Green light from Congress to the ERC and Junts groups, with the PP voting against

The 'popular' see a fraud of the law and oppose that the minority partners of the PSOE are going to duplicate their deputy spokespersons

The Congress Bureau has given the green light this Monday to the parliamentary groups of Esquerra Republicana (ERC) and Junts, which have registered with deputies provided by Sumar and the PSOE, respectively, by not meeting the requirements established by the Regulation. The decision has been adopted by a majority, with the votes of the PSOE and Sumar, while the PP has voted against it, considering that this loan is a "law fraud".

The Regulations of the Chamber establish that, to form a parliamentary group in Congress, it is required to have more than 15 deputies, or a minimum of five seats plus 5% of the votes of the whole of Spain or 15% in the constituencies where it is held. have attended.

The PSOE, the PP, Vox and Sumar have been formed by fast track, since they have more than 15 deputies, while the PNV and Bildu did the same, having exceeded 15% in all the constituencies where they appeared.

But Esquerra Republicana and Junts, with their seven deputies each, do not reach 15% in all constituencies, only in two, and they do not even reach that percentage in Catalonia as a whole, which is why they needed help for their constitution as their own group. .

In the end, the PSOE and Sumar chose to lend them deputies to exceed that average of 15% in Catalonia. Thus, Sumar ceded two deputies from En Comú to ERC --the one from Tarragona, Félix Alonso, and the one from Girona, Jùlia Boada--, while the PSOE had to increase the loan to Junts up to four seats from the PSC --the two from Girona, Marc Lamuá and Blanca Cercas, and those from Tarragona, Andreu Martín and Valle Mellado--, because those of Carles Puigdemont fell further than 15% on July 23.

Thus, the Junts group registered with eleven deputies (seven independentistas and four from the PSC), and the ERC group with nine (seven plus two). When the procedures are finished, those of En Comú and the PSC will be assigned to the groups of origin.

The authorization of their own group was a preliminary requirement of the independentistas to be able to talk about the investiture of Pedro Sánchez and it was one of the reasons that led ERC and Junts to support the socialist Francina Armengol as president of Congress, since that is how they ensured a majority of PSOE and Sumar against the PP.

The go-ahead for the operation was given this Monday afternoon by the Congress Table thanks to that majority made up of the PSOE and Sumar, which are precisely those that the deputies have provided. The PP, for its part, has voted against it, considering that this transfer of percentages is a "fraud of the law" that alters the regulations and the will expressed at the polls by the voters.

The way of ceding deputies has been used in previous legislatures, such as when UPN joined CC so that the canaries had a group or when Foro helped UPyD reach the national 5%. From the PSOE they wield these antecedents and a 1995 Constitutional sentence where it was endorsed that the 15% requirement was not applied in all the provinces, but as an average in all the circumscriptions.

NOT ONLY SEATS MOVE, THE VOTE IS ALSO DIVIDED

But from the PP they remember that these loans only implied temporary movement of seats, but they did not divide the percentage of the vote of a political formation, as is the case now with Sumar and the PSOE. For this reason, they emphasize that, in addition to the "fraud" of the regulation, there is a "distortion" of the electoral results of 23J, since Sumar's votes in two provinces are given to ERC and those of the PSC in another two are attributed to Junts .

And they underline that article 23.2 of the Regulation establishes that "in no case can deputies belonging to the same party constitute a separate Parliamentary Group", when now there will be deputies from Sumar in two parliamentary groups (Sumar and ERC), and from the PSOE in two others (Socialist and Junts). Precisely that article is the one that Vox uses to request that the authorization of the Table be revoked.

Having your own group implies great political, economic and media advantages. Whoever constitutes it is guaranteed his representation in all parliamentary committees, in the Permanent Deputation and his own voice in the Board of Spokespersons and the ability to intervene in all debates on equal terms; while within the Mixed Group it is necessary to distribute intervention times and seats in the commissions.

In the control sessions, having your own group makes it possible to enter the quotas for questions and interpellations to be able to debate weekly with the Government, as well as advantages when it comes to including its non-legal proposals in plenary sessions; on the other hand, in the Mixed Group all that 'piece of cake' must be distributed equally.

ADVANTAGES OF HAVING YOUR OWN GROUP

On the economic level, having a group allows access to two types of subsidy: the one granted by Congress to each group -364,160.64 euros per year (30,346.72 per month) during the last legislature-- and the one given by the State for the free sending of electoral propaganda during the campaign (mailing).

And the advantages are extended for the following elections, because those who now get it from their own group will have the option to be present in future electoral debates and information coverage plans in the public media. Junts, for example, was left out of RTVE's debates and coverage plans in the 23J campaign because four years ago it did not achieve its own group, but instead shared it with PDeCAT, BNG, Compromís and Más País.

The PP have also opposed, due to lack of inequality, another of the decisions of the majority, that of awarding two deputy spokespersons to small parliamentary groups, including Pedro Sánchez's hypothetical partners such as ERC, Junts, PNV and Bildu.

In accordance with the established distribution, the majority groups (PP and PSOE) will have five deputy spokespersons, the medium ones (Vox and Sumar) will have three, and those with less than ten seats will have two deputies plus the incumbent. And that can already set a precedent for when it is necessary to distribute the spokespersons in the different commissions.

NINE CONSTITUTED GROUPS

This being the case, and although appeals may be filed against this decision of the Bureau, the fifteenth legislature will start with nine parliamentary groups in Congress: PSOE, PP, Vox, Sumar, ERC, Junts, Bildu, PNV and the Mixed. where the three deputies who do not belong to any group (UPN, CC and BNG) will end up.

And from here it will be possible to start making other important decisions for the operation of the Chamber, such as organizing the distribution of seats in the chamber, establishing the Board of Spokespersons and approving a calendar of plenary sessions, steps necessary to start the legislature. From the outset, the investiture debate of Alberto Núñez Feijóo already has a set date (September 26 and 27).