The abolition of appraisals continues its way in the regional sphere, while in the national sphere the matter has been set aside and relegated from the agenda. The Cortes of Aragon have approved, with the favorable vote of all the parliamentary groups, the abolition of the appraisals of the deputies and deputies. Thus, it joins communities such as the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Cantabria or Murcia. The lack of agreement to address the issue at the national level, for deputies and senators, prevents progress, despite the fact that it was one of the first proposals of Pedro Sánchez when he came to power and, even, a Citizens’ motion was approved in this regard. .
This Tuesday, in the Parliament of Aragon, the full text of the opinion of the Institutional and Statutory Development Commission on the proposal to reform the Statute of Autonomy of Aragon was put to the vote. Green light for the elimination of the capacity of deputies because, considers the regional chamber, it is necessary “to promote democratic regeneration measures that allow improving and modernizing the democratic quality in public and political institutions, in addition to strengthening the basic bond of trust between the electors and the elected.
The opinion of the commission that has validated the plenary session of the Cortes de Aragón emphasizes that appraisal “is a legal figure perceived by most of society as anachronistic, typical of past times, which, today, hardly fits with the article 14 of the Spanish Constitution, which enshrines the principle of equality of citizenship before the law”.
The reform of the Statute of Autonomy of Aragon also contemplates establishing a minimum number of 14 seats per province to prevent the decrease in population in the province of Teruel from leading to the loss of a seat in that province in the 2019 regional elections. reform will be sent to the Cortes Generales for final approval. Precisely at the beginning of February of this year, the Senate definitively approved the reform of the Statute of the Balearic Islands that suppressed the appraisals of its autonomous deputies and the members of the Balearic Government. In the case of Aragon, it is limited only to regional deputies.
While five communities have taken steps in this direction by approving the suppression of inspections in their chambers (Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Cantabria or Murcia), at the national level it remains only a declaration of intent. Pedro Sánchez announced it as a star measure in September 2018, just arrived at La Moncloa. Even the Council of Ministers of November 30, 2018 promoted a Draft Reform of articles 71.3 and 102.1 of the Constitution, related to the appraisals of deputies, senators and members of the Government.
The aim of the reform limited the scope of the provisions provided for in the Constitution so that they are only applicable in relation to the crimes that parliamentarians and members of the Government may commit in the direct exercise of their functions and during the period of their mandate. It was not consummated due to the lack of initiative to do so and the impossibility of reaching an agreement to reform the Magna Carta. Today even these disagreements, fundamentally between PSOE and PP, prevent article 49 from being reformed to eliminate the term ‘diminished’.
And this despite the fact that in September 2018 the Congress approved without any vote against a motion of Citizens in which the Government is urged to change the Constitution in three months to suppress the appraisals of deputies, senators and members of the Government. The matter, since PSOE and PP have not considered that it is the moment, remains in limbo at the national level.
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