The Spanish Congress will no longer be called 'de los Diputados' after a progressive reform

The Congress of Deputies will move forward this Tuesday with the final approval of a reform of its internal Rules that includes the adoption of inclusive language throughout its articles, as well as the change of the official name of the Chamber, which will henceforth be called simply "Congress".

The initiative was driven by the parliamentary groups ofPSOE and Sumar, and was already endorsed in committee with the rejection of PP, Vox, and Unión del Pueblo Navarro (UPN), who question both its relevance and its clarity.

As stipulated, the central objective of the reform is to eliminate the use of the generic masculinein officialtexts of the Rules and replace it with inclusive formulas that split terms into masculine and feminine gender, such as "los diputados y diputadas".

This modification also extends to the institutional name of the Chamber, which will no longer be called "Congress of Deputies", as the current name is considered to render women parliamentarians invisible.

In this regard, the solution adopted by the proponents of the reform was to directly remove the mention of gender, leaving the official name reduced to "Congress". 

During the committee debate, last Thursday, PP, Vox, and UPN voted against the report approved by the working group. The three parties argued that the new wording is unnecessary, ambiguous, and could generate confusion in regulatory interpretation.

They also pointed out that the modification responds to an ideological agenda and not to a real need for legislative functioning. PP described the change as "convoluted". The reform will be voted on in the plenary session on Tuesday, the last of the current session period, and, if the correlation of forces expressed in committee is maintained, it will be approved without difficulty.

In addition to the change in language use, the plenary will also address two other reforms of the Rules. On one hand, Article 82 will be amended to expand the circumstances under which deputies may use remote voting, which they will now be able to do in the event of the death of a family member or due to caregiving needs.

On the other hand, a new Advisory Council will be incorporated to regulate the accreditation system for parliamentary press, with the authority to sanction or withdraw credentials from journalists who fail to comply with established rules, such as those relating to respect, no recording in restricted areas, or order during press conferences.

The reform of the Rules responds to a symbolic agenda promoted by ideological sectors that prioritize discourse over functionality. The change of name and the adoption of inclusive language do not solve legislative problems nor improve representativeness.

This is an identity policy with little real impact and high propaganda value. Congress is subordinated to a cultural logic that privileges formal correctness over institutional efficiency.