The Spanish Congress is set for a busy day of voting today in a ‘super session’ before the summer recess. For this reason, the plenary session (dubbed the super pleno in the Spanish press) is expected to last all day and likely go into the evening and night.

Among the key policy issues being voted on are politically contentious reforms to Spain’s Foreigner’s Law, the long-overdue election of new judges to Spain’s General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), and a vote to approve the non-financial spending limits placed on government budgets, known as the ‘spending ceiling’ (el techo de gasto in Spanish).

The session is also likely to be very politically charged, as well as long. It comes the day after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was summoned to give testimony to a Spanish judge amid an ongoing corruption investigation into his wife, Begoña Gómez.

READ ALSO: Spain’s PM to testify in corruption probe against his wife

Yesterday, opposition Partido Popular (PP) leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo called for Sánchez’s resignation, reminding the Socialist (PSOE) leader that he himself called for the former PP Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s resignation when he was called to testify in 2017.

It seems unlikely that either side of the Congress of Deputies, Spain’s lower house, will be able to ignore the corruption currently case looming over Spanish politics, and political point scoring is likely to disrupt the flow of debate and voting.

Migration, spending and judges

One of the main issues to be debated and voted on is proposed reforms to Spain’s Foreigners Law, which seeks to make it compulsory for regions to take in unaccompanied foreign minors that arrive in Spain.

This has been a politically divisive issue in recent weeks, with far-right party Vox leaving government coalitions in several regions around Spain over the issue.

The proposed changes are being jointly put forward by the PSOE, the Canary Islands Coalition and junior coalition partners Sumar. The PP has not said whether it will support the change, although Feijóo has distanced himself from the reforms.

The session will also debate the government’s expenditure ceiling and budget rules for future years. These will be crucial to the government’s economic plans and form the cornerstone of next year’s budget, something with added weight as there was no official government budget for 2024.

READ ALSO: Visas and benefits: How Spain’s budget freeze affects foreigners

A vote on electing judges to Spain’s CGPJ is also scheduled for the session. The Spanish press seems to think this will be the first issue voted on and one that should, in theory, pass without problems.

This is due to the result of an uneasy truce made between the PSOE and PP, which should provide the necessary legislative majority.

It will not only elect new members to the judicial council but also propose changes to the election system itself, something that many view as crucial because the court was essentially deadlocked for years and the election of new members five years overdue.

Also on the legislative table are votes on extending Spain’s anti-crisis measures, which includes zero VAT on oil and other basic foodstuffs, transport discounts and electricity subsidies.

Here there’s another potentially interesting political wrinkle, in that these subsidies and their gradual withdrawal over recent months could provoke Podemos, the former junior coalition partner, to vote against the government.