The PP is preparing to erode Sánchez if he governs: counterweight with his 'barons' and investigation commissions in the Senate

It may force the convening of the Conference of Presidents, given that the Regulations allow it if at least ten presidents request it.

MADRID, 30 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The PP will deploy its parliamentary and territorial support to wear down the socialist Pedro Sánchez if he manages to be sworn in as Prime Minister, since he will be able to use the absolute majority that he has garnered in the Senate (143 of the 266 senators) to give the green light to investigative commissions , at the same time that it will have the power to extend the terms of legislative initiatives.

In addition, it may force the calling of Conferences of Presidents, given that the regulation opens this option if at least ten presidents request it. If in the last legislature the PSOE presided over nine communities compared to the PP's six, now the tables have been turned and the 'populares' already have 10 autonomies --they could reach 12 if the governments of Aragon and Murcia are constituted-- with which Alberto Núñez Feijóo will be able to coordinate to be a "counterweight" to the coalition Executive of Pedro Sánchez and his partners.

"Sánchez is going to be very cornered", "popular" sources have indicated to Europa Press, convinced that if he manages to get the legislature moving, it will be "very short" given the "weakness" of a chief executive who will have to negotiate with several partners and that he will find himself with strong opposition from the PP.

When a law is approved in Congress, it is sent to the Senate to be validated, modified or vetoed. With its absolute majority in the Senate, the Feijóo Popular Group will be able to put a Sánchez Executive in a bind, since they will be able to delay the processing of laws.

In addition, it will have more room to register questions to the Government in control sessions, while it will be able to fail Sánchez's ministers with their absolute majority, a parliamentary mechanism that opposition groups use above all in Congress.

But one of the main assets of the PP if Sánchez governs, once the Parliament is constituted, will be the possibility of giving the green light to investigative commissions in the Senate, thanks to the majority that it will have in the Chamber Table.

In this legislature, the PP did not have that power and, for example, the majority that the PSOE and PNV had in the Senate Board decided not to admit to processing the PP's request to create a parliamentary investigation commission in the Upper House on alleged irregularities of the PSPV in the framework of the so-called 'Azud case'. His intention then was that the former president of the Generalitat and general secretary of the Valencian socialists, Ximo Puig, would be the first to appear.

Another aspect where the PP can overturn its territorial power is in the Conference of Presidents, since with this new regional map it has the ability to force the convening of this body between the chief executive and the regional leaders.

With the new reform of the Regulations of the Conference of Presidents, this multilateral body does not have to be convened only by the head of the Executive, but rather the regional presidents, as long as there are at least ten of them, can also force a meeting.

In this context, the PP could assert its territorial power, since it governs in at least ten of these regions -it could reach twelve if Aragon and Murcia are added- to force these calls outside the Prime Minister.

But the PP will not only have the possibility of summoning it, but also of influencing what is said within this Conference of Presidents, since the Senate, where the 'popular' have an absolute majority, has the capacity to include issues in the order of the day

It is also one of the novelties that were updated in the new reform of the Regulations of the Conference of Presidents, where the Senate was included as one of the institutions that could include issues on this agenda, together with the head of the Executive, the majority of the representatives of all the autonomous communities and the Sectoral Conferences.

In the ranks of the PP they focus on the power that gives Feijóo having an absolute majority in the Senate in the midst of the debate on the referendum that Junts and ERC are calling for to support Sánchez. In fact, in 2017, the Government of Mariano Rajoy decided to apply article 155 of the Constitution and take control of the Generalitat, a step in which the role of the senators was key.

This same week, the former minister Federico Trillo, who has served as a senior lawyer of the Council of State, already warned from Murcia that "Bildu, ERC, Junts and PNV must know that whoever has the key to the referendums is Feijóo with his absolute majority in the Senate".

"Let Otegi, Rufián and company play to deceive their electorate all they want, but the one who has control of the application of article 155 is the Senate, and in the Senate the one who has the absolute majority is Feijóo," recalled Trillo, who He also warned that if Sánchez agrees with a fugitive from Justice like Carles Puigdemont, he may incur criminal responsibilities.