The Proposal Proceeds

Today at Berria:

Statute Proposal to proceed in the form of a bill

The Basque Autonomous Community Parliament will treat the proposal, which it has classified as the reform of the Statute of Gernika, as a bill. The PP and PSE-EE assert that this reform goes against the Spanish Constitution and the very Statute of Gernika

Anakoz Amenabar – GASTEIZ (Vitoria)

Yesterday the Presiding Committee of the Parliament of the BAC [Basque Autonomous Community of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa] classified the Statute Proposal approved by the BAC Government as the “Reform of the Statute” and agreed to treat it as a normal bill. They classified the proposal as a reform with the votes of the EAJ, the EB-IU and EA. The PP and PSE-EE voted against. However, as far as the procedure is concerned, the Socialists voted in favour of treating the Reform as a bill, thus agreeing with the three Government parties.

Yesterday’s decision is expected to be published in the Official Parliamentary Gazette on Friday, and once this has been done a period of 15 days will commence for the parliamentary groups to table amendments to the proposal. The debate on the amendments will be conducted in the Institutional Committee of the BAC Parliament, and a special committee will produce a report for this purpose. The procedure will culminate in a plenary session of the BAC Parliament, where the final proposal will be put to the vote. The proposal will need an absolute majority to be passed. Juan Maria Atutxa, the President of the Parliamentary Presiding Committee, explained the reason for not presenting the Statute Proposal strictly in the form a bill: “The Statute is a constitutional law so, in our opinion, this Reform of the Statute has to be passed by the Spanish Parliament and after that it will have to be approved by referendum in order for it to have the level of constitutional law.” In the same vein Gorka Knörr, the Vice-President of the Parliamentary Presiding Committee, said, “It is clear for us that the decisions taken are based on current regulations, and five years ago when there was a bid to change the regulation, the interpretation of the majority of this parliament was made very clear.” Knörr said they would respond “resolutely against those who want to impede the debate. There is a strategy to stop the debate, but we have sufficient social and political backing to stand up to this.”

.... ... .