The liturgy of democracy is completing stages. Between the commission to attempt the investiture made by Felipe VI to Alberto Núñez Feijóo last Tuesday and the consequent vote on the 26th in Congress, an extensive round of negotiations led by the PP will mediate.
But this, in turn, could not start without the registration of the parliamentary groups completed yesterday and in which PSOE and Sumar made use of their specific weight to make it easier for Junts and ERC to obtain it by lending them several deputies. In such a way that, adding PNV and EH Bildu, the progressive alliance will articulate a large chorus of voices opposed to the candidacy of the PP leader, who will have to settle for the support of Vox, given that the interventions of UPN and the Canary Islands Coalition ( CC) will be diminished within the mixed group, along with BNG.
This is possible by virtue of the regulations of the Congress, which allows parties with more than 15 seats or those that, with a minimum of 5, exceed 5% of the votes in all of Spain or 15% in the constituencies in which they have attended.
Being scrupulous with the result of the past 23-J, PP, PSOE, Vox and Sumar meet the first requirement, while EH Bildu and PNV do the same with the second. Not so Junts and ERC, who, despite having obtained more than five deputies, do not reach the 15% required in some of the constituencies in which they concurred in the past elections. That is why they requested from PSOE and Sumar, respectively, two separate loans from deputies who, once the final composition is confirmed, will return to their respective groups of origin.
The PP protested yesterday against this movement. And he even described it as “a bit of a fraud” through the mouth of his spokesman, Borja Sémper, ignoring that in previous legislatures it was precisely the popular ones who carried out this same loan to, in his case, favor CC. Specifically in 1996, under the iron discipline of José María Aznar.
The reality is that there is no rule as such that regulates this figure. It is a procedure that the tables of both Congress and the Senate authorize “in exceptional cases” to favor the formation of groups and avoid an excessively large and potentially ungovernable mixed group.
Beyond the longer intervention time in the successive debates, having your own parliamentary group implies a series of political advantages, such as having representation in all the commissions, having a spokesperson who attends the meetings, having a weekly quota in the control session or more possibilities to bring legislative initiatives to the plenary session. Without forgetting that, according to article 28 of the regulations of the Congress, the groups also receive a fixed subsidy, which this year was 30,346.72 euros per month, in addition to a variable of 1,746.16 euros for each deputy. Thus, each formation would pocket more than two million euros in a legislature.
Some figures and privileges that within the mixed group must be distributed among all the participants.
Transferred to the investiture debate on September 26 and 27, and seeing the disposition of both on the board, Feijóo will count on the intervention of the popular spokesperson, Cuca Gamarra, in his favor. And presumably with that of Pepa Millán (Vox) and the representative of UPN.
While Patxi López (PSOE), Marta Lois (Sumar), Aitor Esteban (PNV), Mertxe Aizpurua (EH Bildu), Gabriel Rufián (ERC) and Míriam Nogueras (Junts) would intervene against him.
Apart from serving to illustrate the scarcity of support for Feijóo for the investiture, the pacts closed yesterday would allow the pro-Sánchez flank, provided that the socialist managed to be inaugurated president again, multiply his squad of goalkeepers to overwhelm the opposition work of the popular .
Exactly the same thing that the PP has ordered in the Senate thanks to the absolute majority that it holds both in the Chamber and in the Table and that, in its case, would allow it to hinder and slow down a good part of the legal and budgetary advances led by the Socialists. in Congress through vetoes and/or investigative commissions.
And the first opportunity to do so will not be long in coming, since the Senate Board has to decide next week whether to allow the loan of senators from PSOE and Sumar Junts and ERC in the Upper House or if it chooses to leave the hoarse choir .
