By announcing early legislative elections for July 23, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez surprised and disconcerted the entire political class. But it has also caused a huge legislative vacuum and legislation that remains in abeyance.
With our correspondent in Madrid, Francois Musseau
During their tenure, the coalition between the Spanish Socialist Party and Unidas Podemos legislated frantically. In three years, despite the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the central power has approved more than a hundred laws. But with this early election, dozens of laws will be affected, without anyone knowing very well what will become of them.
In total, some 60 laws risk remaining a dead letter. Quite simply because Parliament was dissolved and parliamentary activity was logically interrupted. Thus went up in smoke, the law of families, which seeks a better harmony between life at work and life at home. The same goes for the law on food waste, aimed at preventing each family from throwing away more than a million tonnes of food each year. Ditto for the legislation on sustainable mobility which was to oblige cities to promote pedestrian travel and areas with low CO2 emissions.
If re-elected at the end of July, the Socialist Pedro Sanchez promised to pass all these laws. But, for the time being, the polls indicate that the right is the overwhelming favourite.
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