Spain: the ruling coalition weakened by the reform of the law on sexual consent

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez attends a joint press conference with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin in Helsinki, Finland, Friday, March 3, 2023 (photo illustration).

AP - Heikki Saukkomaa

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Since the last government of Pedro Sanchez came to power in 2019, this is the worst crisis of this coalition government between socialists and Unidas Podemos.

The radical left finds it difficult to support the reform of the law on sexual consent, which it had made its battle horse.

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With our correspondent in Madrid,

What the radical left did not want to imagine, the socialists did.

Namely to agree with the conservative right to vote for a reform of the law on sexual consent.

This law, we call it here the law of “Yes, it is yes”.

It was a victory for Unidas Podemos, a text in force since November which put sexual consent at the heart of the law.

The problem is that this same law has had unwanted effects, concretely 721 remissions and 74 releases from prison for sex offenders.

For the radical left, the fault lies with the judges.

But for the Socialists who cares, it shocks public opinion and puts them in a bad position in this election year, the municipal elections in May and the general ones in December.

Hence the fact that the socialist power has made an alliance with the right to reverse this law and henceforth avoid remissions of sentences and releases from prison.

Mutual attacks are fierce within the coalition, and some have even feared an implosion.

However, the leaders of the two parties say that relations are certainly damaged, but that they do not want a break, which would mean the fall of the government.

► Listen again: The Spanish government wants to impose gender parity in politics and business

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