The PSOE plans to control the Congress Table with Sumar and leaves ERC and PNV presidencies of commissions

MADRID, 10 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The PSOE wants to take over the Presidency of the Congress Table and that only they and their partners from Sumar are present in the left-wing bloc of the governing body of the Lower House, reserving ERC and PNV to cede commission presidencies.

The composition of the Congress Table is voted on next week and, with the seats obtained in the general elections on July 23 and the method of election of the same, the two blocks --PP and Vox, on the one hand, and PSOE and Sumar, on the other, have secured four positions each: two vice-presidencies and two secretaries. The majority will be achieved by whoever wins the Presidency.

On the right, Vox has demanded that the PP have at least one position on the Chamber Table and if both join forces in the constitutive session on the 17th they will add 171 votes. This obliges the PSOE to obtain the vote of all the nationalist and pro-independence minorities to retain the Presidency, which this legislature has held Meritxell Batet and will not run for re-election.

The Socialists are already taking steps to achieve this end. According to the first contacts with the minorities, the plan is for the left bloc to take over five of the nine posts on the Bureau: the Presidency, two vice-presidencies (one for PSOE and one for Sumar), and two Secretariats (PSOE and In Comú), parliamentary sources assure Europa Press.

To ensure the Presidency of Congress, which in turn allows control of the governing body, the PSOE offers minorities Commission Presidencies and guarantees that their parliamentary groups, although they do not meet all the requirements, will be recognized.

ERC sources admit that entering the Congress Table is not one of their priorities, and they are inclined to secure the presidency of a commission. Of course, something aligned with the number of deputies that the formation currently has, seven, so that they are not overloaded.

For the PNV, with five deputies, it is also preferable to chair a commission than occupy a position on the Board that would entail more obligations.

Bildu also has no special interest in being part of the Congress Table and the last legislature did not even claim a commission Presidency. What he does want is for the next Table of Congress to have a progressive majority and not be dominated by PP and Vox.

Junts' priority, for its part, is to ensure its parliamentary group, since they do not meet all the regulatory requirements (they do not reach 15% in all constituencies) and everything is at the risk of the interpretation of the Bureau. Something similar happens to ERC, but the PSOE has guaranteed them that, if they win the majority at the Table, there will be no problem.

In these first contacts, the Secretary of State for Relations with the Courts and Constitutional Affairs, Rafael Simancas, has not announced who will personify the PSOE candidacy to chair the Congress Table.

What has been ruled out is that the Presidency falls to someone outside the PSOE, as some Sumar parties such as Podemos and Compromís had suggested. The coalition spokesman, Ernest Urtasun, settled the debate before it grew, assuming this Wednesday that the position corresponds to the Socialists.

In any case, the interlocutors of the PSOE assume that the negotiation to form the new Congress Table is independent of the talks that are held, as of the 17th, to try to reach an agreement that allows the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. The PSOE prefers to go step by step.