Spain's Constitutional Court has unanimously ruled in favour of the opposition People's Party (PP), finding that the Congress of Deputies' governing bureau unlawfully blocked a pandemic-era economic recovery bill by extending the deadline for amendments 71 times between late 2020 and November 2022. The bureau, then controlled by allies of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and chaired by Socialist deputy Meritxell Batet, approved the extensions without justification, effectively killing the legislation when parliament dissolved ahead of 2023 elections. The court found that parliamentary autonomy does not shield arbitrary procedural manoeuvring, ruling that deputies' constitutional right to political participation had been violated — though the ruling is purely declaratory, as the legislation in question has already lapsed.