The early election announced for November 29 by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will leave numerous social initiatives promoted by the coalition government of PSOE and Sumar without progress, some of them already in parliamentary processing and others still pending approval by the Council of Ministers.
The dissolution of the Cortes Generales will cause proposals affecting areas such as equality, social rights, childhood, youth, and migration policy to fall, including the reform of article 43 of the Constitution to shield abortion, which will also not go forward.
Equality loses the Vicarious Violence Law and the anti-trafficking norm
From the Ministry of Equality, one of the initiatives that will be halted is the Vicarious Violence Law, which on September 30 passed its first examination in Congress. The text typified this type of violence as a gender aggravating factor, provided for the automatic deprivation of parental authority for parents convicted of abuse, and expressly prohibited those convicted of vicarious violence from speaking about the crime for a period of up to 20 years.
Nor will the Comprehensive Organic Law against Trafficking and Exploitation of Human Beings see the light, which was pending approval in a second reading by the Council of Ministers. Last June, Minister Ana Redondo explained that the approval of the European Anti-Trafficking Directive required reformulating the text and assured that she did not want to make a "legal mess".
In the same regulatory block is also the law to punish LGTBI conversion practices, which had already passed through Congress and was in the Senate.
Social Rights loses the Family Law and the universal child-rearing benefit
From the Ministry of Social Rights, the Family Law, which remained stalled in Congress, will fall, and, furthermore, the lack of General State Budgets (PGE) will prevent one of the most demanded measures by Sumar from going forward: the universal child-rearing benefit.
In addition, when Minister Pablo Bustinduy took office, he adopted the approval of the Social Services Law, promoted by his predecessor in the previous legislature, Ione Belarra, but this norm had not even returned to the Council of Ministers.
Childhood and youth, also affected by the dissolution of the Cortes
The Ministry of Youth and Childhood is another department affected by the early election. Among the norms that will not see the light is the draft Organic Law for the protection of minors in digital environments, currently in the reporting phase in Congress, whose main objective is to restrict access of minors under 16 years of age to social networks.
Also pending is the reform of the Organic Law for the Comprehensive Protection of Children and Adolescents against Violence (LOPIVI), approved in a first reading in May of this year, which establishes the guarantee of listening to the minor and the distancing of parents who are accused of abuse.
Minister Sira Rego announced in an interview with Europa Press that she wanted to bring to the Council of Ministers, after the summer, a Foster Family Law to promote fostering and adoption, an initiative that will now also not see the light.
In the same situation is the intended Youth Law, which Rego assured she was already negotiating the draft with the PSOE and in which she wanted to include voting from the age of 16.
Migration and asylum, awaiting adaptation to the European pact
In terms of Immigration, the new Asylum Law and the reform of the Immigration Law will not go forward, two draft bills approved by the Council of Ministers in a first reading to adapt to the European Pact on Migration and Asylum.
Also in the migratory field, although it has already been validated, a decree-law on Immigration remains in processing as a bill and will remain in force as it was published in the BOE. This is the reform of article 35 of the Immigration Law to establish the mandatory distribution of unaccompanied minors in case of a migratory contingency.
In addition, the Executive was studying another decree to accelerate the processing of asylum applications in Ceuta, a measure that would allow, among other things, to dispense with UNHCR in the examination of applications.