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what did they do and what did they achieve?
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what did they do and what did they achieve?

(Spanish CNN) — The XIV Legislature of Spain, which began in December 2019 and a few days after the end of its cycle, will go down in history as one of the most turbulent in recent years. At least that is how the still President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has repeatedly pointed out, who has highlighted the complexities of governing in a period when the covid-19 pandemic has coincided, the eruption of the volcano Cumbre Vieja in the island of La Palma and the Russian war in Ukraine.

Under these circumstances, members of the Cortes Generales executed 214 laws and three general state budgets, as Sánchez reminded deputies and senators of Spain’s Socialist Workers’ Party in late May.

Now, among all the measures adopted by the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and Unidas Podemos, which are the most outstanding of the first coalition government of Spanish democracy? We summarize five of them here.

In terms of social benefits and meeting the objective that was in the government agreement between the PSOE and United We Can, is the approval of the minimum living income. This is a benefit aimed at preventing the risk of poverty and social exclusion for people who do not have the necessary resources to cover their basic needs and who can ask those over 23 to provide proof of a situation of economic vulnerability. The assistance starts at the equivalent of approximately US$634 and increases according to the number of people who make up each coexistence unit who request it. Until June, more than 1.8 million people have benefited from this measure, according to data from Social Security.

Pedro Sánchez, president of the Spanish government in a file photo.

One of the agreements that this left executive has most presumed on a recurring basis is that of successive increases in the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI), which has increased by 20% in four years. In January 2020, a few days after the formation of the coalition government, the Council of Ministers announced the increase of the SMI to approximately 1,066 USD per month, approximately 56 USD more than the current ceiling in 2019. An increase which has reaches 1,083 USD in 2021, 1,122 USD in 2022 and 1,212 USD in 2023.

Since June 25, 2021, Spain has become, not without controversy, the fourth country in the European Union to have a law regulating euthanasia in force. This measure allows adults, nationals or residents of Spain and who prove a serious, chronic and incurable illness that causes them great suffering, to access assisted death. This service is financed by the State, although it is offered both in public and private centers or even at home. 319 people ended their lives with this procedure between 2021 and 2022, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics.

The reform of the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy Law, better known as the “Abortion Law”, has been one of the most relevant measures promoted by the Ministry of equality. With its entry into force in March this year, the law allows women between the ages of 16 and 17 and people with disabilities to voluntarily terminate their pregnancy without the consent of their legal representatives and that this benefit is guaranteed both in public centers than private. . In addition, it also regulates for the first time in Europe that women who have painful and disabling menstruation can benefit from a state-paid temporary disability.

Another of the regulations promoted by the Ministry of Equality and having a profound social impact is the law for the real and effective equality of trans people and for the guarantee of the rights of LGTBI people, known as the “trans law”. . This came into force in March this year with the aim of providing greater protection and eradicating discrimination against the LGTBI collective. Among its most salient points, this law allows trans minors to modify their mention of gender in identity documents. Concretely, that those over 16 can do it independently, from the age of fourteen with the help of their parents and from the age of twelve with a legal guarantee. In addition, the obligation for transgender people to submit a medical report on their gender non-conformity and two years of hormonal treatment to make their sex change effective in the civil registry is also removed.