The Government works on how to tweak the law of only if it is yes after more than 270 reductions in sentences for aggressors

On October 7th, the Law for the Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom, better known as the law of only yes is yes, came into effect. One of the emblematic norms of the Government and especially of Equality, which, however, has caused the reduction of sentences for more than 200 sexual offenders, has generated “social alarm” as the Executive itself acknowledges, and pressure towards Unidas Podemos and Irene Montero, from the PSOE and the left formations to retouch it and try to stop the erosion that the Government is producing. Finally, La Moncloa has imposed touching the norm and Equality is forced to negotiate the what and the how after months refusing to touch a comma.

The permanent and constant trickle of reduced sentences for sexual offenders is a Malaysian drop in the image of Government. The latest surveys published, which have coincided with the cascade of reductions and the controversy also due to the reduction in embezzlement in December and January, show a significant setback in the PSOE. And Pedro Sánchez has said enough. In the Moncloa They admit that it is a problem that hurts them and that it affects the Executive. Socialist territorial leaders, PSOE ministers, leaders of other left-wing formations… the pressure towards Unidas Podemos and Irene Montero has been growing as more cases of reductions became known.

A consensus and a common position have been built demanding that the Executive do something. That he made a move, something that, according to La Vanguardia has advanced, it will be done Within the PSOE it is a matter that has caused great caution, bothering the inaction and the fact that United We Can be allowed to impose its position, due to the cost it could have in the next municipal and regional elections. And now Sánchez has decided to intervene so that the storm subsides. “The Law has been poorly explained from the outset,” admit socialist sources.

“We have verified some undesired effects and we are aware of and share the social concern regarding this issue,” they admit from La Moncloa, who explain that “very serious and rigorous work is being done, since the first judicial resolutions were known, to guarantee that does not happen again, solving the problems detected in the future”.

Discomfort in Podemos

In the socialist sector there was discomfort with the position of United We Can and it is urged to undertake changes or improvements to try to correct the course, convey the message that they do not remain impassive before the “social alarm”. Sources from Podemos have reported this Saturday that the Government has not stopped looking for formulas so that the law is applied correctly, “sharing the social concern for the decisions of those judges who are deciding to reduce sentences. We continue working on it”, they have sealed.

Government sources confirm this Saturday to EL MUNDO that indeed the perspective is to undertake improvements or a reinforcement, but that what and how have not yet been decided or agreed.

However, in the purple there is some discomfort due to the pressure of the socialists and with the leak: “As of today there is no agreement on a valid solution. The PSOE is under pressure to return to the previous model and that consent ceases to be the center of the penal code”, they object. Sources purple they blame the socialists for not holding up to the pressure and even skipping steps. And it is that in those works and discreet contacts that were being maintained, it had been established that once the changes were ruled, the management and announcement would correspond to Irene Montero.

Likewise, the closure of Equality to not opening up to a modification caused discomfort. The concern forced a first movement from La Moncloa, from the socialist sector, creating a working group between Justice and Equality to address possible “technical changes” in the Law, which, however, did not have the desired progress. And it is that after the assumption and acceptance that the law is going to be changed to avoid wear and tear, what the Executive It is in how to do it, because as the Government admits “the transitory law has already been consolidated”, so that the possibility of the inmates benefiting from the lighter sentences that have been imposed is established.

A political decision

“Right now we are analyzing the response that the courts are giving because the transitional law has already been consolidated. What we are working on is developing the measures provided for by law, the greatest protection of victims, which is what this law has always intended”, said Pilar Llop, Minister of Justice. “Now we are analyzing what is the response that the courts are giving because the transitory law is already consolidated and there could not be a subsequent rule that could modify this transitory situation.”

In La Moncloa they defend that the law of just s is s It is “a good law, a conquest of the feminist movement, born to better protect the victims and criminalize sexist attitudes that were not considered in this way before”, but also that it is necessary to “approach this situation responsibly, it requires careful attention, because It is complex from a technical point of view.

The decision to work on changes to the norm is therefore a political decision, with a political charge, rather than a legal one, since those convicted may continue to benefit from possible reductions in sentences. That is the background: political, due to the consequences of making changes: the assumption of an error, trying to avoid wear and tear, the position in which each party remains, how possible changes are sold, the situation of Minister Irene Montero …

Pedro Sánchez himself, in an informal conversation with journalists on December 6, opened up to making some technical tweaks, given the trickle of sales and the negative impact that this circumstance has for the market. Government. However, the closure of Equality and the acceptance of not taking the pulse of an unsustainable situation forced the socialist sector of the Executive to turn its discourse in recent weeks, to close ranks with the regulations, and to convey a public message that the law was not going to be touched, that it had to be explained and that, in any case, they waited for the supreme court set jurisprudence. A position that caused discomfort and anger within the PSOE, before what was understood as an excessive concession and autonomy to Irene Montero.

“The law of only yes is yes is solid. Logically we share the concern that Spanish society has for those judicial decisions with reductions in sentences, which do not correspond to the will and the spirit of the legislator. We are busy doing everything that is in our hands and it is necessary to guarantee a correct application of the law”, defended this same Friday the minister Irene Monteroafter the meeting of the crisis committee to deal with the latest sexist murders.

In La Moncloa, despite the fact that the change in the norm would be a disavowal of the position held until now by Equality, they seek to avoid transferring the image of shock, confrontation. They maintain that the two parties of the coalition government, “in full harmony, we are aware of this situation and we want to contribute together to resolve it by working hand in hand with the Minister of Equality at all times.”