Spain's government adds two extraordinary cabinet meetings before 29 November election

Four more cabinet meetings before the vote

Félix Bolaños, the minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, announced on Tuesday, 10 November, that the Council of Ministers will meet four more times before the general election on 29 November. Two of those sessions are extraordinary and fall on Fridays, 13 and 20 November. The other two are the regular Tuesday meetings on 17 and 24 November. The 13 November session coincides with the official start of the campaign, according to La Vanguardia and El Mundo. In a post on X, Bolaños summed up the aim of the sessions in these words:

“More rights, more improvements and more strengthening of the welfare state, now and over the next four years of a progressive government.”

Pending measures and the interview

Pedro Sánchez made the first public case for the extra sessions on Monday, 9 November, in an interview with Javier Ruiz on La Séptima. He said the government would approve social measures in the coming weeks on topics left unfinished in the cabinet and in Congress. Asked whether extraordinary sessions would take place, he answered that they would. He added that he had wanted to serve out the legislature rather than call early elections. El País noted that the interview was the first of its kind since pre-campaign activity resumed after the railway accident at Urda.

“There are issues that have been left pending in the Council of Ministers or also in the Congress of Deputies.”

Housing and family decrees

According to El Periódico, Tuesday's session is expected to approve a royal decree-law from the Ministry of Social Rights. It would widen protection for single-parent families, large low-income families and households with a disabled parent and more than one child. The decree recovers part of a family bill that has stalled twice for lack of support in Congress. The ministry led by Pablo Bustinduy calculates that it would benefit more than 760,000 families, close to three million people, and cost 820 million euros a year. The decree must be validated by the Permanent Deputation of Congress before the election to receive final approval.

The Permanent Deputation is due to vote on Thursday, 12 November, on validating the so-called Maricarmen decrees, which contain housing measures. Congress had rejected them, a defeat that led to the early election call. La Razón reports that they would be validated with the backing of the PNV, and it links the timing to concern about the general strike on 11 November. Sánchez said in the interview that he hoped the Permanent Deputation would validate them.

The pardon question

Sánchez did not say whether a pardon for former attorney general Álvaro García Ortiz would be placed on the agenda of one of the extraordinary sessions. Article reports in Europa Press say he reiterated the intention to approve it. When pressed on the issue in the interview, he said he could not answer that question at that moment. He said the decision had not been taken.

“We have not taken the decision, among other things because the pardon process is still under way.”

Moncloa's pre-election pattern

La Razón describes a series of social Tuesdays that the Moncloa government began in October. The Council of Ministers approved 45 million euros to build university residences, with seven projects creating close to 2,000 new places at public centres across Spain. Last week a royal decree completed an improvement to the economic benefit for caring for minors with cancer or another serious illness. Ministries have been given room to revive initiatives that were still awaiting approval, and La Razón says the operation is coordinated from the Finance Ministry, the Presidency ministry and the president's office. El Mundo points out that no extraordinary cabinet meetings were held during the 2023 general election campaign, according to the minutes register. Sánchez also predicted turnout above 70% on 29 November, according to El País.