Another of the most repeated criticisms was that the tightening of penalties is not accompanied by a plan to offer women alternatives. “They cut the rope and don't put up a net,” says Joseba Agirretxea of ​​the PNV graphically. It has been a long time since a speech by EH Bildu was as undermining to the government as that of Deputy Pozueta: “This is nonsense and total irresponsibility. “They wanted a headline without worrying about the consequences.” “A masterclass in demagoguery,” said Pilar Calvo of Junts, the socialist discourse. And she agreed with the others: “They are going to send vulnerable women underground.”

Those who did not question the substance of the case were PP and Vox. In addition, the far right, through representative María Ruiz Solás, advocated even harsher penalties for pimps. But both hid behind the fact that these measures should be part of a comprehensive prostitution law and joined the accusations of electoralism. The popular Ana Alós interpreted it as a response to the Koldo case: “Every time they have a problem, they raise the flag of feminism.” Regarding the content of the proposal, he said: “It is absolutely insufficient, it offers no real solutions and it leaves women behind.” The PP asked the PSOE to withdraw it and until the moment of the vote they refused to anticipate the meaning of their vote. It was felt that the temptation to defeat the Socialists on the eve of the elections would gain the upper hand. That's how it was.

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